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Indianapolis is the home to some of jazz’s greatest legends, including Wes Montgomery, Freddie Hubbard, J.J. Johnson, David Baker, Jimmie Coe, and several others. Add to this list, contemporary sound artist Clint Breeze known for drawing on both jazz and hip-hop idioms. Through These Portals pays an electronic homage to the historically and culturally significant area of Indiana Avenue—once a bustling corridor to see and play jazz during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Indiana Avenue was rich with music venues like Henri’s Bar and Georgia’s Bar—where the sign above the Henri’s Bar door read: “Through these Portals Pass the World’s Best Musicians.” Indiana Avenue has a complicated history due the disenfranchisement of African American communities. Since the construction of the interstate system and ‘urban renewal efforts’, Indiana Avenue and its surrounding neighborhoods suffered from these dramatic changes. Unfortunately, some artists were forced to move elsewhere for their careers, and due to the closing of black owned business, and encroaching gentrification, Indiana Avenue has not thrived as it once did in the mid-twentieth century. Through These Portals is a sonic tribute to this vibrant history.

Duration: 04:02
Year: 2017
Commissioned by: Sound Expeditions