Musicians: Aletra Hampton (1915-2007) and Virtue Hampton (1922-2007)
The Hamptons were a musical family. Their mother Laura played the piano, and their father Clarke had taught himself to play the saxophone and drums. Aletra played piano and harp, and Virtue played the double bass. Their sisters were also musicians. Carmalita played baritone saxophone, banjo and guitar, and Dawn played the alto saxophone. Their brothers, “Duke” Clarke Jr., Marcus, Russell, Maceo and Locksley “Slide” were also musicians, and so it was only natural that their father led them in the Hampton Family Band.
The entire family, from Middletown, Ohio, toured the Midwest and East as a musical vaudeville show in the 1930s, settling in Indianapolis in 1938. Clarke Jr. took over the leadership of the growing band from his father in 1945, and the four sisters performed both in his band and sometimes on their own as The Hampton Sisters. According to jazz musician and Indiana University professor David Baker, the Hamptons “dominated the music scene on Indiana Avenue in the 1940s and ‘50s.” They also performed in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and at Carnegie Hall in New York and Harlem’s Apollo Theater and Savoy Ballroom.
In the 1950s, the larger band directed by their brother disbanded. The Hampton Sisters signed a recording contract with the Savoy label in 1954 and recorded songs like Hey Little Boy, on which Aletra sings lead. In 1959, youngest sister Dawn left the quartet to pursue a solo career in New York City. Aletra, Virtue and Carmalita continued to perform together until Carmalita left in the early ‘60s to live and work in Chicago. She returned in 1981 and re-joined Aletra and Virtue until her death in 1987.
Aletra and Virtue continued to perform until 2006, the year before their deaths. Here is a video of their 2006 performance in the Arts Garden. They released a CD in 2003, The Hampton Sisters, A Jazz Tribute. They were inducted into the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation Hall of Fame in 1999 and have received other local awards and honorary degrees. In 2011, a documentary, The Unforgettable Hampton Family, was produced by PBS.
