Conaway: We are Warriors, every one
The Central High School jazz band performed on their home stage Tuesday, May 13, after winning the Essentially Ellington worldwide competition in New York last weekend. (Submitted)
Dan Conaway
Dan Conaway was a freelance columnist with The Daily Memphian from 2018 to 2025.
Central High School wears the letter H on their gear.
That stands for high school, something Central claimed as the first high school in Memphis, built in 1909. What that meant then was the first white high school. That wasn’t said, it was understood. This was the one that counted in a segregated city.
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Calkins: Want to feel better about MSCS? I give you Ollie Liddell and his fabulous band.
Hundreds of high school jazz bands audition from all over the world to be invited to the Essentially Ellington contest in May. Only 30 bands make it — and guess where one of them is from.
Calkins: Central’s jazz band is playing Lincoln Center. And it’s thanks to y’all.
Ollie Liddell, the director of bands at Central High, wasn’t sure how his jazz band would get to the Essentially Ellington contest at Lincoln Center. Then Memphians came through for him.
Calkins: Central High lights up the stage — and advances to finals in New York.
The Central High jazz band continued to blaze through New York, advancing to the finals of the Essentially Ellington contest. Said Ollie Liddell, the band’s director: “We play with the spirt of the city, man.”
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