Abstract Alfred E. Prettyman is a book publisher and college professor. He is the son of Edward Prettyman, a trumpeter and the conductor of the Colored Park Band of Baltimore. Alfred played a large role in changing the content of high school and college textbooks to include African Americans and Native Americans. He is the co-founder of Emerson Hall Publishers and the Society for the Study of Africana Philosophy. In this interview with Elizabeth Schaaf, he discusses his family's activity in the...

Abstract Andre Watts made his concert debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of nine, and he has maintained himself since the 1960s as one of America’s leading concert pianists. Born in Germany in 1946, he moved with his family to Philadelphia, where he continued his studies with Doris Bawden and Clement Petrillo. In 1963 he earned critical acclaim with his performance of the first Liszt piano concerto with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic. The next year he undertook a world...

Abstract Anne Wiggins Brown (1912-2009) was a soprano who is best known for creating the role of Bess in George Gershwin's folk opera Porgy and Bess and starring in its initial stage run in 1935. Born in Baltimore in 1912, Brown attended Frederick Douglass High School and studied music with W. Llewellyn Wilson. After being denied entry to the Peabody Conservatory of Music because it did not admit African-American students at the time, Brown enrolled at the Juilliard...

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Oral history interview of soprano Anne Wiggins Brown, conducted by telephone.

Abstract Arthur "Pigmeat" Garner (1920-2011) was a saxophonist and member of the Royal Theater Orchestra. He played in the band at Douglass High School under the direction of W. Llewellyn Wilson. After graduating in 1939, he began playing with Tracy McCleary's Kentuckians at the Ritz and the Strand. During World War II, Garner performed with the 325th Army Band at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. In 1946, after his discharge from the Army, he returned to the band at the Royal Theater. He played with bands...

Abstract Audrey Cyrus McCallum was the first African-American student to attend the Peabody Preparatory division. She went on to study at the Peabody Conservatory with Julio Esteban, graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1960 and a master's in Music Education in 1967. She began her career as a music teacher in the Baltimore public schools, particularly Western High School, where she taught for 22 years. She is a member of the faculty of Morgan State University. Audrey McCallum is in constant...

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A record producer, composer, pianist, critic, and educator, Cal Lampley taught at the Peabody Conservatory and Morgan State University for many years in the 1970s and 1980s after working in the record industry. Interview with Elizabeth Schaaf.

Abstract Charles P. Harris (1916-2003) studied bass and violin with W. Llewellyn Wilson and Lucien Odend'hal. He began his career playing bass in Baltimore clubs and at the Royal Theatre on Pennsylvania Avenue. He toured and recorded with Lionel Hampton during the 1940s and with the Nat King Cole Trio for fifteen years, beginning in 1951. He also recorded with Wynonie Harris, Herbie Fields, Milt Buckner, and Arnett Cobb. In this interview with Elizabeth Schaaf, Harris recounts his career as a local...

Abstract Cyrus Chestnut is a jazz pianist. A Baltimore native, Chestnut began piano studies with his father, the pianist at Mount Calvary Baptist Church. At age nine, he began piano theory and musicianship classes at the Peabody Preparatory Division, where he studied for twelve years. He accompanied the choir at the Israel Baptist Church in East Baltimore. He attended Baltimore City and Harford County public schools, then Berklee College of Music, where he studied jazz composition and arranging....

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Delandria Mills is a jazz, gospel, and classical flutist, composer, educator, and author. She has studied at Prairie View A&M University and the Peabody Conservatory. Interview by Elizabeth Schaaf.

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Dorothy Lofton Jones (1936-2018) was a soprano and a founder, artistic director, and costume maker of the Municipal Opera Company of Baltimore. She studied at the Peabody Preparatory and with Elaine Bonazzi. In this interview with Elizabeth Schaaf, Jones describes her own musical development and the founding and growth of the Municipal Opera Company.

Abstract Born in Rich Springs, North Carolina, Douglas MacArthur moved to Baltimore's East Side as a teenager. He served in Europe with the U.S. Army 10th Cavalry during World War II. He began his carer as a musician while serving in the military. After returning to Baltimore, he became active with the Musicians' Union local 543 and continued his music education at the Larry London School of Music, majoring in double bass. He was a member of Tracy McCleary's band, the Royal Men of Rhythm, at the...

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Edward Walters (b. 1946) is a clarinetist and conductor who studied at the Peabody Preparatory and Conservatory and taught at the University of Maryland. His sister, Jeannette Walters, was a soprano who studied at the Peabody Conservatory. Interview with Elizabeth Schaaf about Walters's career as a clarinetist and music contractor and his musical training at Peabody.

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Elaine Hassell was a teacher and chorister. Her husband, William J. Hassell, was an organist at the Ames Methodist Church. In this interview with Elizabeth Schaaf, Elaine Hassell discusses William's musical career and the musicians they associated with, including T. Henderson Kerr, W. Llewellyn Wilson, and Alfred Prettyman.

Abstract Elizabeth Day (1920-2012) was a pianist, organist, and music educator. She played with the United Service Organization (USO) entertaining military personnel during World War II. Day studied at the Juilliard School of Music and earned a degree in music theory at what is now Morgan State University. She taught in Baltimore County Public Schools, including Bear Creek Elementary and Sollers Point Senior High. She founded and ran the Betty Day Trio, a musical ensemble that performed at social...

Abstract Interview by Elizabeth Schaaf of Ellis Larkins (1923-2002), a pianist based in Baltimore. Larkins's wife, Crystal Larkins, is also heard during the interview.In 1934 Ellis Larkins made his debut with the Baltimore City Colored Orchestra. Larkins studied classical piano at Douglass High School and at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, at a time when African-American students were generally not admitted at Peabody. Larkins also served as an organist at the St. James Episcopal...

Abstract Interview with Ethel Ennis (1932-2019), a Baltimore-based jazz singer. Ennis describes her family's musical influences on her as a young girl and her training in piano with Lovey Husketh. Ennis began performing as a pianist and singer at the age of 15 with a group called Abe Riley's Octet, which performed around Baltimore in the 1940s and early 1950s. She began touring and recording as a singer in the 1950s, working with musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Stephane...

Abstract Lloyd Eugene Prettyman (1908-2006) was a bassist and French horn player for various musical ensembles based in Baltimore. Educated at Douglass High School and New York University, he studied double bass with A. Jack Thomas. While at Douglass, he went on the vaudeville circuit with a group called the Icy Hots, with Hamilton Murray, Frank Trigg, Teddy Plummer, Jimmy Waters, and Avon Long. He played French horn with the Masonic Band and the City Colored Park Band led by his brother, Edward...

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Gwen Nichols (1916-2008) was a music teacher for Baltimore City Public Schools. She studied with W. Llewellyn Wilson at Douglass High School and earned a degree from Coppin State. After retiring in 2002, she opened her own studio and taught privately. In this interview with Elizabeth Schaaf, Nichols discusses her musical training and her teaching career.

Abstract Active as a performer and club owner, Henry Baker (1921-2008) ran a haberdashery on Pennsylvania Avenue that was a meeting place for jazz greats performing at the Royal Theater and the clubs on the Avenue. He also operated jazz clubs: Peyton Place on Pennsylvania Avenue in the 1960s and, later, The Closet on Franklin Street. Reppard Stone (1930-2019) came to Baltimore in 1949 from Macon, Georgia, to study at Morgan College. He became deeply involved with the Baltimore music...

Abstract Isaiah Dixon Jr. (1922-2013) was a jazz fan, world traveler, and four-term state delegate from Baltimore City whose accomplishments included introducing a bill that made cross burnings a felony in Maryland. In 1976, he introduced a bill giving the mayor of Baltimore the power to appoint the city police commissioner. He was the son of Isaiah (Ike) Dixon Sr., a jazz bandleader and owner of the Comedy Club on Pennsylvania Avenue.In this interview, Dixon Jr. recounts his memories of...

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This is an artificially assembled collection of oral histories recorded with administration, faculty, staff, alumni, students, and other Johns Hopkins University affiliates, 1999-2004 and 2014-present. The early oral history interviews were faciliated by Mame Warren starting 1999, and as of 2014 by Hopkins Retrospective.

Abstract Junetta Jones (1936-2015) was a soprano and arts administrator. In 1959 she became the first African-American to be awarded an artist diploma from the Peabody Conservatory. She won local and regional Metropolitan Opera auditions and in 1963 was awarded a contract to sing with the company. She was the first African-American from the Maryland area to sing at the Metropolitan. In 1966 she went to Europe to perform in opera houses in Germany and Switzerland. After returning to Baltimore, she was...

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Justin Thomas is a vibraphonist and percussionist born in 1987. He won second place at Showtime at the Apollo in February 2000 and was a finalist on Star Search. He has studied at the Baltimore School of the Arts and performed with Wynton Marsalis, Ellis Larkins, and Cyrus Chestnut. In this interview with Elizabeth Schaaf, Thomas discusses his musical education with Wendell Hairston, his recent performances, and his development as a jazz musician and composer.

Abstract Langston Fitzgerald is a trumpeter who played for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra from 1970 to 2003 and served on the Peabody Conservatory faculty. A past winner of the John F. Kennedy Center Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award, he has also played with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and served as assistant principal trumpet with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He has been principal trumpet and musical contractor of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society Orchestra...