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Philadelphia Heritage Art Ensemble

Fred Adams, an inspiring composer and bandleader, formed the Philadelphia based jazz sextet known as the Philadelphia Heritage Art Ensemble (PHAE) in 1993. The PHAE was created as a result of a proposal made by Ron Dewey Wynn to present the compositions of the late Philadelphia jazz composers Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan along with Fred's original compositions at the Mill Creek Cultural Center in Philadelphia. It was there that Fred joined the house band with additional artists and the PHAE was born.

The PHAE is keeping the Philadelphia jazz sound of the '50s and '60s alive representing the Philly East Coast hardbop sound by doing arrangements by Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Jymie Merritt, McCoy Tyner, Philly Joe Jones, and Dizzy Gillespie along with original compositions by Fred Adams.

The PHAE lineup includes Fred Adams leading the band on trumpet, one of three innovative jazz musicians rotating in the tenor sax chair, Brent White on trombone, one of two forward thinking Philly based jazz musicians on piano, Sonny Sunkett on bass, and Craig McIver on drums.

The band has performed at a variety of venues including Birdland in New York City, Kelsey’s and the Chicken Bone Beach Festival in Atlantic City, along with several locations in its home base of Philadelphia including Ortlieb’s Jazz Club, the Clef Club, Drummers, and the Platinum Grille. The band has also done NJ gigs in Mt. Laurel, Collingswood and Willingboro.

Fred Adams discovered his creative and artistic form of composition when writing at the Philadelphia College of Art, where he studied trumpet and piano. It was the magic of the piano that brought about his compositional writing. Fred is well known for his 32 year stint within the Sun Ra Arkestra as trumpeter, which allowed him to travel across the planet with that band. Sun Ra himself indirectly and fundamentally laid out a plan to encourage Fred to become a leader of his own band. Fred Adams performs exclusively on Getzen trumpets.

Commissions from the Philadelphia Composers Forum allowed Fred Adams to write two ragtime compositions in 2005 and 2007 using ideas gained from listening to W. C. Handy. He created a new ragtime musical style of the 21st century that other jazz artists had not yet explored. With his knowledge of all forms and styles of music, he continues to perform and inspire others.

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Album Review

Philadelphia Heritage Art Ensemble: Under The Bridge

Read "Under The Bridge" reviewed by AAJ Staff


If you think that the remainders and reminders of hard bop reside today within the music of Horace Silver, the keeper of the flame—and perhaps within that of very few others like Valery Ponomarev—think again. The jazzmen of Philadelphia, from which much of hard bop arose, never forgot it. In fact, they celebrate it...in concerts, in tributes, in writings, on radio and in schools.Fred Adams decided to concentrate all of these references into a single group, the Philadelphia ...

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Performance / Tour

Fred Adams & The Phila. Heritage Art Ensemble In Collingswood NJ On Thurs. Feb. 7th!

Fred Adams & The Phila. Heritage Art Ensemble In Collingswood NJ On Thurs. Feb. 7th!

Source: Jim Miller

Appearing at the Collingswood Community Center—30 East Collings Avenue in Collingswood, New Jersey—on Thursday February 7th, is trumpeter Fred Adams and his Philadelphia Heritage Art Ensemble. Tickets are $10, $5 for students, and are available at the door only. Showtime is 7:30 p.m.

Originally a New Yorker, but raised in Philadelphia in the '60s, Fred Adams is an incredibly versatile, forward-looking and forward-thinking jazz trumpeter, is the director of the Philadelphia Heritage Art Ensemble, and has toured the world and ...

To see a review by Suzanne Cloud about the new Philadelphia Heritage Art Ensemble "Crossing The Bridge 2" CD, which was posted November 11 in the "Broad Street Review" (an online publication), please visit: https://www.broadstreetreview.com/music/the-philadelphia-heritage-art-ensemble-presents-crossing-the-bridge-2#
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