Reggie DuValle

Reginald Alfred DuValle Jr.

(April 27, 1927 – January 22, 2010)

Reggie DuValle was born and raised in Indianapolis in a home filled with music.  His father was the leader of the Blackbyrds Orchestra which opened the Walker Theatre in 1927.  Early on he walked a few blocks to Crispus Attucks where he studied trombone with Norman Merrifield and where he later attended high school. Reggie, “Pookie” Johnson and Russell Webster would sneak into the music rooms at Attucks, experimenting with jazz music. 

“Pookie and I would go downtown and get a couple of the guys that played in the band and we’d have a jam session and what we’d try to do was blow em’ out. … We would tackle the players that came from out of town. That was our thing.” (Reginald DuValle, Jr. 2009)

DuValle studied at IU but was drafted into the Air Force.  He left the service in 1947.After serving in WWII, he graduated from Jordan College of Music in served as Assistant Band Director at Florida A&M University. In 1953, DuValle became an instrumental music teacher for 37 years in Indianapolis Public Schools, but he also found the time to gig after hours with many of his friends as well as national artists on Indiana Avenue and around town. 

As one of the area's leading trombonists, "Reggie" performed with numerous local groups and national acts such as Lionel Hampton, Marvin Gaye, Slide Hampton, and Dizzy Gillespie. Reggie penned a song entitled “Where Are You Now?” which he sent to Hoagy Carmichael and which Carmichael performed on piano with Johnny Mercer as a vocalist.

He also served as Vice President of Indianapolis Musicians Local #3, and volunteered with both the Indianapolis Brass Choir and the Phillips Music Guild for decades. He was a member of Witherspoon Presbyterian Church, Kappa Alpha Psi and the Enright Social .