November Features
A Tribute to Executive Director Alan Adams and Assistant Director Hal Smith of America's Finest City Dixieland Jazz Society (AFCDJS), San Diego, Calif.
This is the first Jazz Warriors story to feature working musicians running a society and festival. Previously featured Jazz Warriors have been the jazz advocates behind the scenes, the producers who create the venues for the performers. This month, we're concentrating on musicians Alan Adams and Hal Smith, a winning team with administrative skills and musical savvy, as they now put the finishing touches on the well regarded San Diego Thanksgiving Dixieland Jazz Festival, scheduled for November 26-30, 2008.
Alan Adams' service to AFCDJS began before AFCDJS was restructured in the mid-1980s. At that time, he was chairman of the annual festival, but he added to his duties after the restructuring, assuming the role of Executive Director of the society. He's also the Director of the AFCDJS Adult Jazz Camp, an instructor at the camp and host of The Dixie Hour on KSDS San Diego (www.Jazz88.org). Additionally, Adams and his trombone or tuba have been heard with some of the best trad bands on the West Coast, including the Yerba Buena Stompers, Uptown Lowdown, Gremoli, the Golden Eagle Jazz Band, and the Red Pepper Jazz Band.
Drummer/bandleader/vocalist Hal Smith was an AFCDJS board member and served on the band selection committee in the early to mid-1990s before moving to Mississippi. Jazz fans familiar with his musical career are aware that Smith has lived and worked throughout the U.S. since he became a full-time musician in 1978. He's logged considerable time playing in top bands, including the Jim Cullum Jazz Band, the Dukes of Dixieland, the Climax Jazz Band, Grand Dominion Jazz Band, Silver Leaf Jazz Band, Marty Grosz's Orphan Newsboys, and the South Frisco Jazz Band. He spent several years playing in New Orleans and also was, at one time, drummer with Minnesota's revered Hall Brothers New Orleans Jazz Band.
Eventually, Smith returned to San Diego, where he became the Administrative and Media Director for AFCDJS. (His title was later changed to Assistant Director.) He's currently the president of AFCDJS, leads his own groups, including the International Sextet, New El Dorado Jazz Band, Real Gone (Rockabilly) and the Hal Smith Trio, and he plays with several bands, including the Yerba Buena Stompers, the Butch Thompson Trio (a long-time association), the Carl Sonny Leyland Trio, and Ray Skjelbred and his Cubs. He is in great demand to play festivals and jazz parties and is known for his versatility in playing all styles of drums. His wife, June, is an accomplished guitarist and has built her own reputation as a fine musician.
AFCDJS HISTORY
Adams and his wife, Joan, were first involved in AFCDJS in late 1981. At that time, the AFCDJS staff was convinced that due to the age of the festival attendees, they would be lucky to keep the festival going for another five years. The reverse turned out to be true; each year more people retired, and because they had more time, resources and the inclination to attend the jazz festival, their numbers did not drop as expected.
In fact, there were suddenly so many festivals starting up on the West Coast that, according to Adams, "We were concerned it would affect the ability for all of them to continue. I remember a time when there were no long weekends without a festival and, in some months, not even a free weekend. Plus, many weekends had multiple festivals. It seems that many of those festivals are no longer around."
During its early years, AFCDJS membership was not very large. Adams proposed that the society start a monthly concert series that would provide a chance for the membership to bond and have a tangible benefit. "At that time, we also decided to list the membership renewals in our excellent society publication, The Jazz Rambler, which was the pride of (the then) editor Len Levine. This seems to have worked since our membership has remained between 1,000 and 1,300 for around 20 years now," Adams says.
Adams' involvement with AFCDJS in the mid-'80s coincided with the completion of his 30-year Navy career in San Diego and his decision to begin a serious effort to rekindle his musical ability on trombone and tuba. In the 1950s, prior to his entering the Navy, he had been very active playing with his dad and in other small bands in the mid-Michigan area, but the Navy and getting married and raising a family put much of his music on hold. Things changed in 1979, however, when Adams' trombone cohort, Windjammers Big Band friend Al Gabbs, invited him to join the Hysterical Banjo Band. This led to an invitation to join Ira Cobb's Jazzbo, first on trombone and then on tuba. "I also joined the El Cajon Elks' big band on trombone over 20 years ago, and I still make the weekly two-hour rehearsal and half-hour commute," Adams proudly states.
November 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag
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