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Echoes of Indiana Avenue

Echoes of Indiana Avenue

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Produced by Cultural Manifesto host Kyle Long and narrated by musician Herman Butch Slaughter, Echoes of Indiana Avenue is an audio documentary focused on the cultural achievements of Black artists and musicians from central Indiana.2025 WFYI Public Media Política y Gobierno
Episodios
  • Indiana Avenue’s Black Christmas Party

    Indiana Avenue’s Black Christmas Party
    Dec 14 2025
    On December 19, 1970, the Indianapolis affiliate of the Southern Leadership Conference’s Operation Breadbasket held a “Black Christmas Parade” on Indiana Avenue. The parade featured marching bands, floats, and local celebrities. The grand marshal of the parade was the Soul Saint, an Afrocentric version of Santa Claus. The “Black Christmas Parade” was part of a full day of events that also included a keynote speech by Reverend Jesse Jackson. The day ended with a “Black Christmas Party” at Foster’s Motor Lodge, featuring some of the greatest funk and soul bands in Indianapolis, including the Highlighters, the Moonlighters, the Turner Brothers, Indy 5, the Perfections, and others. The purpose of the “Black Christmas Parade” went beyond spreading holiday cheer. A spokesperson for Operation Breadbasket said the parade was created to raise awareness of the services and products available through local Black business owners and to develop a sense of Black pride within the Indianapolis community. Listen to a tribute to the “Black Christmas Parade,” featuring an hour of music from Indianapolis funk bands that performed at the event.
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    18 m
  • Celebrating Christmas at Sea Ferguson’s Cotton Club

    Celebrating Christmas at Sea Ferguson’s Cotton Club
    Dec 7 2025
    Celebrate the Christmas holiday at Sea Ferguson’s Cotton Club — a legendary Avenue nightclub that hosted the greatest stars in American music, from Ray Charles to Louis Armstrong. Along with his brother, Denver Ferguson, Sea played a key role in shaping the Avenue’s entertainment scene. Sea was born in Brownsville, Kentucky, in December of 1899. He came to Indianapolis during the 1920s, and by the 1930s, he had become one of the most prominent businessmen on the Avenue. His influence as a civic leader in Naptown was recognized in 1938, when Sea was voted “Mayor of Bronzeville” — an informal title used in Black communities during segregation for someone who held real power and leadership in everyday life, at a time when official political power was often out of reach. Today, Sea is best remembered for his connection to the Avenue music scene. In 1931, he opened the Trianon Ballroom. The club’s official grand opening took place on Christmas Eve of that year. The ballroom occupied the third floor of a building located at the corner of Vermont and Senate Streets. In 1933, Sea expanded to the first floor, opening a restaurant and bar called the Cotton Club. Before long, the name “Cotton Club” stuck, and locals used it to describe the entire building — not just the bar. Sea Ferguson hosted legendary concerts at the club, and on this week’s show, we’ll celebrate the season by listening to holiday music from the artists who performed there, including Fats Waller, Ray Charles, Big Maybelle, Charles Brown, Louis Armstrong, Lowell Fulson, and more.
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    19 m
  • Celebrating the musical collaboration of Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith

    Celebrating the musical collaboration of Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith
    Nov 30 2025
    Celebrate the December birthday of the late, great jazz organist Jimmy Smith by listening to his recordings with the Avenue jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery. Jimmy Smith was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, in 1928. He began his career on piano before switching to the organ in the early 1950s, developing a revolutionary sound that blended bebop and blues with deep gospel roots. In 1956, Smith signed with Blue Note Records, where he quickly became a sensation with groundbreaking albums like The Sermon, Back at the Chicken Shack, and Midnight Special. Today, Jimmy Smith is recognized as one of the most influential musicians in the history of jazz—and the most important figure in establishing the Hammond B-3 organ as a leading instrument in the genre. Jimmy Smith performed on Indiana Avenue in 1961 at the Pink Poodle nightclub. But his strongest connection to Naptown came in 1966, when he entered the studio with guitarist Wes Montgomery. Those sessions produced two albums: Jimmy & Wes: The Dynamic Duo and The Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes. At the time, Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery were two of the most recognizable instrumental voices in jazz, each with a massive audience of devoted listeners. Expectations were high for their collaboration. Jazz fans were not disappointed. Jimmy and Wes shared a rare chemistry in the studio, and critics have since cited these sessions as some of the finest recordings of Jimmy Smith’s career.
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    11 m
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