NOTABLE ARKANSANS

He was born in 1895 in Mississippi, but while he was still an infant his father died and he and his mother moved to Little Rock to live with his grandmother. At an early age, he showed an unusual interest in music. At Little Rock’s M. W. Gibbs High School he was extremely precocious, graduating in 1911 as valedictorian of his class at the age of 16.

He began his musical career in Memphis and performed with the legendary W. C. Handy. He attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio and later moved to Harlem in New York City and performed with Artie Shaw, Paul Whiteman and other musical greats.

He became a composer and his compositions were the first by a black artist to be performed by major orchestras. He was the first black to conduct a major orchestra, the first to compose an opera performed by a major company and the first black to have an opera performed on national television.

He is regarded as “the Dean” of black composers. In 1971, the University of Arkansas awarded him an honorary doctorate and he has been inducted into the Arkansas Entertainment Hall of Fame.

Who was this famous Arkansas composer who was also a self-taught, world-class oboist? Answer on Page 6E