'Tremendous loss': Mary Alice Brown, Erie's jazz queen, dies at age 93

Erie jazz icon Mary Alice Brown has died.

Brown died Wednesday at her Erie home at the age of 93, her grandson, Charles Brown, told the Erie Times-News.

Charles Brown, who performs as Erie hip-hop artist Cee Brown, said his grandmother was a good example to others and "inspired so many of the musicians" who have played and still perform around Erie. He said she was a God-fearing woman who loved what she did best, which was her jazz.

Considered Erie's queen of jazz, Mary Alice Brown made many appearances in the region, including regular performances at the Erie Arts Festival and at Erie's Blues & Jazz Fest, including the initial festival in 1992.

She performed at a Perry 200 Commemoration musicale in 2013 and received a lifetime achievement honor in 2008 at the RockErie Music Awards. In 2001, Mary Alice Brown was one in a group of Erie musicians who performed at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland as part of an educational project.

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S. Vince Palermo, former president of the Erie Summer Festival of the Arts, at which Mary Alice Brown performed, said his heart was heavy at hearing of her passing.

"It's a tremendous loss," he said. "She was not only a community asset but a regional asset."

Palermo, of Erie, said he worked closely with Mary Alice Brown and her trio for years.

"Mary Alice would do me the great honor of closing out the Arts Festival each and every year for the community by giving us that Mary Alice Brown signature magical presence on stage that we came to adore. She was a community treasure," he said.

Palermo said Brown had a unique style to her jazz renderings and was not only a "beautiful talent" but a generous soul that believed in giving back to the community.

"Her stage presence was unbelievable," he said. "You just kept wanting more and more of that unique Mary Alice Brown style."

Palermo said that Mary Alice Brown, who taught music at Erie's JFK Center, "knew how important music was to touch the soul." She also had toured Erie schools with a program designed to introduce students to jazz.

"She loved the children she taught in Erie, Pa., at the JFK Center," said Delia Brown, Charles Brown's sister.

Delia Brown, who lives in San Antonio, Texas, said she was able to make it to Erie to be with her grandmother when she died.

"A lot of people got to see her as a performer but I got her as a grandma," Delia Brown said.

Herself a singer, Delia Brown said Mary Alice Brown was always caring, loving and full of wisdom.

"She taught us about God, just to always put God first," Delia Brown said.

Born in Erie on Oct. 28, 1929 and due to celebrate her 94th birthday later this month, Mary Alice Brown was one of Erie's great musicians. She was a prodigy of musician and teacher Earl Lawrence and had performed with Dexter Gordon and Bob Hope, according to A Shared Heritage, a website about people, places and events associated with the history of African Americans in Erie County. She is listed under the website's "Pioneers, Community Builders, & Freedom Fighters."

Mary Alice Brown polished her talent on the piano at the Erie Conservatory of Music and performed at local clubs and lounges. She eventually took her music well beyond Pennsylvania, according to a 2002 column in the Erie Times-News. It states she headed to California and performed at various hotels and resorts and also entertained in Guam, the Philippines, Korea and Japan. After California, she settled in Hawaii for a decade, not returning to Erie until 1992 at the urging of then-Mayor Joyce Savocchio, who dubbed Brown "the queen of jazz."

During Mary Alice Brown's 90th birthday celebration, current Mayor Joe Schember proclaimed June 2 as Mary Alice Brown Day in Erie, according to a Facebook post by the city. In the February 2021 post, Erie featured a clip of her playing the piano as part of a celebration of the city’s rich, cultural diversity.

While well-known as a performer, Mary Alice Brown was also a mother and grandmother. Charles Brown said she was a very calm person with a lot of wisdom to share and was a very spiritual person although she didn't attend a particular church.

"She was a huge storyteller," he said.

Charles Brown, who wrote columns for the Erie Times-News, took piano lessons from his grandmother at the JFK Center when he was 10.

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"When I got into music it was more of a genetic thing than her overlooking me," he said. But he added that she was always proud of him.

"She told me I wasn't a rapper, I was a poet," Charles Brown said.

He said Mary Alice Brown was married to James Martin, who survives her, and was mother to eight boys. She also had numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

He said funeral arrangements were still being worked out and were being handled by Dusckas Funeral Home, 2607 Buffalo Road. He said a private service would be held for family and close friends but that a public event celebrating his grandmother was in the works.

Dana Massing can be reached at dmassing@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Mary Alice Brown, Erie's jazz queen, dies at age 93