Mrs. Lipscomb

teacher (classical piano)

Mrs. Lipscomb was one of Barry’s early classical piano teachers in Detroit, who taught him in a private home; the sources give no first name.

mentions: 0
recordings: 0
Barry speaking: 0

What Barry says

Barry names Mrs. Lipscomb among his early piano teachers, alongside the preacher Neptune Holloway and, later, Gladys Dillard. Hers is the first name he gives when the oral history asks whom he was studying with.

Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶101Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶102Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶160

Her lessons were classical and took place in a private home. Barry keeps them apart from his mother’s teaching, which was church music.

Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶160Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶6

Barry’s accounts in the oral history and to Ted Panken put Holloway first and Mrs. Dillard, the teacher he shared with Tommy Flanagan, last, with Mrs. Lipscomb between them.

Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶102Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶160

In his own words

Different teachers, you know. I had teachers. I had a teacher named Mrs. Lipscum.

Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program. Smithsonian oral history, asked who he studied with ¶102

Classical was with Neptune Holloway and Mrs. Lipscomb, which was in a private home.

Barry Harris on WKCR-FM. Phone interview with Ted Panken, 2000 ¶160

I studied classical with a preacher named Neptune Holloway, who quite a few of us took lessons from, and also Mrs. Lipscomb, which was in a private home.

Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday. DownBeat feature, on his first teachers ¶6

Every mention

0 moments in the recordings, 0 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.

In the interviews and notes

Barry, Smithsonian oral history 2010 Barry, in his own words
Asked whom he studied with, Barry names a Mrs. Lipscum first, then Neptune Holloway as the first teacher for his circle, then Mrs. Lipscum again before Mrs. Dillard.
Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶102
Barry, phone interview with Ted Panken 2000 Barry, in his own words
Barry says his classical lessons were with Neptune Holloway and with Mrs. Lipscomb in a private home, while his mother was the church side of his music.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶160
Barry, DownBeat feature by Ted Panken 2000 Barry, in his own words
The DownBeat feature gives the same list: classical study with Holloway, and with Mrs. Lipscomb in a private home, before Gladys Dillard.
Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶6
Brian de Lima, dissertation 2017 A scholar
De Lima lists Mrs. Lipscum among the music teachers of Barry’s early years, using the oral history’s spelling.
Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶687