Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and bandleader. He worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, and Quincy Jones. In 1992, he was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and he was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1996.
Wynton Learson Marsalis is an American trumpeter, composer, and music instructor, who is currently the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has been active in promoting classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awards, and his oratorio Blood on the Fields was the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Marsalis is the only musician to have won a Grammy Award in both jazz and classical categories in the same year.
David Nathaniel Baker Jr. was an American jazz composer, conductor, and musician from Indianapolis, as well as a professor of jazz studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Baker is best known as an educator and founder of the jazz studies program. From 1991 to 2012, he was conductor and musical and artistic director for the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. He has more than 65 recordings, 70 books, and 400 articles to his credit.
Locksley Wellington Hampton was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. As his nickname implies, Hampton's main instrument was slide trombone, but he also occasionally played tuba and flugelhorn.
Terence Oliver Blanchard is an American jazz trumpeter and composer. He has also written two operas and more than 80 film and television scores. Blanchard has been nominated for two Academy Awards for Original Score for BlacKkKlansman (2018) and Da 5 Bloods, both directed by Spike Lee, a frequent collaborator.
John Lee Clayton Jr. is an American jazz musician, classical double bassist, arranger, and composer.
William Howard "Monk" Montgomery was an American jazz bassist. He was a pioneer of the electric bass guitar and possibly the first to be recorded playing the instrument when he participated in a 1953 session released on The Art Farmer Septet. He was the brother of jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery and vibraphonist Buddy Montgomery.
Robert Broom Jr. is an American jazz guitarist, composer, and educator. He was born and raised in New York City, then moved to Chicago, which has been his home town since 1984. He performs and records with The Bobby Broom Trio and his organ group, The Bobby Broom Organi-Sation. While versed in the traditional jazz idioms, Broom draws from a variety of American music forms, such as funk, soul, R&B, and blues.
Virtue Hampton Whitted was an American jazz singer and bassist who is best known for her performances during the 1940s and 1950s as a member of the Hampton family band and The Hampton Sisters, a musical group she formed during World War II with her siblings, Aletra, Carmalita, and Dawn Hampton.
The Indy Jazz Fest is an annual jazz festival in Indianapolis, Indiana. It first took place on June 17, 1999. It was created by a consortium of Downtown Indianapolis hospitality, civic and business interests as a way to spotlight Indianapolis' rich jazz heritage through an annual event. The hope was to have a tourist weekend event that was arts-related, as opposed to the many sporting events held each year in Indianapolis, the Indianapolis 500, the Brickyard 400 as well the occasional NCAA championship or Super Bowl.
Owl Studios is a jazz record label founded in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2005. In 2013 the label was sold and renamed Owl Music Group.
Steve Allee is an American jazz musician and composer.
Buselli–Wallarab Jazz Orchestra is a jazz orchestra consisting of seventeen pieces.
Derrick Gardner is an American jazz trumpeter from Chicago, Illinois.
Bob Snyder was an American musician known for playing tenor sax, alto sax, clarinet, and flute. He performed with The Airmen of Note, the Glenn Miller Air Force Dance Band, and Lionel Hampton. He also served as staff musician for Motown Records, Stax Records, and WJR radio. He made a very popular clarinet recording of the song "Amazing Grace" at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan.
Branford Marsalis is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque. From 1992 to 1995 he led the Tonight Show Band.
Kobie Watkins is an American drummer and percussionist in Jazz, Latin, and Gospel music genres, and a music educator.
Dawn Hampton was an American cabaret and jazz singer, saxophonist, dancer, and songwriter. Hampton began her lifelong career as a musical entertainer touring the Midwest as a three-year-old member of the Hampton family's band The Hampton Sisters in the late 1930s. During World War II and into early 1950s, she performed as part of a quartet with her three sisters and in a jazz band with all nine of her surviving siblings. Hampton moved to New York City in 1958 to pursue a solo career as a cabaret singer. She became a singer/songwriter and dancer, which included off-Broadway theatre performances and swing dancing in Hollywood films. Along with other members of the musical Hamptons, she was a recipient of the State of Indiana's Governor Arts Award (1991) and honored at the Indy Jazz Fest (2000) in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Aletra Hampton was an American jazz pianist and singer, best known for her performances during the 1940s and 1950s as a member of the Hampton family band and The Hampton Sisters, a quartet she formed during World War II with her siblings, Carmalita, Virtue and Dawn. The Middletown, Ohio, native began performing at a young age and moved with her family to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1938. Hampton and her eight siblings performed in the 1940s and 1950s in Duke Hampton's band, their oldest brother's jazz orchestra. The group became well known as the house band at nightclubs in Indianapolis and Cincinnati, Ohio, and toured the United States playing at venues that included New York City's Carnegie Hall and Harlem's Apollo Theater and the Savoy Ballroom. The family's band dissolved in the 1950s, but Hampton and two of her sisters, Virtue and Carmalita, continued to perform as the Hampton Sisters for several more years. The trio reunited in Indianapolis in 1981 after almost a twenty-year hiatus. Hampton and her sister, Virtue, continued to perform as a duo, mostly in Indianapolis, until 2006.
The Hampton Sisters, an African-American quartet of jazz musicians was formed in Indianapolis, Indiana, during World War II. The group initially consisted of four siblings: Aletra Hampton, Carmalita Hampton, Virtue Hampton Whitted, and Dawn Hampton. Although the Middletown, Ohio, natives signed a recording contract in 1954, they were better known for their live performances as part of their family's jazz band during the 1940s and 1950s and as the Hampton Sisters. The Hampton family of four sisters and five brothers performed at New York City's Carnegie Hall and Harlem's Apollo Theater and the Savoy Ballroom. The group also toured the United States and performed as the house band at nightclubs in Indianapolis and Cincinnati, Ohio. Dawn Hampton left the group in 1958 to pursue a solo career as a New York City cabaret singer and, later, a swing dancer, while the other sisters formed a trio and continued to perform as the Hampton Sisters for several more years. Carmalita reunited with her sisters, Aletra and Virtue, in 1981, after a nearly twenty-year break. Following Carmalita's death in 1987, Aletra and Virtue performed as the Hampton Sisters duo, mostly in the Indianapolis area, until 2006.
