Beegie Adair Bio

Once in a while a musician comes along with impecca… Read Full Bio ↴Beegie Adair Bio

Once in a while a musician comes along with impeccable technique, deep understanding of the jazz repertoire, an innate tendency to swing and the rare ability to communicate the heart and soul of a tune to listeners. That musician is Beegie Adair.

About her music Adair says, “Falling in love with jazz is like falling in love with a person, except with jazz you never get over it.” About Beegie (say B-G) Adair, what do others say?

Jazz great Helen Merrill salutes her “inventive jazz sense, her wonderful sense of time and improvised melody.”

Christopher Louden of Jazz Times magazine says Adair is “an accomplished artist with a delicate touch.”

The Los Angeles Times calls her music “Elegant.”

Entertainment News writes, “Beegie Adair is one of the finest piano players in the world.”

Intrigued? So are thousands of jazz fans, who agree with critics about Adair’s sophisticated and listenable jazz performances, and who have made her recordings among the biggest sellers in the jazz world.

Citing George Shearing, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson and Erroll Garner among her influences, Adair has recorded 24 CDs, ranging from Cole Porter standards to Frank Sinatra classics to romantic World War II ballads. Her 6-CD Centennial Composers Collection of tunes by Rodgers, Gershwin, Kern, Ellington, Carmichael and Berlin became an instant collectible classic when it was released in 2002.

Kentucky born and raised, Adair lives and records in Nashville – something of a surprise to people who associate the city solely with country music. In fact Nashville lives up to its “Music City” nickname by hosting a vibrant jazz scene, in which she has been a leading light for decades. A sought-after studio musician in her early days there, Adair accompanied such legendary performers as Chet Atkins, Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash – and also worked with Lucille Ball, Dinah Shore, Mama Cass Elliott and Peggy Lee.

Her guests on Improvised Thoughts, Beegie’s radio talk/music show on the local NPR affiliate, included such greats as Tony Bennett, Joe Williams, Marian McPartland, Benny Golson and Helen Merrill. She has guested on McPartland’s Piano Jazz show and has performed with Nat Adderley, Bill Watrous, Lew Tabackin, Terry Clarke, Urbie Green and Jim Ferguson, among many others.

When she’s not in the studio or appearing in clubs and concert halls around the country, Adair wears a variety of hats, from adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University to teacher and mentor at the Nashville Jazz Workshop. Recently she co-wrote and scored an innovative theatrical production, Betsy, which in April 2006 premiered off-Broadway in New York.

She has recorded eight projects for Village Square Records in Nashville; her most recent CDs are Sentimental Journey, a popular collection of World War II-era songs, and a solo piano recording, Quiet Romance.

She performs solo and with the Beegie Adair Trio, whose members include drummer Chris Brown, a veteran of the Maynard Ferguson ensemble, and bassist Roger Spencer, who has played with the Les Brown Band, Ray Conniff, the Page Cavanaugh Trio and Pete Jolly. They are, she says, “my main guys. They’re so tuned into the way I visualize music that it’s effortless to play with them.”

In clubs and concert venues from Los Angeles to New York, Beegie and her “main guys” win kudos from audiences and critics alike who appreciate her unique take on classic jazz. She fell in love with the music a long time ago, and indeed she’s never gotten over it -- a love affair the jazz world is much the better for.

It don
Beegie Adair Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

It don't mean a thing
If it ain't got that swing
(doo wah, doo wah, doo wah, doo wah
Doo wah, doo wah, doo wah, doo wah)
It don't mean a thing
All you got to do is sing
(doo wah, doo wah, doo wah, doo wah
Doo wah, doo wah, doo wah, doo wah)

It makes no diff'rence
If it's sweet or hot
Just give that rhythm
Ev'rything you got
Oh, it don't mean a thing
If it ain't got that swing

(doo wah, doo wah, doo wah, doo wah
Doo wah, doo wah, doo wah, doo wah)

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Beegie Adair's "It Don't Mean A Thing" emphasize the importance of swing in music. The singer suggests that a piece of music can be sweet or hot, slow or fast, but if it lacks swing, it ultimately "don't mean a thing." The singer urges musicians to give the rhythm everything they've got, emphasizing that it is the presence of swing that gives a piece of music its life and significance.

The repetition of "doo wah" in the background of the song suggests the importance of the complementary rhythm to the lyrics. The simplicity of the doo-wahs and the steady eight-beat rhythm create a catchy, upbeat tune that drives home the importance of the swing rhythm. The "doo wah" also showcases the importance of scat singing in swing music, a popular technique in the jazz genre that involves singing non-lexical syllables like "doo-wah" or "scatting" to create a musical effect.

Overall, the lyrics to "It Don't Mean A Thing" suggest that swing is the key ingredient in all good music, regardless of the genre, tempo, or style. It is the presence of a lively, infectious rhythm that brings music to life and gives it meaning.

Line by Line Meaning

It don't mean a thing
The importance is lost

If it ain't got that swing
If it lacks the right rhythm

(doo wah, doo wah, doo wah, doo wah
Musical interlude

Doo wah, doo wah, doo wah, doo wah)
Musical interlude

It don't mean a thing
The importance is lost

All you got to do is sing
All one needs to do is perform

(doo wah, doo wah, doo wah, doo wah
Musical interlude

Doo wah, doo wah, doo wah, doo wah)
Musical interlude

It makes no diff'rence
It's all the same

If it's sweet or hot
Regardless of the style

Just give that rhythm
Emphasize the beat