Born in 1904, Dolly Adams was immersed in the New Orleans jazz scene from a young age because of her mother, father, and uncle. She became an influential female musician at a crucially transitional point in the cultural development of the jazz scene that did not fully accept women as performers or professional musicians.
Dolly Adams learned piano at the age of seven. Adams’ father was a trumpet player in the Eureka and Excelsior Brass bands, and her mother played violin, piano and trumpet. Her uncle, Manuel Manetta, was a famous musician and later professor at Tulane University.
By age thirteen, Adams’ joined Manetta’s band, which had a revolving door of members including Louis Armstrong and Kid Ory. Adams attributed her exceptional involvement as a young woman in the male-dominated Creole and Jazz scenes of the pre-1920s to her family connections and their willingness to include the young and talented musician despite her gender. Manetta switched to clarinet to allow his niece to play piano, one of the few instruments women were allowed to play publicly.
By fifteen she was a member of Peter Bocage’s band the Creole Serenaders. Around this time, Adams formed The Dolly Adams Band, which frequently played at the Othello Theatre on South Rampart St, a vaudeville and picture theatre. Adams also played the piano at the Othello Theatre for silent films. Such a multitude of involvement was not uncommon with the dynamic jazz and Creole music scene.
In 1922 she married Placide Adams, a contractor, and began to build her own family. As a result of this Adams had a 15-year sabbatical from her musical career while she raised her children. Adams returned to her musical career in 1937 in a bid to earn more money for her family, despite her husband’s dislike of her musical activities.
Adams played with her brother Lawrence but eventually formed a trio with her sons Justin and Gerald, later becoming a quartet when her son Placide Jr. came home from the army after the Second World War. They frequently played at West Bank clubs including the Varsity, Gay Paree, and Moonlight Inn.
By the 1960s, Adams often played at the Preservation and Dixieland Halls. In 1961, while playing at Preservation Hall, bass player Papa John Joseph died whilst they were performing, her trauma from the event slowing down her public performances. In 1966 a stroke would put a permanent end to Adams’ regular public performances. However, she played in public a few more times including at the Creole Spring Fiesta Association Ball in 1968.
The New Orleans Jazz Club presented her family with a certificate commemorating “the role she played in the history of Jazz in New Orleans” at the time of her death in 1979. The famous Jazz magazine Second Line published a cover feature in their publication for her in 1980. Her continued influence contributed to the richness of the New Orleans musical community and beyond.
