Who would have known that in 1946, after an extensive, rigorously designed military type six weeks of band practice history would be born. As a result a 100-piece marching band took to the field at Tennessee State University and from that grand birth an elongated line of Aristocrats would follow.

Honor goes to the late Dr. Walter S. Davis for realizing the need for establishing a show band at Tennessee State University. When it was time to select the first band director President Davis turned to J.D. “Chick” Chavis to serve as the first band director. During Chavis’ direction, the marching band flourished and developed into a premier university band that caused crowds to watch in awe and bewilderment for they had never been thrilled by a marching band before.

In 1951 the baton was passed from J.D. Chavis’ to Frank T. Greer, a man more than worthy to carry on the great tradition of excellence in motion and sound. Tennessee State University’s distinctive style was nurtured and loved under the leadership and guidance of Prof. Greer. He realized that prior to him the band had done great things. For example 1947 and 1948, the marching band had performed in the Washington Classic in Washington, D.C., where top historically black colleges and universities competed for national championships. The standards had been set and it was up to Prof. Greer to lead the band towards greatness, and he did.

The TSU band, a black band, was invited to perform during the half-time show of the Chicago Bears -vs- the Los Angeles Rams professional football game, four years after Greer began his work. This was a first for a historically black university band to appear on national television. It was also the first of a long series of nationally televised half-time shows for the band.

The TSU band performed half-time shows for nine professional football games throughout 1956 and 1978. However, the turning point came during one of these half-time performances when a sportscaster called the marching band from Tennessee State University “The Aristocrat of Bands.” Truly this was the only way to describe beauty in motion. And a legacy took flight.

Prof. Greer and The Aristocrat of Bands astounded audiences during the Orange Blossom Classic in Miami, the Blues Bowl in Memphis and the Grantland Rice Bowl in Wichita Falls, Texas. But nothing was like the year of 1961 when the band claimed another first for historically black universities by being invited to march in President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural parade.

Maybe it was fate that Edward L. Graves was a member of that 1961 band, for in 1979 he was to take all that Prof. Greer had imbedded in him and continue to build upon the legacy that had been created. The baton had now been entrusted to Prof. Edward L. Graves.

In 1993 and 1997 the band was invited again by President Bill Clinton to perform in the inaugural parade. Under Prof. Graves’s leadership, to this day, the band has maintained its reputation as being the greatest band in all the land and they have been putting their signature on everything they do.