It’s not that regional big bands are making a comeback.

Regional big bands—with top-notch musicians, imaginative compositions, and unique sounds—have never gone away. Many of them, like Count Basie’s Kansas City band or King Oliver’s New Orleans band, moved to bigger cities, where larger audiences and more lucrative opportunities existed.

However, some outstanding big bands, like Pittsburgh’s Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild or Boston’s Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, remain in the cities where they originated.

The Steve Allee Big Band in Indianapolis is another noteworthy group deserving of greater recognition. Its members—longtime friends and Indianapolis natives—remain content to stay outside the national media’s presence in the country’s biggest metropolitan areas.

Even so, the members of Allee’s big band possess resumés that document their work with world-renowned jazz masters before they returned to their hometown.

Allee himself went on the road with the Buddy Rich Orchestra at the age of 19. Along with drummer Duduka Da Fonseca, Allee has been a member of Rufus Reid’s Out Front Trio for almost 15 years. Allee was a member of Reid’s Grammy-nominated Quiet Pride project of five movements that Reid’s 20-piece orchestra performed. And Allee plays in Reid’s quintet with saxophonist Rich Perry, trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, and drummer Steven Horner.

Over the years, Allee has worked as a back-up musician with icons like Benny Golson and James Moody, and he has composed themes for documentaries and for special-occasion performances.

All of Allee’s experiences come together on his big band’s recent album, Naptown Sound—which, indeed, celebrates the sonic personality of Indianapolis jazz—as it honors the city’s giants of jazz.

“What is the Naptown sound?” people outside of Indianapolis may ask.

Kyle Long, the host of Cultural Manifesto on Indianapolis’s NPR station, WFYI-FM, states in Naptown Sound’s liner notes that the Naptown “sound originated along the streets of Indiana Avenue, a historic Black neighborhood located near downtown Indianapolis.” Naptown, he explains, encompasses not only the spark, the spirituality, and the tenderness of the sounds of jazz that flowed into Indiana Avenue. Naptown also includes its nightclubs, its musicians, its citizens, its neighborhood spirit, and its schools, where prodigies like J.J. Johnson and Slide Hampton received their early music educations.

The Indianapolis Jazz Foundation has preserved the city’s rich jazz history, even as it invests in the future of local jazz by creating performance opportunities and by encouraging the development of emerging talent. It appears that some of the Foundation’s members contributed to the production of Naptown Sound, their financial backing being a testament of their belief in the jazz art form’s exceptional value.

Indianapolis appears to be a magnet for statewide jazz activities. Jazz trumpeter Mark Buselli leads jazz studies at Ball State University in Muncie, 60 miles northeast of Indianapolis off I-69. Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music—whose Jazz Studies Department was founded by jazz icon David Baker—educates young jazz musicians in Bloomington, just 50 miles south of Indianapolis off I-69 (the Indiana jazz corridor?). The School’s graduates include jazz professionals like Michael and Randy Brecker, Jim Beard, Sara Caswell, Peter Erskine, Jeff Clayton, Jamey Aebersold, Chris Botti, and Jeff Hamilton.

Indeed, world-renowned bassist John Clayton, who performed with Naptowners when he too attended IU, conducts Allee’s band on Naptown Sound.

The album begins with “Full House,” a loping jazz waltz written by Wes Montgomery, one of the most famous jazz musicians from Indianapolis. The warmth of Allee’s arrangement becomes immediately evident as the band plays in a broad sonic range with tightly voiced reharmonization, the composition’s familiar accents softly splashing. Vibist Rusty Burge reinforces the performance’s irresistible sway with ringing mellifluousness. Dave Stryker, a member of Jack McDuff’s and Stanley Turrentine’s groups in their prime, provides the guitar solo of a seasoned professional, as well as the final cadenza, to complete the tribute.

Allee wrote for Naptown Sound two additional compositions inspired by Wes Montgomery’s indelible imprint on Indianapolis’s jazz scene. Once again, the warmth of Allee’s arrangements prevails on “Wes at the Turf,” which offers Stryker an extended opportunity to recall Montgomery’s octaves and swing—and to recall Naptown’s Turf Club where Montgomery and his brothers Monk and Buddy performed for two years in the mid-fifties. The big band being an essential element of the recording’s elegance, Allee’s work and Stryker’s tone and precision recall Don Sebesky’s arrangements for Montgomery’s Creed Taylor albums.

“Hubbub” revives the excitement of the Hub-Bub Lounge, where Wes Montgomery performed too before he established his ever-lasting reputation in New York. Allee introduces the piece’s swelling broad minor-key harmonies, bluesy and wistful and rubato at first. Eventually, the band builds the pace, the volume, and the thrill of the piece until trombonist Jim Pugh improvises, no doubt as a tribute to Indianapolis native J.J. Johnson. Even as the momentum grows, the band, always cohesive, maintains a single unified voice as Allee’s captivating arrangements create a burnished choral effect.

Allee wrote “Spang a Lang” to showcase the band’s drummer, Steve Houghton. Houghton has performed with a who’s who of jazz masters—including Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Ray Brown, Lyle Mays, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Enrico Pieranunzi, and Woody Herman. However, the serendipity of Houghton’s decision to teach at Indiana University placed him near the Naptown origins of Freddie Hubbard, with whom Houghton recorded six albums in the early eighties. Accordingly, Allee’s lightly accented phrase-and-rest big band arrangement, like Neal Hefti’s “Cute,” creates the sketching for Houghton’s fills. Unlike “Cute,” though, the piece moves into double time for the soloing, including trumpeter John Raymond’s improvised tribute to Freddie Hubbard.

On a personal note, the medium-tempo propulsion of Allee’s composition, “Twins,” recalls Indianapolis musicians early in his career, Steve and Greg Corn. Local clarinetist Frank Glover solos on “Twins,” as well as soloing throughout Allee’s second choice for reminiscence: the richly hued, Impressionistic “Zebra II,” written by Allee’s early mentor, pianist Claude Sifferlen.

“Cookin’ at the Kitchen” is a reminder of the importance of the present-day Naptown jazz scene. The Jazz Kitchen, an Indianapolis night club owned by Steve Allee’s son, David Allee, serves as a center for Indianapolis jazz performances. With a relaxed stroll, “Cookin’ at the Kitchen” captures what Steve Allee calls the “Naptown sound”: “a straight eighth-note swing.”

And Naptown Sound captures the Steve Allee Big Band’s sound of orchestral richness, a flowing blend of instruments, an undemonstrative swing, and excellent musicianship. The jazz enthusiasts of Indianapolis had already recognized the distinctive qualities of the band. Now, listeners beyond the state’s borders can enjoy those qualities too—and add “Naptown sound” to their jazz vocabulary.

Artist’s Web Site: steveallee.net
Label’s Web Site: https://steveallee.bandcamp.com/album/naptown-sound