Episodios

  • Remembering Naptown funk musician DeMorris “DeGe” Smith

    Remembering Naptown funk musician DeMorris “DeGe” Smith
    Jun 1 2025
    In May of 2025, the Indianapolis keyboardist DeMorris “DeGe” Smith passed away. Smith was a beloved figure in the Naptown funk scene, known for his soulful keyboard work and his dedication to the local music community. Join us as we pay tribute to Smith with music featuring his work as a funk keyboardist. Smith’s career spanned generations. He worked extensively with Indianapolis bands, like Epoxy, Redd Hott, Klas, Below Zero, and The Downstroke Band. He also performed and recorded with national acts too, including The Bar-Kays, The Deele and R.J’s Latest Arrival. Outside of his work in music, Smith was a successful radio producer, working for WIBC for two decades. Smith came from a musical family. His father Sonny Smith was a drummer who performed on the Avenue for decades with his band The Original Chromatics. Over the years, Sonny played with legendary Naptown musicians like David Baker and Erroll Grandy. Sonny was also a professional athlete, who played basketball with the Harlem Globetrotters and played baseball in the Negro Leagues with the Chicago American Giants. Smith’s mother Margaret Smith was a music teacher in the Indianapolis Public School system. His brother Sparky Smith achieved success as a flute player in the local jazz scene. Sparky played with many local jazz legends, including David Young, Pookie Johnson, and Billy Wooten.
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    17 m
  • Phil Ranelin – Part 3: Remembering his work and friendship with Freddie Hubbard

    Phil Ranelin – Part 3: Remembering his work and friendship with Freddie Hubbard
    May 25 2025
    Enjoy the final episode in our three-part series exploring the music of Phil Ranelin, a legendary Indianapolis jazz trombonist. Listen to classic music from Ranelin, along with a recent interview he recorded with WFYI’s Kyle Long. On this edition, Ranelin will discuss his lifelong friendship with jazz star Freddie Hubbard. Ranelin and Hubbard both attended Indianapolis’ Arsenal Tech High School during the 1950s. Two decades later, they recorded three albums together. Ranelin will also reflect on his time in Detroit, where he co-founded the Tribe Records label, and performed with Motown musicians like Stevie Wonder and The Temptations.
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    37 m
  • Phil Ranelin – Part 2: Reflecting on his work with Wes Montgomery

    Phil Ranelin – Part 2: Reflecting on his work with Wes Montgomery
    May 18 2025
    This is the second episode in our three-part series exploring the music of Phil Ranelin. Listen to classic music from Ranelin, along with a recent interview he recorded with WFYI’s Kyle Long. On this edition, Ranelin will reflect on his work with Wes Montgomery and performing on Indiana Avenue. Ranelin will also discuss how his work has been embraced by a new generation of musicians, including Madlib, Kamasi Washington, and Carlos Niño.
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    33 m
  • Phil Ranelin – Part 1: New releases and return to Indianapolis

    Phil Ranelin – Part 1: New releases and return to Indianapolis
    May 11 2025
    On May 25th, the legendary Indianapolis jazz trombonist Phil Ranelin will turn 86 years old. For the next three weeks on Echoes of Indiana, we’ll celebrate the anniversary of Ranelin’s birthday by exploring his work in music. Listen to a recent interview Ranelin recorded with WFYI’s Kyle Long, along with classic recordings from his discography. Phil Ranelin was born in Indianapolis in 1939. He grew up on the city’s east side in the Martindale Brightwood neighborhood and attended Arsenal Tech High School, where jazz icon Freddie Hubbard was also a student. Nearly two decades later they would record three albums together. During the 1960s, Ranelin was active on the local jazz scene, performing with Indianapolis jazz greats like Wes Montgomery, Pookie Johnson, David Young, and Freddie Hubbard. Around 1968, Ranelin left Indianapolis for Detroit, becoming deeply involved in the city’s dynamic music scene. While in Detroit he worked as a session musician and touring performer for Motown Records, appearing with artists including Stevie Wonder and The Temptations. But it was his work with Tribe jazz collective that elevated his legacy in music. Ranelin co-founded Tribe in the early 1970s with saxophonist Wendell Harrison. Tribe started as a musical ensemble, but soon expanded into a record label, magazine and artist collective. Their work was explicitly political, advocating for Black empowerment and self-determination. Ranelin’s tenure with Tribe Records produced a number of seminal albums including “The Time Is Now” and “Vibes from the Tribe.” These recordings blended traditional jazz with funk, and avant-garde techniques, helping to redefine the boundaries of the genre. Ranelin spent much of the last 40 years, living in Los Angeles, California. But he recently returned to his hometown Indianapolis after suffering a severe stroke in 2021. On this week’s episode, hear music from Ranelin’s most recent releases, including "The Found Tapes: Live in Los Angeles,” and “Tribe 2000.”
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    29 m
  • The early years of Ebony Rhythm Funk Campaign’s Lester Johnson

    The early years of Ebony Rhythm Funk Campaign’s Lester Johnson
    May 4 2025
    This week on Echoes of Indiana, we're joined by bassist and Ebony Rhythm Funk Campaign co-founder Lester Johnson to reflect on his early years in music. Lester got his start as a teenager playing on the Avenue with Harvey Cook and the Blue Tones. We'll explore his time with groups like The Chordells and The Golden Soul Show Band, and talk about the deep musical roots in his family—including blues great Guitar Pete Franklin, jazz guitarist Johnny Shacklett, and his grandmother Flossie Franklin, who has been credited with writing lyrics for the Indianapolis blues legend Leroy Carr.
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    52 m
  • Naptown pianists Herve Duerson and Turner Parrish

    Naptown pianists Herve Duerson and Turner Parrish
    Apr 27 2025
    Listen to music from Herve Duerson and Turner Parrish, two important pianists who were active in the Indianapolis scene during the 1920s and ’30s. Though they were not linked together professionally, they shared many common traits. Both men recorded blues and jazz music for Richmond, Indiana’s Gennett Records, and both worked with the Naptown blues singer Teddy Moss.
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    19 m
  • Indianapolis music legends discuss the history of Naptown funk

    Indianapolis music legends discuss the history of Naptown funk
    Apr 20 2025
    During the 1960s and ‘70s, funk music flourished in Indianapolis. Local bands like The Highlighters, Amnesty, The Moonlighters, Billy Ball and The Upsetters, and The Presidents packed nightclubs clubs across the city, from Indiana Avenue to East 38th Street. On March 16th, WFYI hosted a screening of the new PBS documentary WE WANT THE FUNK! at the Kan-Kan Cinema. The film explores the history of funk music, from its early jazz roots to its rise into popular culture. Before the screening, WFYI’s Kyle Long moderated a panel discussion exploring the history of Indianapolis funk music. The panel featured four important pioneers of Naptown funk: Steve Weakley (Funk Incorporated), Lester Jonhson (Ebony Rhythm Funk Campaign), Reggie Griffin (Manchild), and Rodney Stepp (Rapture/The Spinners). Listen to excerpts from that conversation, along with music from legendary Indianapolis funk bands.
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    48 m
  • Indiana Avenue’s Bohemian Club

    Indiana Avenue’s Bohemian Club
    Apr 13 2025
    During the mid-20th Century, social clubs played a large role in the Black music scene of Indianapolis. Local social clubs, including the Defiants and Cosmo Knights, hosted major concerts and dances across the city. One of the earliest Indianapolis social clubs to make an impact on the city’s music scene was The Bohemian Club. The Bohemian club was started in the early 1920s and included many prominent Indiana Avenue men, from civil servants, like the Indianapolis police officer Roy Kennedy, to William “Kid” Edwards, a boxing promoter, and owner of a radio and record shop, on the Avenue. During the 1920s and ‘30s, the Bohemian Club sponsored major concerts and dances, featuring national and local performers, including Earl Hines, Roy Eldridge, Cleo Brown, Speed Webb, Slim Green, and many others. A 1947 article in the Indianapolis Recorder declared that “The Bohemian Club hosted the ritziest and most elegant affairs ever held along the Avenue.” The club also gave back to the community, as many of their events, were fundraisers for the Indianapolis Colored Orphans Home. This week on Echoes of Indiana Avenue, we’ll celebrate the history of the Bohemian Club, by listening to music from artists who performed at their events.
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    18 m
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