Cellist Ronald Lipscomb (seen here with a student), who has lived in both Mt. Airy and Germantown, has had a remarkable career , having played with The New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein, the American Symphony under Leopold Stokowski and with an orchestra conducted by Duke Ellington. (Photo by Gino Guarnere)

by Suzanne Cloud

Arising out of Northern Italy around 1530, the cello is the bass member of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths an octave lower than the viola, and they can be plucked for a percussive effect or bowed to create plaintive tones from a low burst of passion to an urgent tenor insisting on a moment with the listener...The playing of it feels so natural. The sound is sui generis.

Philadelphia cellist Ronald Lipscomb, a West Philly kid who grew up near Fairmount Park at Belmont and Parkside Avenues, was lucky because back in the day it was considered important for children to start music lessons in public elementary school. Not so much now, unfortunately. That early music instruction eventually took him to the Queen Street Settlement Music School at age 12.

“The cello was an instrument that became available to me. And despite its size, I liked the beautiful sound of it. It’s one of the instruments closest to being a human voice. I love that. So, I treat it as a voice when I play.”

Lipscomb, who previously lived on Bryan Street in Mt. Airy for three years and Morris Street in Germantown for four years before that (now Olney), followed his muse from Shoemaker Junior High to Central High and then to Temple University, but it was not until he attended the University of Iowa that he decided to become a musician. Wryly, he added, “my father wanted me to become a doctor.”

His talent then took him to the esteemed Manhattan School of Music for four years and a summer program studying under the great cellist Pablo Casals, who saw music as a part of the natural world.

“Pablo Casals conducted the orchestra as if every leaf, every blade of grass is different, and so if you apply that to music, every note had its own individuality, had its growth and fit into a pattern. This is what he would do.”

In November of 1967, The New York Times did a story on the problem of racial discrimination in symphonies around the country. At that time, there were no black musicians in the Philadelphia Orchestra. The article, “The Negro in Search of an Orchestra,” focused on an integrated ensemble called The Symphony of the New World, created and directed by Benjamin Steinberg to try and address the bigotry.

Calling himself a “white radical,” Steinberg organized the group to play a concert at Philharmonic Hall in New York City, with black Philadelphian James DePriest (Marian Anderson’s nephew) guest conducting. Ronald Lipscomb, then 24, was spotlighted in the article with the reporter categorizing him as one of a group of “young, talented, bearded radicals.” Lipscomb was quoted as saying he appreciated the effort to extend the musical franchise to black musicians, but “…this should be seen for what it is: a middle-class operation with integrationalist ideals, having no relation whatsoever to the mass of black people.”

It is important to note that the Philadelphia Orchestra under the directorship of Eugene Ormandy wouldn’t integrate until three years later when the maestro finally hired two African-American musicians, a violinist and violist, to join the 103 full-time orchestra members. “They were chosen entirely because of their musical abilities, not because of race,” said Ormandy, “There are only good or bad musicians. Color never enters my mind.”

Lipscomb said, “At that time there was a big push to integrate orchestras in New York. There were barriers then…New York friends of mine, good players, who came back to audition for the Philadelphia Orchestra were turned down. There was a glass ceiling to get into the orchestra, to make a good living.”

Notwithstanding the barriers put in front of black musicians, cellist Ronald Lipscomb has had an incredible career, playing with The New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein, the American Symphony under Stokowski, and appearing as soloist in Duke Ellington’s signature piece, the “Black, Brown, and Beige Suite,” with the Symphony of the New World — Ellington conducting.

About Bernstein, Lipscomb recollected, “The thing that really amazed me was that he could work himself up to the same emotional state every performance. We did Tchaikovsky’s 6th, and you did not know whether it was sweat or tears when we hit a certain movement. And it happened every performance. He threw himself totally into it.” And his memories of playing with the Duke: “That gig with Ellington was like a dream to me. Wonderful. He had an aura about him, and he was such a wonderful musician.”

Lipscomb has performed and recorded with many well-known entertainers and singers, including Frank Sinatra, Gladys Knight, Isaac Hayes, Marvin Gaye, Sammy Davis, Jr. and recorded with James Brown for his “Live at the Apollo, Volume II.” But, unlike many classical players, he can jam with the best jazz artists out there.

Besides performing, Lipscomb is a sought-after teacher. He currently teaches cello in Philadelphia Orchestra Community Services Program and at Bryn Mawr Conservatory, and he knows that times can be tough for young musicians. “Many of the jobs that were happening when I got out of college, recording, backups for artists, that's not happening so much anymore. People have to create their own thing. There’s a lot more responsibility on individual players.”