Interview Excerpts

Two brass players back home with a Kool gang (Trenton Times)

"This story goes back to 1968, when Clifford Adams Jr. and Mike Ray were in high school and playing together around Trenton in a bank called VSQ. Adams blew trombone; Ray played trumpet. They backed Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles (which included the Trenton-born singers Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx) around that time. They traveled with the band during a swing through the South before coming back to Trenton to regroup VSQ, dubbing this new band the Chosen Few. It was a good band, and it played all over the state. Kim and Scotty Miller and the local bassist Raymond Earl, who together became the core of Instant Funk later on, were in an out of the Chosen Few. The band brok up. Adams and Ray played in the Stylistics' horn section shortly thereafter, and then, to make a long story shorter, went their own ways. ..."

Clifford Adams: Good Ride for an Upfront Trombone (U.S.1)

"Some jazz fans know Clifford Adams for hjs work with the late drummer Art Blakey and 'the Mighty Burner,' the late Hammond B-3 organist, Charles Earland. Still others know him through his work with the likes of Kool and the Gang and Patti Labelle. However they know Adams, it's clear they appreciate his approach to the trombone, to be sure not the most glamorous of instruments. 'I've kind of crossed over, back and forth, throughout my career, between pop, R&B, and jazz,' explains Adams, 47, from his home in Ewing Township. ... 'With the modern R&B stuff, because I know the genre and I came up in the midst of it, it's not a foreign thing to me,' he explains of his ongoing work with Kool and the Gang, a group that never really broke up, but has had varying members over the years since its inception in the mid-1970s. Kool and the Gang are best known for their international hit, Celebration Time, but also for Jungle Boogie, and Get Down On It, all hits from the late 1970s. ..."

The first love of a funk player (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

"Trombonist Clifford Adams has a double life. He is probably best-known for the funk music music turned out over the last 17 years by Kool and the Gang. But Adams' first love is jazz, and whenever he can, he squeezes in such gigs between tours with the Gang. ... Influenced by outstanding 'bone' players, including the great J. J. Johnson, Adams' fluid style is decidedly hard bop, and his skill has enabled him to play with many jazz greats. Adams didn't have his heart set on the trombone, but when the Trenton native joined the school band in ninth grade, the only spot open was that of a trombonist. Adams picked it up quickly. ..."

'Power' play (The Times)

"He has performed at the side of Ella Fitzgerald, Art Blakey and dozens of other all-time great jazz musicians. He has played for royalty around the world. His trombone has been heard on countless recordings, including some that went platinum and even won Grammy awards. ... Besides his reputation as a jazz musician, Adams is well respected in the pop world as a dynamic horn player and singer with the ever popular Kool and the Gang."

Clifford Adams (by David Gross)

"Bet you can't name ten major jazz trombonists. O.K. -- then try naming five. Alright, let's face it -- virtuoso bone players, unlike saxophonists, pianists, drummers or trumpeters, don't exactly come to mind in double digits. The irony of course is that there are now and have always been an abundance of burnin', ass kickin' bone men and women who simply have not received the kind of recognition that has been accorded to their woodwind and percussion counterparts. The good news is that thankfully 'the times are a changin.' Today the instrument is flourishing in big bands and small groups as never before. A young generation of players is contributing new ideas to the great trombone tradition. Bone men like Robin Eubanks and Steve Turre are currently establishing themselves as exciting fresh voices on the contemporary jazz scene. But there's one cat out there who's being talked about in the monster category by musicians and fans who have heard him play with people like Max Roach, Art Blakey, Slide Hampton, Groove Holmes, Sonny Fortune, and Lou Donaldson: Clifford Adams!"

Adams slides into jazz dates along the pop trail (The Times)

"Playing in a pop band has opened Clifford Adams to the world of jazz. Adams is arguably the Trenton area's most traveled musical ambassador to the world."

 E-mail Cleve to learn more of Clifford's musical pedigree.