Mary Alice Clarke

Mary Alice Clarke

Mary Alice Clarke Stollenwerck, a member of Birmingham's musical Clarke family, played piano, organ, accordion, and vibraphone; directed music at Birmingham's prestigious Sixteenth Street Baptist Church; and performed for years in Fess Whatley's Sax-o-Society and Vibra-Cathedral orchestras. Though she preferred to reject the "jazz" label, she was a pioneering woman in Birmingham's male-dominated jazz community (her vibraphone, in fact, gave Whatley's Vibra-Cathedreal Orchestra a key piece of its name).

Photo courtesy Carol Clarke.

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