Celebration Days in April – Music Edition

April 16, 2025

April certainly begins with a bang, all the tricksters and jokesters pulling out all the stops for April Fools’ Day. You could also think of the saying, “April showers bring May flowers”… My point is, April has a lot going for it. In fact, it includes two days centered on the celebration of two distinct music genres!

The only question is… “Ya like jazz?” [Author’s note: OK, I’ll see myself out]

Duke Hampton Family Orchestra, Duncan Schiedt Collection, IHS

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) officially designated April 30 as International Jazz Day in 2011. According to JazzDay.com, International Jazz Day is meant to bring everyone together “to celebrate and learn about jazz and its roots,” as well as open dialogue about the impacts of culture and race. Jazz music originated in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19^th century. Created by the Black communities of New Orleans, it was a blend of ragtime, blues, and many other types of dance music. There were several prominent jazz musicians from Indiana, and today we’ll focus on two from Indianapolis.

The Hampton Family, pictured above, began with Clarke Fielding (Deacon) Hampton and Laura Buford, who started their family in the Deacon Hampton’s Family Band. They toured the Midwest performing square dance music, polka, jazz, and other popular genres. After a successful performance in Indianapolis’ Sunset Ballroom in 1938, the family settled here. They re-organized into the Duke Hampton Band after children Marcus, Russell, Maceo, and Slide attended the McArthur School of Music. The band included Virtue, Aletra, Marcus, Dawn, Russell, Carmalita, Locksley “Slide”, Clarke Jr., and Maceo, but during a hiatus while the brothers of the family served in WWII, the Hampton sisters continued performing. A few of the children would go on to have successful music careers from the 1950s on.

J.J. Johnson and Coleman Hawkins, M1178, IHS (cropped)

James Louis “J.J.” Johnson was born and raised in Indianapolis in 1924. He started studying piano at age nine, then playing the trombone at age 14. J.J. is noted as one of the earliest trombonists to embrace bebop, a style of jazz developed in the mid-1940s that allowed musicians to play faster tempos. As noted in his biography on the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation’s webpage, J.J.’s career began by touring with Snookum Russell and Clarence Love. He then toured with and led other prominent bands. In the 1950s, he recorded with Kai Winding as Jay & Kai, becoming one of jazz’s most popular acts while they played together. J.J. also composed music for a few decades, still playing trombone along the way. He didn’t retire from public performances until 1997!

Alonzo “Pookie” Johnson, M1340, IHS

Alonzo Earnest ‘Pookie’ Johnson was born in Indianapolis in 1927. He was a student at Indianapolis Public Schools no. 37, no. 26, Crispus Attucks High School, and Butler University’s Jordan School of Music. Pookie was a whiz at most wind instruments but preferred to play saxophone. He married his middle school sweetheart, Bettie Blakemore, in 1945, then was drafted into WWII, playing in the special service band. After his discharge from service, Pookie played all over Indianapolis alongside King Kolax, Eddie Byrd, Sax Kari, the Montgomery Brothers, and many other prominent musicians of the time. He received a few awards in his time, including support from Richard Lugar for an induction into the Hall of Records of Congress in 1985. Following his performance career, Pookie was a beloved music educator and engaged citizen.

TOP: Foster Hall Quartet, The Bretzman Collection, IHS
BOT: Singing Contest Winners from Kosciusko County at the 1930 Indiana State Fair, P0490, IHS

In addition to jazz, April includes the National Barbershop Quartet Day on April 11. Barbershop is a harmony consisting of four parts: Lead, Tenor, Baritone, and Bass. It is typically performed by quartets but also possible to perform in larger groups. Regardless of your age, I get the feeling everyone knows the “Hello, Ma Baby” and “Lollipop” tunes, written in 1899 and 1958 respectively but continuing to be sung to this day. Those are barbershop tunes!

Lesser known to people outside of the barbershop world, Indiana has its own chapters of the Barbershop Harmony Society! You can check for one near you with the Chapter and Chorus Finder on its website: https://members.barbershop.org/s/chapter-finder

Watch the IHS blogsite for more great content!

Chloe Redman is an Assistant Librarian in the Archives and Library. She is pursuing an MLIS at Indiana University-Indianapolis. She spends her summers at a fishery in Alaska and reads books as fast as Kirby devours buffets.

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