DRUMMIN’ MAN

The 16th annual Independent Music Awards (IMA) are held on Saturday, March 31 at Lincoln Center in New York City, and Ben Adkins will be there, in one of the seats reserved for nominees. Just being in the room is a dream come true for any serious jazz fan, and more so for a musician. His is one of more than 400 nominations in 96 categories.

Born in February 1986 in St. Augustine, Adkins just turned 32, but he’s already been playing professionally for 22 years.

“I studied privately until college,” he says, “and then got my B.M. from UNF and my M.M. from FSU, under the tutelage of Danny Gottlieb and Leon Anderson, respectively.” He credits folks like Charlotte Mabrey, Peter Miles, Ricky Kirkland and Danny Clarke among his teachers, “not to mention all of my incredible peers like Jacksonville’s own John Lumpkin and many more.” As far as influences go, he cites Max Roach, Jimmy Cobb, Tony Williams and Elvin Jones, along with modernists Arthur Latin, Johnny Vidacovich, Herlin Riley and Brian Blade. We’d add names like Gene Krupa, Davey Tough and Big Sid Catlett, as well as pioneers like Baby Dodds, the man who really got the whole jazz drumming lineage started in Storyville a century ago.

In a city widely acclaimed for a profusion of prodigious percussive talent, Adkins has managed to stand out. He may be best known for his work in Raisin Cake Orchestra, with Jim Snyder (clarinet, tenor sax), John Chapman (bass) and Scott Giddens (keys); their debut album is due out later this year. He also features in pianist Joshua Bowlus’ Trio, with bassist Ricky Ravelo, and he leads his own group with Bowlus, Stan Piper (bass), Paul Miller (guitar) and Alphonso Horne (trumpet). Those last four all appear on Salmagundi, as does guest vocalist Linda Cole. Saxophonist Mike Emmert plays on “That Jambalaya,” along with guitarist Chris Adkins, who wrote the song, a New Orleans-flavored romp that allows Ben to show off his formidable second-line chops.

Being a bandleader, in Adkins’ view, requires a whole different creative concept than working as a sideman. He says, “As a sideman, you’ve got to make the band sound good, but you’re creatively learning how to navigate someone else’s vision. With a collaborative project, you can make suggestions as to the direction and divide democratically. When you’re a leader, there is a lot more pressure to get all of the other things lined up (i.e., music selection, who you want to solo where, keeping the audience engaged, ensuring the music is easy to follow for the musicians). It can make it difficult to focus on your own playing in such a situation, so it takes a lot of mental fortitude to not let the pressure impact the final product, and it doesn’t always work out.”

“Salmagundi” means “A general mixture; a miscellaneous collection,” but the album itself has a much more cohesive feel, probably because it was no overnight process. “Writing all the tunes took years,” he says. (Adkins wrote five of the album’s 10 songs, which fit right in alongside tunes by Blue Mitchell, Charlie Parker, Arthur Schwartz and Billy Strayhorn.) “Arranging them and organizing the date took about a year, post-production took another six months, then the real work began-promoting it.” That included a photo shoot by Crystal Bos at Sweet Pete’s in Downtown Jacksonville.

Adkins was nominated in IMA’s category of Best Funk/Fusion/Jam Song for the track “Five in Time,” which he describes as “the furthest deviation from ‘center’ on the album.” His fellow nominees include Nik West, Los Banksters, Joan Torres All Is Fused and Eddie Moore & the Outer Circle. “I have heard them,” he says, “and, frankly, they all sound great! Even if I don’t win, just having someone appreciate my art this much in the first place means I’ve already won.”

Like most good news, the nomination came entirely out of the blue. “We were notified by email,” he says, “and I was just settling in for a quick power nap between gigs. Needless to say, I couldn’t sleep, and I’ve been running on adrenaline since then. I called my family first, then immediately started calling all of my teachers to thank them for all of their guidance and mentorship.” It’s a sign of his good nature and humility that he responded in that way, as opposed to, say, a round of whiskey shots.

It’s been a very good year for the Adkins family overall. Ben and wife Stacey, a Duval County Public Schools teacher, have been married eight years, and their son just had his first birthday recently. “She’s my rock,” he says, “and I couldn’t have done half of the things I have without her support.” It seems that they’re both in the business of support, and doing it quite well.

The Raisin Cake Orchestra performs (with Adkins) April 14 at Prohibition Kitchen, St. Augustine, benadkinsmusic.com.