♪♪
>> ON SEPTEMBER 7th, 1959, WEST MONTGOMERY SHOWED UP AT THE
MISSILE ROOM, AN AFTER HOURS CLUB IN INDIANAPOLIS FOR A LATE
NIGHT SET. SITTING IN THE AUDIENCE WAS
ATTARLY, A RENOWNED SAXOPHONIST. IN TOWN WAS THE ALL-STAR JAZZ
TOUR THAT PERFORMED EARLIER NET EVENING.
AS MONTGOMERY'S MUSIC COOKED AND GROOVED, ATTARLY CLOSED HIS
EYES, BROKE INTO A HUGE SMILE AND GAVE A THUMBS UP.
HE LEFT, CALLED HIS RECORD COMPANY AND SOON AFTERWARDS
MONTGOMERY WAS EN ROUTE TO NEW YORK MAKING THE FIRST OF A
DOZEN LPS FOR THE RIVERSIDE LABEL.
MONTGOMERY WAS FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF J.J. JOHNSON,
FREDDIE HUBBARD, SLIDE HAMPTON, WHO ALL LEFT THEIR INDIANAPOLIS
HOMETOWN TO ACHIEVE FAME AROUND THE WORLD.
BY MAINTAINING HIS RESIDENCE AND FAMILY IN INDIANAPOLIS,
MONTGOMERY KEPT ONE FOOT BACK IN INDIANA BUT BY THE 1960s, HE
WAS NO LONGER A STEADY PRESENCE ON THE INDIANA CLUB SCENE.
HIS DECREASED VISIBILITY WAS ONE OF MANY SIGNS INDIANA AVENUE WAS
ENTERING AN ERA OF SLOW AND PAINFUL EROSION.
INDIANA AVENUE HAD OVER 300 BUSINESSES IN THE 1930s, A
BLACK COMMUNITY BOULEVARD LINED WITH PUBS, RESTAURANTS AND MUSIC
VENUES. THE FACTORS THAT SEALED THE FATE
WAS THREE FOLD, DECLINE OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY OF ALL SITES,
HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION AND URBAN RENEWAL AND DESEGREGATION.
GAMBLING AND ILLEGAL LIQUOR FRONTS WERE THE FIRST MAJOR
DOMINOES TO FALL HINDERED BY NEW RESTRICTIONS AND SELECTIVE
POLICING THAT HAD BEEN A CHALLENGE.
THE BLACK MIDDLE CLASS ALSO BEGAN TO SEEK OUT OTHER VENUES
AS MUSICAL AND ENTERTAINMENT TASTES CHANGED OR LIKE MANY
OTHER AMERICANS, MORE OFTEN, TO WATCH TELEVISION.
INCREASING CRIME DETERRED MANY AVENUE GOERS AS WELL.
THE PLACES GROUPS GATHERED FOR DECADES DWINDLED.
JAZZ GAVE WAY TO ROCK AND SOUL IN POPULARITY.
THOUGH THE AVENUE HIGHLIGHTED SOME PERFORMERS, BOTH LOCAL AND
OUT OF TOWN, INCLUDING A YOUNG JIMI HENDRIX, IT NO LONGER
FUNCTIONED AS THE MAIN STEM OF CULTURAL ACTIVITY IN
INDIANAPOLIS' BLACK COMMUNITY.
THE EXPANSION OF THE HIGHWAY SYSTEM THAT RINGED
INDIANAPOLIS -- THE HIGHWAY 65 AND 70 EASED COMMUTER'S TRAVEL
THROUGH AND AROUND THE CITY. THE EXPANSION CREATED
CATASTROPHIC PROBLEMS FOR THE GREATER INDIANA AVENUE AREA AS
CHURCHES THAT ANCHORED THE COMMUNITY TO THE AVENUE WERE
RELOCATED AND ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOODS WERE REPLACED TO
MAKE ROOM FOR THE INTERSTATE. ALONG WITH CONSTRUCTION CAME
URBAN RENEWAL AND DESEGREGATION. PREVIOUSLY AFRICAN AMERICANS
HADN'T BEEN ABLE TO SIT IN WHITE RESTAURANTS, PATRONIZE THE
RIVERSIDE AMUSEMENT PARK OR FREQUENT DOWNTOWN DEPARTMENT
STORES. AS LEGAL SEGREGATION BEGAN TO
EASE IN THE 1950s AND '60s, THEY STARTED TO SPEND THEIR
DOLLARS IN THE WIDER ECONOMIC SPHERE.
THE GARDENS HOUSING DEVELOPMENT, AN EARLY CROWN JEWEL OF FEDERAL
HOUSING PROJECTS, AND ONCE A BASTION FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS
LOOKING FOR A BETTER RESIDENTIAL QUALITY OF LIFE WAS EVENTUALLY
CLOSED AND MANY BUILDINGS LEVELED IN THE 1980s.
♪♪
TODAY THE ONLY STRUCTURES OF INDIANA AVENUE'S GOLDEN AGE THAT
STILL STAND ARE THE MADAM WALKER THEATER AND 8 OF THE ORIGINAL 24
UNITS. THE AVENUE HAD BEEN CREATED BY
FREED SLAVES AS A HOME FOR THE EMERGING AFRICAN AMERICAN
CULTURE OF THE 20th CENTURY. MUSIC RIPPLED THROUGH THE
STREETS, HERITAGE HAD FORMED IN THE BUILDINGS AND VENUES THAT
LINED THE BLACK BOULEVARD. A LANDMARK HOUSING PROJECT HAD
GIVEN RESIDENTS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR A SAFER AND BETTER LIFE.
FROM THE BAND ROOM TO THE STANDING ROOM CROWDS OF THE
MADAM WALKER THEATER, JAZZ HAD BEEN THE LIFEBLOOD OF A SMALL
COMMUNITY AND THE AVENUE THAT HELPED FOSTER ITS BIRTH.
WEST MONTGOMERY, THE INK SPOTS, LEROY CAR AND THE HAMPTON
FAMILY, FREDDIE HUBBARD, J.J. JOHNSON AND OTHERS HAD MADE
LOCATIONS SUCH AS THE COTTON CLUB AND SUNSET TERRACE,
GEORGE'S AND THE MISSILE ROOM ARTISTIC LANDMARKS THAT EXIST
NOW ONLY IN THE HISTORICAL RECORD AND A FEW REMAINING
MEMORIES. FOR HALF A CENTURY INDIANA
AVENUE HAD PROVIDE ADD THRIVING POINT OF CONVERGENCE FOR CULTURE
AND COMMERCE, ENTERTAINMENT AND ART AND LIFE AND LOVE.
MUSIC FUELED THE SCENE, BUT THE PEOPLE WERE THE AVENUE, THE YOU
ONES THAT ABSORBED THE SOUNDS ADD ENCOURAGED THE -- THE STREET
BURNED BRIGHT WITH THE FIRE OF JAZZ AS IT ETCHED ITS PLACE IN
THE LEGACY OF AMERICA.