He has been living quietly at the Laurel Oaks Retirement Community for the past two-and-a-half years or so, having moved to Milwaukee in order to be close to his second wife’s family.
But at one time, he was one of the most celebrated virtuoso players of the chromatic harmonica in the U.S. — and one of the others was his brother.
He was a friend and colleague of such stars as George Gershwin — who wrote an arrangement of “Rhapsody in Blue” for him — Louis Armstrong, Red Skelton, W. C. Fields, Danny Kaye, George Burns, Judy Garland, Carey Grant and many others.
He was a performer on cruise ships that sailed all over the world; and he helped provide music for movies (“High Noon,” “Shane,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “The Alamo”), television shows, recordings, jazz clubs, shows for World War II military personnel, and even a circus.
His name is Jerry Adler, 86; and he recently revealed another talent, for writing. About two months ago, he published a book, “Living From Hand to Mouth: My Memoir” (Author House paperback, $20) that engagingly and often humorously recounts this Baltimore-native’s many adventures in show business, and his meetings and friendships with celebrities.
In a telephone conversation with The Chronicle, Adler said that he spent the last 10 years working on the book. “It was a lot of fun to do, but a tedious project.” And though it has been out a short time, it already has had success “way beyond my expectations. I’m getting great responses.”
He also spoke about some subjects not treated in the book. For example, he didn’t mention there that one of his early touring engagements was in Tel Aviv in 1935, playing with what was then the Palestine Philharmonic, now the Israel Philharmonic — and that this was one of the few times in his career that he played klezmer music.
Another such time was at his son’s bar mitzvah, where he joined in with the great klezmer clarinetist, bandleader and comedian Mickey Katz. “It was quite a challenge and I enjoyed all of it,” he said.
He also revealed something about the nature of his musical talent. Unlike his even more famous older brother Larry Adler — for whom such 20th century classical composers as Ralph Vaughan Williams and Darius Milhaud composed pieces — Jerry had a very difficult time reading music notation.
“I was born with dyslexia,” he said. “Everything appeared backwards to me.” He eventually could read music, but it was a struggle, and he never was able to “read well” or read at sight, he said.
He also was not especially devoted to practicing. “I’m the laziest musician you’ll ever meet,” he said. “My practice was performing.”
However, Adler made up for it by having a superb ear and memory. “All I have to do is hear a piece perhaps twice and I know it by heart,” he said.
With the “Rhapsody” arrangement, he had a pianist play it into a wire recorder (a machine that could record sound on steel wire, used before electronic tape was invented). He then learned it by heart.
He has retired from performing concerts due to “a breathing problem,” though he still plays a little to entertain his fellow senior citizens “for my own amusement and hopefully for theirs as well.”
In fact, he did that at Laurel Oaks on Nov. 3, regaling residents with both his stories and performances of medleys of “Fiddler on the Roof” and George M. Cohan songs.
He also is still remembered and in demand in some quarters. He said this March he will be flying to Frankfurt, Germany, to be guest speaker at a music fair; and he may even play a little while he’s there.
“However, I told them I’m limited to about three numbers,” he said. “I can’t go beyond that.”
But he still has a lot of his past to trade on. In addition to his memoir, he has released a CD compilation of his previous recordings, “The Harmonica Magic of Jerry Adler” (about that title, he joked, “How shy I am!”); and he is working on another, as yet untitled, that he hopes to release before the trip to Germany.
The book and the CD are available through his Web site, www.jerryadler.com; or by contacting him directly by e-mail (adler80@core.com) or telephone, 414-228-5199.
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