SELF-SUSTAINING COMMUNITY, MUSIC AND A LEGACY.
>> IN 20th SEGREGATED AMERICA,
BIG CITIES OFTEN HAD A MAIN
STEM, WHERE BLACK BUSINESSES AND
ENTERTAINMENT CLUSTERED ALONG
THE HEART OF THE AND IT.
THE CROSSROADS CAPITAL THAT WAS
INDIANA AVENUE, A TOWN UNTO
ITSELF.
ITSELF. A PLACE THAT BECAME A
DESTINATION IN THE EARLY 1900s
FOR BLACKS DURING THE GREAT
MIGRATION FROM THE SOUTH.
DURING THE 1930s AND '40s,
OVER A DOZEN JAZZ CLUBS
STRETCHED FROM ONE END OF
INDIANA AVENUE TO ANOTHER, THE
SOUNDTRACK WOULD BE THE MUSIC
THAT SPILLED OUT INTO THE
STREETS ON SUMMER NIGHTS IN THE
DAYS BEFORE AIR CONDITIONING.
THE DOORS PROPPED OPEN.
THE AVENUE ALIVE WITH MUSICAL
MOMENTS THAT WOULD ECHO
THROUGHOUT THE JAZZ SCENE.
♪
♪ >> FREDDY HUBBARD, AND THE SMOKY
AFTER-HOURS MISTLE ROOM.
EYES CLOSED WHILE HE LISTENED TO
THE BLUES BUTTERED OCTAVES FOR
THE FIRST TIME.
AND BUDDY PARKER WITH BEE BOP
WITH DEXTER WARDEN.
AND THE BOP BAND HOLDING COURT
AT THE POPPER ON 34th STREET
BEFORE GOING ON TO FORM THE
NUCLEUS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY
GEORGE RUSSELL SIXSTEP.
THIS IS WHERE THEY LEARNED TO
SURVIVE AND THRIVE, WHERE THE
JAZZ EDUCATION TOOK PLACE IN THE
CLUBS IN A CUTTING CONTEST, IN
WHICH PLAYERS ENDLESSLY TO TOP
EACH OTHER'S RIFTS AND LICKS.
THEY JAZZED WITH COUNT BAISE AND
DUKE ELLINGTON AND CHARLIE
PARKER AND OFTEN BESTED THEM AS
DAVID BAKER RECALLS, ANY
OUT-OF-TOWN MUSICIAN THAT WALKED
INTO THOSE AFTER-HOUR SESSIONS
DID SO WITH TREPIDATION.
THERE WERE NO SECRETS IN THE
JAZZ WORLD.
JAZZ WORLD. EVERYBODY KNEW WHO THESE CATS
WERE!
WERE! ♪
♪ >> ONE OF THE MOST PROMINENT
JAZZ MUSICIANS TO EMERGE FROM
THE INDIANA AVENUE SCENE WAS
TROMBONIST J.J. JOHNSON.
HE LEFT INDIANAPOLIS AT AN EARLY
AGE, BECOMING A FIXTURE ON THE
BEE BOP SCENE.
TO MANY J.J. JOHNSON REINCENTED
THE TROMBONE AS A JAZZ
INSTRUMENT, INTRODUCING WHAT IRA
GITLER CREATES A SWIFT,
EXTREMELY REGATTO EIGHTH NOTE
STYLE.
STYLE. IF THERE WAS A GROUND ZERO FOR
THIS EXPLOSION OF INDIANAPOLIS
JAZZ THAT SPREAD ACROSS THREE
DECADES, IT WAS THIS HIGH SCHOOL
FOUNDED IN 1927 AS A MEANS OF
DIVERTING BLACK STUDENTS FROM
OTHER INDIANAPOLIS SCHOOLS.
IT BECAME A HAVEN OF
AFRICAN-AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP AND
ACHIEVEMENT WITH LEGENDARY
TEACHERS LIKE LAVERNE NEWSOM,
TUDORRING MANY COUNTLESS
STUDENTS.
STUDENTS. OUTSIDE THE NURTURING CONFINES,
THEY WENT WHERE THERE WAS
OPPORTUNITY AND THE OPPORTUNITY
WAS JAZZ.
WAS JAZZ. FOR SOME, IT WAS FORMAL
INSTRUCTION AT RUTH McARTHUR'S
CONSERVATORY DOWN ON THE AVENUE.
FOR OTHERS LIKE THE MONTGOMERY
BROTHERS IT WAS THE SELF-TAUGHT
CLASSROOMS OF THE CLUB SCENES.
MOST NIGHT, WES MONTGOMERY COULD
FIND ACROSS FROM THE MISSILE
ROOM.
ROOM. IT WAS ON ONE SUCH EVENING IN
1959, WHEN SAXOPHONIST CANNON
BALL ADDERLY DROPPED BY AFTER A
GIG.
GIG. HE TRIED TO CALL RIVERSIDE
RECORD PRODUCER AT 3:00 IN THE
MORNING.
MORNING. ON THE NEXT TRIP TO NEW YORK,
ADERLY PERSUADED THE RECORD
PRODUCER TO COME OUT TO INDIANA.
HE OFFERED MONTGOMERY A CONTRACT
ON SPOT AND PRODUCED MORE THAN A
DOZEN OF ALBUMS OVER THE NEXT
FOUR YEARS.
FOUR YEARS. THE RECORDING SHOW SHOWCASED HIS
NOTES TO OCTAVES WAY OF
CONSTRUCTIONING A SOLO.
ALTHOUGH MONTGOMERY'S FAMILY
STAYED IN INDIANAPOLIS, BUT HE
SPENT MANY YEARS ON ROAD.
RECORD COMPANIES AND CONCERT
PROMOTERS.
PROMOTERS. SOCIOECONOMIC AND POLITICAL
CHANGES WERE AT WORK AS WELL.
INTEGRATION WAS TAKING HOLD.
INDIANA AVENUE WAS NO LONGER THE
ENFORCED DOWN WITHIN A TOWN AND
THEN THERE WAS THE SPECTOR OF
URBAN RENEWAL.
URBAN RENEWAL. THE EXPANSION OF I.U.P.Y. CUT
AWAY SIGNIFICANT
AWAY SIGNIFICANT AFRICAN-AMERICAN NEIGHBORHOODS,
AFRICAN-AMERICAN NEIGHBORHOODS, HOMES, SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES,
CRUMBLED UNDER BULLDOZERS.
IT DISAPPEARED IN A MATTER OF
YEARS.
YEARS. THE MADAM WALKER THEATER STANDS
ALONE TODAY.
ALONE TODAY. AS MARY EVAN WROTE IN AN ESSAY,
SHE SAID TO UNDERSTAND THE
ENORMITY, ONE WOULD HAVE TO BE
THERE, SOMEWHERE IN THE
BEGINNING, WHEN TIME STEPPED AND
LITERALLY RAN WILD AND
THROUGHOUT THE FLURRY OF
NEIGHBORHOODS THAT COMPROMISED
THE CITY'S NEIGHBORHOOD.
WHAT I REMEMBERED WAS THE SENSE
OF POSSIBILITY AND THEN I
REMEMBER WRECKING BALLS WIPING
OUT HOUSES.
OUT HOUSES. BUT THE AVENUE'S MUSICAL
HERITAGE HAS BEEN INCREASINGLY
ACKNOWLEDGED, CELEBRATED AND
REMEMBERED IN RECENT TIMES.
WE STILL HAVE THEIR WORDS, AS
WELL AS THEIR MUSIC, TO BRING TO
LIFE THE LOST WORLD OF ANOTHER
TIME, WHEN A COMMUNITY BROUGHT
TOGETHER BY RACIAL OPPRESSION
FOUND A WAY TO PERSEVERE,
OVERCOME AND WORK TO BUILD A
PROSPERITY OF THE HEART.
♪