Clifford Adams, the longtime trombone player for Kool and the Gang, died on Monday Morning after battling liver cancer for the last year. He was 62.
Adams, who was born in Trenton, NJ, became interested in classic jazz as a young boy and, in his early teens, discovered the trombone. At the age of 16, he began playing with the group the VSQs and, a year later, he was traveling on the road with Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells.
Clifford soon returned home to finish his education at Trenton State College, playing regularly at the Fantasy Lounge with such luminaries as Sonny Stitt, George Benson and James Moody. One of those impromptu sessions with Charles Earland led to more work on the road.
In 1973, he became part of the horn section for a world tour by the Stylistics followed by stints with the Thad Jones and Mel Lewis Big Band, Duke Ellington’s Orchestra and Max Roach before formally becoming a member of Kool and the Gang.
Adams appears on such classic Kool and the Gang albums as Ladies Night, with the hits Too Hot and the title track, Celebrate! with the classic Celebration and In the Heart with Joanna which includes Clifford’s classic trombone solo.
Outside of Kool and the Gang, Adams also recorded a number of straight jazz albums including The Master Power and I Feel Your Spirit.
A number of fundraising concerts were held in the Trenton, NJ area where Adams lived in the last month to raise money for a liver transplant. Another concert is planned for January 16 to help Clifford’s family pay medical bills. Adam’s did not have health insurance. Donations to his fund can be made through Jazz Bridge.
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