Family reunion with Indy vibe: Jazz Collective presents the Hamptons

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The Hampton Sisters made the most durable link with Indianapolis jazz longevity till the end of the last century. Sisters Aletra and Virtue Hampton were the last local remnants of the family band started by their father in Ohio and reflective of the variety-show aspect of regional African-American entertainment, sometimes touring in the Jim Crow South, in the early 1900s. Clark "Deacon" Hampton brought his family to Indianapolis in the 1930s and the city became its home base.

Hampton Family Band in its heyday about 80 years ago
It seems it was time for an onstage recall of their stature a quarter-century or so past the sisters' prime. So Pharez Whitted, Chicago trumpeter and son of bassist Virtue Hampton-Whitted, took up the center position at the Jazz Kitchen Sunday evening to pay tribute via the Indianapolis Jazz Collective. 

That ongoing "house band" for various shows in this case provided the rhythm section: pianist Steve Allee, electric bassist Jonathan Wood, and drummer Kenny Phelps. Whitted, son of Virtue and acting as master of ceremonies, headed the front line along with tenor saxophonist Darius Hampton, great-nephew of trombonist Slide Hampton (1932-2021), the most internationally renowned member of the family. 

Pharez just joined the Indianapolis Jazz Hall of Fame, a distinction certainly close to overdue. The fast-paced opener yielded to a ballad the trumpeter wrote for a deceased sister, a number in which he took a brilliant solo, which contrasted effectively with the thoughtful bass solo that followed. The two frontline musicians brought that performance to a climax with simultaneous improvisation.

A very much alive sister, Tamar Whitted Gray, who just retired after 42 years as a teacher in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, was brought on for several songs. In Sunday's show, she represented the crucial vocalism of the Hampton Sisters, which used to be discharged by Aletra at the piano. With her husband Lenny Gray sitting in on electric bass, Ms. Gray offered lively renditions of "It Don't Mean a Thing" and "God Bless the Child," both with a variety of gestures that helped to carry out advice she got from Aletra long ago: "Sell it!" 

The idea is that a song can't just be presented, but has to be "sold" to an audience. In his solo on "God Bless the Child," Darius Hampton did some first-class selling of his own with a fresh take on the original melody. He might have been tucking in a tribute outside the family, as his inventiveness seemed to mirror the late Sonny Rollins'. 

Bobby Troup's "Route 66," a  throughly mapped-out soft-core rocker from the 1950s, celebrates a famous road that, to my knowledge, isn't "more than 3,000 miles all the way," but about 2,000, which reflects the reality of pre-interstate car travel from Chicago to Los Angeles. You'd have to get seriously lost to log 3,000 miles on that route. At any rate, Ms. Gray sang it with full commitment to selling it, whatever mileage might register on the odometer.

With the trumpeter sitting out, Darius Hampton came center stage for an original samba, "Dream from the Block," which memorializes a youth project he participated in at Chicago's Block 37. Then the singer returned for a farewell, the standard "My Funny Valentine," as Whitted offered muted trumpet commentary and the group, including low-key vocalism, laid out a smartly elongated coda.

The set ended with a highly charged composition by another Hampton, Russell, titled "The Push." It enjoyed solo contributions from the full instrumental ensemble. It amounted to a strong statement all around, and gave no doubt that the family-reunion tribute had been properly "sold" to the capacity audience.






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