This was a wonderful event produced by Cece Rich and Dave Rodgers and James Thomson of the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame group in Little Rock, Arkansas. I nominated Jerry Atkins, who passed away last year. Jerry was a great 'jazz head', tenor player, jazz journalist and jazz dj in Texarkana, my home town. Amina Claudine Meyers was also inducted into the Hall of Fame for her talent. Anita hails from Blackwell, Arkansas and she sings like Roberta Flack with a little edge to her music. I liked her talent and personality very much and it was fantastic to hang out with her. I consider her a 'sister in the cause' of good music. We performed on November 9th with Joe Vick on bass, Tom Cox piano, Byron Atkins guitar (Jerry's son) and Dave Rodgers on drums and Barry McVinney on tenor. Shirley Chauvin also drove over from Hot Springs and sang a couple of songs (she was fantastic) and in the front of this picture is Bonnie Atkins, Jerry's wife. She was always by his side. Also in attendance was Scott Atkins and his wife Angie. I thank everyone who made this happen (Gloria and Albert too) Thanks to Dwayne Walden for making the drive to attend too. I can rest at peace now, knowing that my dear friend Jerry Atkins received some respect for the service he gave to the music that we love; jazz.
