The Hampton Sisters

A Jazz Tribute

Produced By

Jack Gilfoy

Published By

Indiana Historical Society Press

Pianist Aletra Hampton and her sister, bassist Virtue Hampton-Whitted—each with a passion for music and a zest for living—have recorded their first album, to be released in November 2003. These central Indiana jazz legends have been making music since the 1930s and although their barnstorming days are well behind them, they remain as a living testament to the golden age of jazz, when jazz was new, raw and laced with a rebeelious spirit!

This digitally produced compact disk is a must-have for lovers of jazz and the retro sound! Featuring 15 songs on one disk, the CD comes with a companion 20-page booklet, including vintage photos and the history of the Hampton Family and the Hampton Sisters.

Featured songs include Stardust, God Bless the Child, What a wonderful World, Route 66. Sleepytime Down South, Summertime and other classics.

The CD also features legendary saxophonist Pookie Johnson and drummer Lawrence Clark III, whose father played with the Hamptons. * Released Date November 16 2003

© 2003 • Compact Disc • Playing Time 72 + Minutes

Indiana Ragtime

Produced & Annotated By

John Edward Hasse & Frank J. Gillis

Published By

Indiana Historical Society Press

It was the era of the Rough Riders and the Wright Brothers, of suffragettes and progressives, of the Titanic and the Lusitania, of the St. Louis World’s Fair, of “spooning” on the front porch, of “Bill Bailey Won’t You Please Come Home?”

and “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” In Indiana, it was the time when the public lionized James Whitcomb Riley, when Penrod and Abe Martin first captured audiences, when Hoosiers climbed aboard the new interurban railways, when spectators cheered the first Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and first state basketball tourney, when “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away” became a national hit. It was the Ragtime Era.—From Booklet

This digitally re-mastered 2 Disc set is a must have for lovers of the Ragtime Era. A tribute to Indiana ragtime music, this collection also comes with a 32 page full-color booklet. This wonderful and informative booklet chronicles the changes to Indiana during the Ragtime Era as well as introducing many well-known and perhaps not so well-known Indiana songwriters and composers. The 1890’s to the early 1920’s constituted a period that John Edward Hasse has termed “the golden age of local and regional music publishing.”

© 2003 • Compact Disc Set • 32 pp. Booklet • Full Color • ISBN: 0-87195-170-3

•  99 minutes

Stardust Melody

The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael

Richard M. Sudhalter

Published By

Oxford

In Association With

Indiana Historical Society

Hoagy Carmichael remains, for millions, the voice of heartland America, eternal counterpoint to the urban sensibility of Cole Porter and George Gershwin. Now, trumpeter and historian Richard M. Sudhalter has penned the first book-length biography of this unique American composer.

Stardust Melody follows Carmichael from his roaring-twenties Indiana youth to bandstands and recording studios across the nation, playing piano and singing alongside greats Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, and close friends Bix Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong. It illuminates his peak Hollywood years, starring in such films as To Have and Have Not and The best Years of Our Lives, and on radio, records, and TV. With compassionate insight Sudhalter depicts Hoagy’s triumphs and tragedies, and his mounting despair as rock-and-roll drowns out and lays waste to the last days of a brilliant career. Drawing on Carmichael’s private papers and on interviews with family, friends and colleagues, Stardust Melody offers a richly textured portrait of one of our greatest musical figures, and inspiring American icon.

“ A thorough, well-documented portrait of the largely self-trained musician who began his life in poverty and emerged as one of the most important and versatile songwriters of the century.”—The Baltimore Sun

480 pp • © 2002 • cloth • ISBN: 0-19-513120-7

Legenday jazz trombonist J.J. Johnson said of the BWJO: "This is a marvelous band with exceptional soloists and some of the most creative and satisfying writing I've heard in a long time." With their second full release, the BWJO presents new arrangements of timeless classics of Hoagy Carmichael with guest vocalists Everett Greene and Delores King-Williams.

The unmistakable piano stylings of Steve Allee are highlighted in this collection of originals. Accompanied by NY musicians Tim Horner and Bill Morning, Allee's compositions bring to life his travels around the world. Internationally renowned bassist Rufus Reid says of Allee: "As a pianist, Steve Allee is world-class and definitely demands respect from all who hear him perform."

Phenomenal vocalist Cynthia Layne brings her own style of R&B/Soul to the forefront in an amazing collection of original songs that highlight love, loss, and what will be.