A prodigy of Earl Lawrence, Mary Alice Brown became of one of Erie’s great musicians. Erie’s “Queen of Jazz,” Brown has performed with such luminaries as Dexter Gordon and Bob Hope—the latter, at a fundraiser for the fledgling JFK Center that had been established by her friend Bobby Harrison). Mary Alice Brown and her husband lived in Hawaii for a decade before coming home in 1992 at the urging of former Erie Mayor Joyce Savocchio. She has done much to keep jazz alive and well in Erie and extend the city rich musical legacy.