Unsung Legends
ETHEL LLEWELLYN ENNIS, 1932-2019
The complex soundscapes emanating from the apartment below her childhood home was Ethel Ennis’ first introduction to jazz.
Growing up in a Methodist household in West Baltimore, music was strictly policed. Instead of learning popular music, Ethel was taught to play hymns on the piano by her mother and began playing regularly at Ames United Methodist Church. Everything changed when, at the age of 15, Ethel began singing at nightclubs off Pennsylvania Avenue, surprisingly with her mother's full support. One fateful evening, an audience member requested a blues number. Ethel obliged and the rest was history.
Ethel Ennis released her first record, 22, and was quickly signed to Capitol Records. As her career progressed, she received acclaim from the likes of Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, and even Ella Fitzgerald, who called Ethel her favorite young singer. Ethel performed onstage with Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton, and Louis Armstrong, was a regular on “Arthur Godfrey Time”, and headlined the Newport Jazz Festival.
Ethel married Baltimore Sun reporter Earl Arnett, a white man, in defiance of Maryland’s anti-miscegenation laws at the time and the pair settled in central Baltimore.
Though she then stepped back from the spotlight, Ethel could still be seen performing at local venues around the city over 60 years after the start of her career. Her talent and commitment to the city earned her the nickname “Baltimore’s first lady of jazz”. She passed away in 2019 at the age of 86.
“Then I’ll Be Tired Of You” (1958)
“I’ve Got That Feelin’” (1965)
“I’ve Got the Right to Sing the Blues” (1958)
WILLIAM HENRY "CHICK" WEBB, 1905-1939
A freak accident was what started Chick Webb down the path of jazz prominence. When he was just an infant, he fell down the steps of his Baltimore family home. The accident left his spine permanently deformed and caused him great discomfort for the rest of his life. In late childhood, his doctor suggested that Chick take up an instrument to alleviate some of the pain and so he started a newspaper route to save enough money for a drum set. By age 11 he was playing the drumkit professionally in local clubs.
At 17, Chick moved to New York City and started his own band, which toured through the five boroughs. In an effort to supply demand, he quickly took up the new 1920s popular swing style. Unable to read music, he memorized all of the charts the band played and conducted from a central platform.
In 1931, Chick’s group became the house band for the Savoy Ballroom, a hotspot for jazz in Harlem. He soon recognized the need for a new singer for the band and went in search of someone who fit the bill. A young singer by the name of Ella Fitzgerald caught his attention, and the pair were soon recording and performing regularly together. Chick's band competed in several highly publicized Battle of the Bands at the Savoy against the likes of the Benny Goodman orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, and Duke Ellington.
Chick’s health declined rapidly in late 1938; however, he continued to play so that his band could remain employed during the Great Depression. He died in June 1939 at the age of 34 from tuberculosis of the spine brought on by his childhood accident.
“Harlem Congo” (1937)
“Liza” (1938)
“A-Tisket, A-Tasket” (1938)
Veronica Tyler, c. 1939-2020
In 1949 the Peabody Institute dropped its racial barrier to enrollment, finally admitting African Americans students. Almost a decade later soprano Veronica Tyler was one of the first Black applicants to be accepted to the prestigious school. The Baltimore native faced discrimination at the Institute, being barred from eating in the school’s cafeteria. She often ate lunch with her good friend Junetta Jones in the ladies' lounge adjoining the library.
After graduating she moved to New York to pursue a graduate degree at the esteemed Juilliard. Life for Veronica moved quickly from there. She performed with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, and she won a series of international competitions including The Tchaikovsky Competition for Voice, and the Munich International Competition.
Veronica went on to have a very successful international career in opera, oratorio, symphonic works, and solo recitals. She sang at La Scala in Milan, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera where she sang Serena in Porgy and Bess for several seasons in the 1980s. She also performed at dozens of festivals throughout the United States and Europe.
Veronica died in 2020 after a brief illness.
Veronica Tyler singing “Donde Lieta,”
conducted by Leonard Bernstein
Veronica Tyler singing “Je dis,”
conducted by Leonard Bernstein
Avon Long, 1910-1984
Avon Long was a born performer. “I don’t remember not acting”, he told a Baltimore Sun reporter in 1976. “I was always encouraged by folks in the church and people in high school.” That school was Frederick Douglass High, where he was classmates with a young Anne Wiggins Brown.
After high school he ran away from his Baltimore home and traveled through Philadelphia, Boston, and New York, taking up odd jobs and performing in nightclubs to support himself. He played at the Lafayette Theater in Harlem, Adelaide Hall, and toured Philadelphia with Blanche Calloway.
In 1935, Anne Brown landed the role of Bess in Gershwin’s new opera, Porgy and Bess, and suggested Avon for the role of Sportin’ Life. While he auditioned, he was ultimately offered the standby position for John W. Bubbles. He turned down the offer and continued working at Cab Calloway’s Cotton Club. Avon would, however, get a chance to play Sportin’ Life in the 1942 Broadway revival of Porgy and Bess.
Avon's success ultimately lay on Broadway with shows like Beggar’s Holiday (1946), Shuffle Along (1952), and Don’t Play Us Cheap (1972) for which he received a Tony nomination. He also portrayed Chicken George in Roots: Part II (1979).
Avon died of cancer in 1984 at the age of 73.
Avon Long singing “There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon for New York” from Porgy and Bess, Reisman (1942)
Junetta Jones, 1936-2015
The daughter of a beautician and a steel worker, Junetta Jones began singing at St. John’s African Methodist Episcopal Church at a young age.
Junetta attended Peabody Conservatory for college, where she quickly became close friends with fellow Baltimorean soprano Veronica Tyler. The pair helped each other to navigate the often hostile, racist environment of the city and institution. During her time at Peabody, Junetta sang Bess in a concert production of Porgy and Bess with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. She graduated with a prestigious artist diploma in voice, the first diploma of its kind presented to an African-American singer.
While studying for her master's at the New England Conservatory, Junetta won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, securing her a two-year performance contract with the company. She spent the next several years touring across the United States and Europe, singing in some of the world's most well-known opera houses.
After returning to Balitmore in the late-1970s, Junetta worked as the Performing Arts Coordinator for the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Art and Culture, helping to plan the inaugural Artscape Festival.
Junetta died in 2015 at the age of 78 from complications from dementia.
Junetta Jones talks about her time at Peabody Conservatory
Junetta Jones in her 1936 Metropolitan Opera as the “Celestial Voice” in Don Carlo
