A Man Called Adam is a 1966 American drama musical film directed by Leo Penn and starring Sammy Davis Jr.

It tells the story of a self-destructive jazz musician, played by Davis, and his tumultuous relationships with the people in his life.

Adam Johnson is a talented African-American jazz cornetist plagued by ill health, racism, alcoholism and a short temper, as well as guilt over the deaths years before of his wife and child.

The result is a caustic personality that wears on even those who care the most about him, such as his best friend Nelson and Vincent, a young White trumpeter whom Adam mentors.

[1] It features several musical numbers, including Louis Armstrong performing "Back O' Town Blues" and two songs composed for the film by Benny Carter: Mel Tormé on "All That Jazz" and Sammy Davis Jr. with "Whisper to One".

Johnny Brown, who later became better known as a comic actor on the television series Laugh-In and Good Times, plays the role of the blind pianist in Adam's jazz quintet.

Brown's future Good Times co-star Ja'Net DuBois also appears in the film as a girlfriend of Adam.

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther wrote:The picture fails, although it tries hard and, in some ways, admirably.

[3]Critic Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote:"A Man Called Adam" has all the class of a hastily-assembled TV drama hour.

It has no style, just awkward stagings, and its tempo is as uneven as its script, an overly-familiar story of the decline and fall of a jazz great.