Roxbury’s Ross brought beauty, music to masses

Edmund Barry Gaither

A son of Boston, John Andrew Ross was born December 15, 1940, to Olga E. and Melville E. Ross. After an extended illness, he died on June 12. His sister Paula Ann Ross of Boston survives him.

Ross grew up in Roxbury, attended Boston public schools and later attended Boston University, where he majored in church music. He studied piano with Arabella Hinton and Edith Stearns, organ with Theodore Marier and Max Miller and voice with David Blair McCloskey and Donna Roll. Ross was well prepared for a career as a vocal and keyboard recitalist, composer and arranger.

Well known for his elegance manner and his cheerful disposition, Ross was a wonderful conversationalist, and enjoyed a great fondness for fine foods. Those who worked closely with him also knew that he tended to be late about everything except performances.

In late l969, Ross became chairman of the Department of Music at the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts (ELSFA) where he oversaw a staff of more than forty full and part-time music teachers serving the needs of over 400 students. After hiring Betty Hillmon as director of musical instruction in l972, he increasingly devoted his attention to the building the choral ensemble Children of Black Persuasion and its adult counterpart Voices of Black Persuasion. This endeavor benefited from his excellent teaching, as well as his skills as an arranger and performance coach.

Simultaneously, Ross served as director of the Music Division of the National Center of Afro-American Artists (NCAAA), the professional organization that paralleled the teaching programs of ELSFA until the two were merged in the mid-1980s. In this capacity, Ross was responsible for several professional entities, including the NCAAA Big Band under the artistic direction of Jakki Byard and the Heritage Ensemble under the artistic direction of M. Babatunde Olatunji. Along with Elma Lewis, Ross was at the center of special musical programs involving noted pianist Randy Weston, jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams and composer Noel DaCosta, as well as the Boston Pops Orchestra. Under his direction, Voices of Black Persuasion toured internationally, singing at festivals in Brazil, Surinam, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Senegal and West Africa. Often, he also lectured on black music in association with these performances.

Ross organized musical and performing arts events for other venues across New England, including numerous shows for the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum and many colleges and universities. He also produced a variety of musical segments for television and radio, including the Emmy-nominated “Say Brother,” “Something About the Blues” and “Blues and Gone,” a tribute to Duke Ellington, choreographed by Billy Wilson (“Bubbling Brown Sugar” on Broadway). He collaborated on the WGBH-TV documentary on the great singer Roland Hayes. When the Tony Award-winning musical “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope” played an engagement in Boston, Ross conducted its music.

Ross will always be associated with the NCAAA’s singular interpretation of Langston Hughes’ “Black Nativity,” for which he was musical director from l970 until his death. Creating new arrangements and edits, Ross reinvented “Black Nativity” using both children and adults, African percussion, and the extraordinary choreography of his associate in dance George Howard. His “Black Nativity” has brought joy to tens of thousands since it was first performed, and has become a seasonal favorite in Boston.

Beyond the NCAAA, Ross provided music for various events, funerals, weddings and church services, including serving as summer organist for Marsh Chapel Sunday Worship (WBUR-Radio) at Boston University. Increasingly, his music became a ministry, leading to his ordination in 1997 as Minister of Music at First Parish in Brookline where he found a vibrant community of music lovers.

Among the many special projects undertaken by Ross were the artistic arrangements and production of the CD “Comin’ Up Shoutin’” with Revels, Inc. and the arrangements and music for two children’s books illustrated by Ashley Bryan — ”What a Morning: The Christmas Story in African-American Spirituals” and “Climbing Jacob’s Ladder: Heroes of the Bible in African American Spirituals.”

Ross received many honors, including the 2006 Life Achievement Award from the Friends of the Urban League, the 2005 Music and Theater Award from the Tri-Ad Veterans League, and a reception in his honor by the NCAAA and the Cast of Black Nativity celebrating his contributions to music and the arts.

In greater Boston, John Andrew Ross was a graceful and defining presence, mentoring performers, shaping the NCAAA’s longstanding mission of bringing music to the world and embodying the vision of his mentor and friend Elma Lewis. Unselfishly, he gave his remarkable talents as teacher, performer and humanist to the community that he loved.

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