Kansas City jazz violinist Adam Galblum has a special place in his heart for the late jazz violinist Claude “Fiddler” Williams, and he jumped at the chance to honor Williams on Feb. 20.
Galblum performed for the radio show “12th Street Jump” at the Black Dolphin in Kansas City, Missouri. The show celebrated Williams’ birthday: He was born Feb. 22, 1908, in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and died April 26, 2004, in Kansas City, Missouri.
The show’s Feb. 20 performance was recorded live. Forty-five public radio stations across the country began broadcasting it this week and will continue to run it through March 3. Locally, KCUR 89.3 will air the show starting at midnight Saturday, March 2, into Sunday morning, March 3. The show (12thstreetjump.org) is distributed by PRX.
Galblum lives in Kansas City, Missouri. He studied with Williams from 1999 until his death in 2004 and performed with him for part of that time. Galblum attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and the jazz violin instructor there asked him whether he knew Williams. He didn’t, but he soon would.
“So, I found Claude and it was an instant rapport,” he said. “It affected me very deeply right away. … I hadn’t discovered my interest in jazz until the end of high school. It took me going to Boston to learn about Claude Williams in my backyard. ... I’d drive to Loose Park and play my violin to practice the things he’d taught me.”
Galblum was familiar with “12th Street Jump” before he agreed to perform for the show. He’s honored to be on the show for any reason, he said, “but especially to be able to represent Claude. Any chance I have to help preserve Claude’s memory and maybe even be a part of his legacy is a big honor.”
Galblum is Jewish. His mother is Trudi Galblum of Prairie Village. Being Jewish informs his approach to playing music, he said, in that “playing music is a pretty Jewish thing to do.” He is 40 years old. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and his family moved to Overland Park when he was 4. He started playing the violin at age 5. He gives his mother a lot of credit for not allowing him to quit playing the instrument. He also played guitar as an adolescent, and he played violin in the Kansas City Youth Symphony.
“In late high school, I realized (violin) was a more interesting instrument than the guitar,” he said. “The violin, while not the most versatile instrument, fits into multiple genres.”
Galblum discovered jazz during his senior year in high school — “Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis. He moved to the West Coast after a stint at Berklee and started playing bluegrass. Four years ago, he decided he “was ready to play jazz again.”
“It’s like I had unfinished business with jazz,” he said. “It’s been a zigzag road to where I am now. I feel like jazz is the music that will keep me interested for the rest of my life. No other music will.”
In addition to the inspiration he received from Williams, he was influenced by Stephane Grappelli, “the most brilliant jazz violinist of all time.”
Williams’ widow, Blanche Williams, found inspiration in her husband’s personality and his love for his music and for teaching other musicians.
“He was such a gentle and charming person, soft spoken and had a boyish smile about him,” she said.
She was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, and has lived in Santa Cruz, California, for 10 years. She has known Galblum for about 20 years, starting when he began taking lessons with her husband at their home.
“I have admired him for as long as I’ve known him,” she said. “I was impressed at the way he was so attentive and listened, absorbing everything Claude said. The lesson itself was supposed to be an hour, but it went on much longer. Claude never looked at the clock. He could see that Adam was very interested.”
She and Claude met around 1980, when he was 72 years old. She was 30 years younger. They were married from 1991 until his death.
She recounted a story about being in a club with Claude in Boca Raton, Florida, that adjoined a sports bar owned by the baseball player Pete Rose. Claude was playing with the Statesmen of Jazz. He was having coffee and needed more sugar. No waitress was in sight. Rose was nearby and brought sugar to their table. Somebody with the group told Claude, “This is Pete Rose” and introduced them.
“This is Claude,” the man said to Rose. “He’s a musician. And this is his wife, Blanche.”
Rose looked at her and said, “ ‘Oh, I thought you said he was a magician,’ ” she said.
She described her husband as “unique in what he did.”
“I had never heard anyone play the violin before or since the way he played it,” she said. “He played by ear. … He stated many times that he didn’t have the formal training, although he was exposed to it — his mother made him take lessons — but he was bored with it. Claude said he was playing better than the teacher. He told me later he’d wished he’d stayed in the books.”
The inspiration Galblum received from Williams prompted him to continue his formal study of music and engrained what he had always loved about making music.
“Music is body, mind and spirit,” he said. “It has physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual components. It’s a practice in the moment that puts you in an altered state. … I haven’t found anything (else) that compares to the discipline of playing an instrument.”
And he’s drawn to jazz because it offers an endless opportunity for learning.
“There’s always room to grow,” he said. “And I really appreciate its depth, its history, its rootedness. There’s a language in jazz that is very much connected to American history.”
Galblum’s band Hot Club KC performs the first Saturday of every month at The Phoenix, 302 W. Eighth St., Kansas City, Missouri, 64105.