Beegie adair biography

Jazz pianist Bobbe “Beegie” Long Adair — a revered figure in Nashville's jazz scene for 60 years — died Sunday at her home in Franklin, Tenn. She was 84.

Raised in Cave City, Kentucky, Adair began playing the piano when she was five years old.

After graduating from college and working for three years as a music teacher, she moved to Nashville in 1961. That summer, she started playing in Printers Alley, joining a jazz group led by guitarist Hank Garland.

She soon found work as a session musician, and over the years contributed to recordings by everyone from Dolly Parton, Chet Atkins, and Vince Gill to Lucille Ball, Steve Allen and Henry Mancini.

She was also seen and heard on TV's "The Johnny Cash Show" and "The Ralph Emery Show."

But Adair would eventually become a star in her own right — not just in Nashville's jazz circles, but around the world. After leading or co-leading a string of bands in the '70s and '80s, she released her f