Apr 11, 2024
Although the heyday of the Indiana Avenue jazz music scene in Indianapolis has been explored frequently – including on Hoosier History Live shows – one aspect is seldom discussed. What happened to the lives of the musicians during the 1970s, '80s and '90s? Where did they perform after the Indiana Avenue nightclubs closed?
Those are the questions we will explore when Nelson is joined by a well-known Indianapolis musician and producer who worked with, was influenced by and befriended many of the jazz notables who, earlier in their lives, had performed on "The Avenue". The heyday of the Indiana Avenue jazz scene generally is defined as stretching from the 1940s through the mid-1960s.
Bill Myers, 58, who is best known as a bass player (although he has played several other musical instruments), began meeting former Indiana Avenue headliners as a 12-year-old. He eventually went on to play an array of gigs with everyone from the legendary Slide Hampton (1932-2021) to saxophonist Jimmy Coe (1921-2004). Bill Myers thinks he has the distinction of being the only male to ever play bass with the popular Hampton Sisters after one of them, Virtue Hampton, their bass player, suffered a stroke.