Abstract Pianist Howard E. "Church" Anderson (1911-2001) studied music with Llewellyn Wilson in the 1920s and graduated from Douglass High School in 1929. He later studied arranging with A. Jack Thomas. He worked as an accompanist at many of the AME churches in Baltimore, earning the nickname "Church." In the 1930s he performed in jazz bands with musicians such as A. Jack Thomas, Ike Dixon, River Chambers, and Dizzy Gillespie. Anderson performed in Atlantic City with the Grooveneers and toured with...

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Clara Larkins Bailey is a chorister and the daughter of violinist John W. Larkins and sister of pianist Ellis Larkins. In this interview with Julia Koo, Bailey discusses her musical training and her memories of Ellis Larkins.

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...

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Ruth Binsky was one of the early members of the Left Bank Jazz Society, an organization that presented jazz concerts in Baltimore from 1964 until the 1980s. Her husband, Michael Binsky, managed a jazz club called the Bandstand. In this interview, Ruth Binsky discusses the Left Bank Jazz Society and various jazz clubs in the Baltimore/Washington area.

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Lucille M/ Brooks (1912-2014) was an organist, music educator, and choral conductor. She was educated at Dunbar High School, Morgan State University, and the Peabody Conservatory. She studied with organist John Dungee, who was for many years an organist at Bethel Church. Brooks organized the boys' choir at Dunbar High School and taught music at Carver High School.

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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After graduating from Douglass High School, David Burton (b. 1949) went on to study at Baltimore City Community College, Morgan State University and Towson State University. Burton joined the faculty at Douglass High School in 1985 as Director of Bands. He is the organizer and leader of the Douglass Jazz Combo. In the interview, Russell Frisby and Burton discuss jazz, growing up in Baltimore, Douglass High, and the state of music education.

Abstract Hugh Carey (1945-) is a pianist, organist, and choral conductor who studied at Morgan State College and Boston University. Carey taught at Patterson High School and Dunbar High School, then worked for Citizens Celebrating Baltimore, under the sponsorship of the Mayor of Baltimore. He joined the faculty at Coppin State in 1998. He has served as Minister of Music for Christ United Methodist, St. Katherine's of Alexandria Episcopal, Madison Avenue Presbyterian, Metropolitan United Methodist and...

Abstract Shirley Hennigan Carter (1942-) is a singer. Her talent as a musician emerged when she was in middle school, when she was encouraged by her teacher, Alice Hershaw, to begin vocal studies. She trained with Goldie Green before going on to the Peabody Preparatory Department where she studied with Josephine McLaughlin. Active as a church musician, she also sings with the Heritage Signature Chorale in Washington, D.C., and the Baltimore Municipal Opera. In this interview, Carter describes her...

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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Daniel Comegys is a singer. Educated at Douglass High School and Morgan State University, Comegys began his musical studies with Ruth McAbee and Marion Smith. He studied voice with Frank Whitmore, Igor Chichagov and Roland Hayes. In Paris he worked with Nadia Boulanger and Pierre Bernac. Comegys has concertized throughout the United States, Africa, and Europe.

Abstract James Crockett (1925-2019) was a jazz supporter, realtor, and businessman. Raised in Baltimore, Crockett attended Douglass High School, where he was inspired by the school's music teacher, W. Llewellyn Wilson. As a young man, he frequented the Royal Theater and the clubs on Pennsylvania Avenue, where he heard Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Eckstine, and many other jazz greats. Crockett was influential in creating and supporting Baltimore's musical institutions, including the Eubie Blake...

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Oral history interview of Suzanne Davis, daughter of musician Harrison Watts. Watts played violin, flute, and saxophone in ensembles led by A. Jack Thomas and Charles Harris, and he taught at Howard University. Davis studied music at Frederick Douglass High School with W. Llewellyn Wilson. In this interview, Davis recounts her memories of the musical life of Baltimore's Black community from approximately the 1930s to 1960s.

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