Billy Adair leads the Big Band rehearsal at Blair School of Music in April 2012. (Photo: John Russell/Vanderbilt University)
April 18, 1947 - Feb. 18, 2014
Musician, producer, teacher and director William “Billy” Adair, a centerpiece of Nashville’s jazz community who led the Blair Big Band at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, died today of melanoma cancer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He was 66.
A masterful multi-instrumentalist who worked onstage and in the studio with artists including Brenda Lee, The Oak Ridge Boys, Waylon Jennings, Ronnie Milsap, George Strait and Alabama (he played on the latter band’s top-charting single, “The Closer You Get”), Mr. Adair was also a broadcast music producer who won more than 150 awards for composing and arranging advertisements.
In Nashville, he was known less for his resume than for his roles as an advocate, an enthusiast and an instructor: He bolstered jazz awareness and visibility, and he brought jazz to a Blair campus that had been primarily concerned with classical music.
“I would not be a professional musician if it weren’t for Billy’s constant support, enthusiasm and guidance,” said former student Michael Rinne, now a studio and touring musician. “He taught me that to be a good musician, you really had to be a great person first..... Billy embodied the generous and humble spirit that makes Nashville the home of the greatest musicians on the planet.”
A vice president of the Nashville Jazz Orchestra’s executive board, Mr. Adair directed The Establishment, a not-for-profit big band, and he was a charter member of The Nashville Jazz Machine. Beginning in 2002, he taught jazz studies at Blair and served as a department chair of jazz and folk music.
“He gave of himself generously and genuinely, and he had an amazing gift for bringing people together,” said Blair School Dean Mark Wait. “I can’t think of a better example of a life well-lived.”
Mr. Adair was the husband of acclaimed jazz pianist Beegie Adair.
“We’ve been at Vanderbilt (Medical Center) for three and a half weeks, and we’ve had waiting rooms full of kids showing up to see him, and to help,” she said. “Some brought food, some brought music. The kids said that he was patient and kind, and that he would take the time to listen to them. He was more than just a teacher.”
Mr. Adair grew up in Franklin, fascinated by the big band music favored by his piano-playing mother. When he was in junior high school, his mother took him to a bank and co-signed a note that allowed him to purchase his first guitar. With no formal music schooling, he taught himself to write and arrange. And, though he was not trained as a teacher, he later found himself able to convey complex musical ideas to aspiring jazz musicians.
“He didn’t accept anything less than my or anybody’s best at any time and is one of the reasons that I am a professional musician today,” wrote trumpet player and Blair School graduate Alex Rodiek on Mr. Adair’s Facebook page. “He was a consummate professional who was also so humble in his actions — a rare combination of attributes and they will be missed.”
Mr. Adair was a commanding musical talent, but as online tributes flowed in the wake of his death, it wasn’t his virtuosity that drew the majority of comments. Kindness, warmth, generosity and compassion were Mr. Adair’s biggest hits. His example to hundreds of musicians assures decades of encores.
In lieu of flowers, the family recommends gifts be made to The Billy Adair Fund for Jazz at the Blair School of Music, c/o Gift Processing, PMB 407727, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37240-7727.
Reach Peter Cooper at 615-259-8220 or on Twitter @TNMusicNews.
