Local 913, Episode 43: Jimmy Adler
Bluesman Jimmy Adler, who has been on the blues scene for years in Pittsburgh, has just released his latest album, Grease Alley. Adler traveled to California to capture the sound of West Coast guitar players with help from producer Kid Anderson. Touting 13 fantastic tracks, Adler went for a variety of sounds from swampy to swing. The music grabs you from the first cut, “Say It Like Magic Sam”, which Jimmy says references the guitar playing of T-Bone Walker:
“I was happy with the tone of the guitar, I borrowed Kid Anderson’s guitar on in it, and it had a very nice T-Boney tone to it. Lyrically, I have to give it to Mike Sweeney. Mike Sweeney is a very prolific Pittsburgh songwriter, who’s written for everybody from Billy Price to Jimmy Adler to everyone in-between. He came up with that lyric. We have played Magic Sam songs. Magic Sam was one of the three great triumphant players coming out of Chicago: Buddy Guy, Otis Rush (my hero) and Magic Sam.”
When he’s not playing music, Jimmy Adler is Mr. A, the English teacher at Pittsburgh’s CAPA: Creative and Performing Arts High School Downtown. Adler claims that he’s always found a close parallel between the lyrical content of songs and the content of poetry and literature:
“I try to share with my students the love of literature and the love of music because they are art students. Even if they were not art students, I would tell them to find something they are passionate about, keep the passion in their heart because it will drive them, and always read and always seek out knowledge. I’ve found a very close correlation between the power of music, lyrics and literature.”
You can catch Jimmy Adler at WYEP’s Local 913 Live on March 17, 2016. More information on Jimmy can be found at his website.
