Charles “Bucky” Adams
1937 – July 13, 2012
Born into a musical family in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Bucky Adams was just a child when he at first picked up the trumpet. And when he was just 11, he played for the Queen of England during a visit to Canada. In those early years, Adams played the trumpet alongside his father, but when the trumpet could no longer keep him, he switched to the sax. By the 1950s, Adams began fronting his own bands, and over the next three decades entertained audiences far and wide with the Rockin’ Rebels, Club Unusual, Generations, and Basin St. Trio, with whom he made his first recordings. Throughout his long career, Adams played with or for such luminaries as Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton. Adams remained a vital part of the eastern Canadian jazz scene up until the time of his passing. In later years, he was a headliner at prominent jazz festivals. He also found time to entertain children at numerous elementary schools throughout Nova Scotia. Bucky Adams was 75 when he died of cancer on July 13, 2012.