Legendary Baltimore jazz vocalist Ethel Ennis (1932–2019) will be honored by her family and friends at a free, public memorial concert on Friday, May 24 at the Peabody Institute’s Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall.

The hour-long special tribute includes rare recordings of and interviews with Ennis; remarks by her husband, Earl Arnett; and live performances by her musical colleagues, including jazz greats Charles Covington, Stef Scaggiari, Mark Russell, Cyrus Chestnut, Marc Copland, and Gene Bertoncini.

Affectionately known as Baltimore’s “First Lady of Jazz,” Ethel Ennis was a jazz musician whose seven-decade career included performances with Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, the Miles David-John Coltrane Sextet, and Wynton Marsalis.

The Johns Hopkins University's Sheridan Libraries and Peabody Institute are very proud to co-host this memorial concert for Ethel Ennis with her family and friends. Ennis received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the university in 2008 and designated the Sheridan Libraries as the repository of her archives in 2018.