Abstract Clarence Henderson graduated from Dunbar High School in 1940. His early music studies with Pauline Wharton and Georgeanna Chester. He attended Wilberforce University on a scholarship and Columbia University, where he received his master's degree. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and performed in Europe on a State Department sponsored tour. Henderson retired as minister of music at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in 1982 after 26 years of service and Bethel AME in 1992 after...

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Interview of Baltimore jazz musician William Hill by Elizabeth Schaaf.

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Oral history interview of Jeff Jacobs, a minister of music in Annapolis and the surrounding area. He earned a doctorate from the North Carolina College of Theology and was a minister of music at the Bethel AME Church in Baltimore and the East Friendship Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.

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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 James Nathan Jones (b. 1935) is a singer who performed with the Municipal Opera Company of Baltimore and the Metropolitan Opera touring company. He received a bachelor's and a master's degree from Morgan State University, where he wrote a thesis in 1978 titled "Alfred Jack Thomas (1884-1962): Musician, Composer, Educator." In this interview, Jones discusses his research on Thomas, his musical education with Robert Earl Anderson, his family's involvement in the Pennsylvania Avenue musical...

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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Interview by Andrew Fields of Thomas H. Kerr Jr. and an unidentified woman (probably his sister). Kerr Jr. was a composer, a piano instructor at Howard University, and the son of composer Thomas Kerr Sr. This interview is primarily a conversation about Kerr Sr.'s musical career.

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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 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 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...

Abstract Henry Mays (1927-2017) began studying cello in Cincinnati with Victor Rice. He settled in Baltimore after serving in the U.S. Army at Fort Meade and resumed his musical studies privately with Victor Kessell and with Mihaly Virizlay at the Peabody Conservatory. He played in theater orchestras on Pennsylvania Avenue, with the Rivers Chambers Orchestra and with Meyer Davis. In 1967 Mays was hired to play in the newly opened Morris Mechanic Theatre. Mays also performed with orchestras at...

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...

Abstract Tracy McCleary (1914-2003) began musical studies at Frederick Douglass School in Oklahoma City and toured the Oklahoma oil fields during the 1920s. He was educated at Talladega College and Alabama State College. McCleary toured with Erskine Hawkins and performed with Benny Carter in New York. Arriving in Baltimore in the early 1930s, he was hired to play at the Plantation on Pennsylvania Avenue. He went on to lead Ike Dixon's band at the Comedy Club and then established his own band, Tracy's...

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Oral history interview of Dorothy Lofton Jones, soprano and founder of the Municipal Opera Company of Baltimore, by Marsha Peart.

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...