Hazel Johnson's Women in Jazz festival

March 09, 2025

Celebrate Women’s History Month as we look back at Hazel Johnson’s Women in Jazz festival. The festival ran from 1986 to 1991 at the Madam Walker Theatre and featured many important women from the Indianapolis jazz scene, including Flo Garvin, Aretta La Marre, Mary Moss, Cherryl Hayes, Vickie Daniels, Anita Walker, Brenda Walls, Margaret Floyd, Cyann Proffitt, Salathiel Latrell, and others. Listen to music from artists who performed at the festival, including never-before-heard live recordings of Hazel Johnson.

Johnson started the Women in Jazz festival, to provide young and veteran women an opportunity to perform together. In a 1987 article published by the Indianapolis Star, Johnson said, “For many years men have dominated the jazz field. We feel the time is right for women to step out and receive the recognition we’ve been told we deserve.” The first Women in Jazz festival was held on October 12, 1986 and was hosted by the legendary Indianapolis broadcaster Barbara Boyd.

Johnson was born in Indianapolis in 1944. She grew up in the Avenue neighborhood and attended Crispus Attucks High School. Johnson began singing as a child. By age 14, she was performing professionally with the Naptown bandleader Larry Liggett. During her long career, Johnson played at many Avenue venues and she performed with many significant Indianapolis musicians, including Pookie Johnson, Jimmy Coe, Mel Rhyne, Thurston Harris, Carl Bailey, Johnny Dial, Errol Grandy and many more. 

During her final years, Johnson spent much of her time managing the Inner-City Music School, a program she co-founded in 1994 with her husband Mack Strong. The school provided free music education for Indianapolis youth. Johnson’s contributions to jazz music were honored in 2007, when she was inducted into the Indianapolis Jazz Hall of Fame. Hazel Johnson died in 2011. She was 67 years old.