NOTE: This exhibit is CLOSED. For reference only. In addition to being Wilmington’s mayor, James M. Baker is also an aficionado of music. Be it jazz or blues, rock and roll or hip hop, Jim can tell you who the artist was, when the piece was recorded, and where in Delaware it has been performed live. Using his extensive knowledge of African American artists, Baker wrote a book in 1989, with the second volume added in 1993, called The Genuine American Music. He traces the development of American musical tradition from the meter and cadence of work songs that enslaved Africans brought with them to America, which form the basis for the evolution of jazz, blues, and other musical forms.

A major part of Baker’s book is the encyclopedic biographies of black performers from the 1700s through today. Each artist is represented by an original charcoal and gouache portrait by local artists Bernard Ben Pierce, who illustrated the first volume, and Ashley Milburn, who illustrated the second. Mayor Baker generously donated all of the original artwork to the Historical Society of Delaware in 1996.
	This summer, to coincide with the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, the Historical Society is putting over fifty of these works of art on display. Genuine American Music is generously supported by the City of Wilmington, and will run from June 12 through August 14, 2004.