Lionel Hampton (Photo from http://www.imdb.com)
By Denise Oliver Velez, Community Contributors Team | I have always loved the sound of the vibraphone—the “vibes,” for short—in both jazz and Latin music, but it wasn’t until I started researching Lionel Hampton that I learned he was responsible for bringing the vibes into the jazz band family. His vibes and his orchestra were part of the soundtrack of my very musical youth, along with Milt Jackson. During my teens, I also listened and danced to Cal Tjader and Tito Puente, and as a young adult I discovered Bobby Hutcherson.
During his musical career, which spanned 70-plus years, Hampton was key in nurturing other jazz artists and presenting them to the public. Join me this #BlackMusicSunday in a tribute to the late, great Lionel Hampton.
Rick Mattingly’s biography of Hampton, written for the The Percussive Society Hall of Fame, covers most of the basics.
“Lionel Hampton inspired me to play the vibraphone,” said Milt Jackson, the innovative vibraphonist of the Modern Jazz Quartet. “He was the first one of note to play it, but more important, I liked how dynamic he was. And the way he blended with groups and the way he played in front of a band were inspirational.” Although Lionel Hampton wasn’t the first to play the vibraphone — that honor goes to Red Norvo — “Hamp” is generally credited as the one who brought vibes to the public’s attention through a combination of musicianship and showmanship. “I always think of Hamp as the guy who really got us established,” said vibist Gary Burton in a 1999 Percussive Notes interview.
Hampton was born on April 20, 1908 in Louisville, Kentucky. After his father was killed in World War I, Lionel and his mother moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where Hampton first played drums in a Holiness church. The Hamptons then moved north, and Lionel played drums in a fife-and-drum band while attending Holy Rosary Academy in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which was a school for black and Native American children. Later, in Chicago, Lionel played drums in the Chicago Defender Newspaper Boys Band, which is where he began playing xylophone and marimba. “I worked hard learning harmony and theory when I was growing up in Chicago in the 1920s,” Hampton once recalled in an interview.
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During a 1930 recording session with (Louis) Armstrong, Hampton first played vibraphone. “There was a set of vibes in the corner,” Hampton recalled. “Louis said, ‘Do you know how to play it?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I can play it.’ It had the same keyboard as the xylophone, and I was familiar with that.” Lionel proceeded to play vibes behind Armstrong on the tune “Memories of You.” Armstrong encouraged Hampton to pursue vibes playing.
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The National Endowment for the Arts made Hampton a Jazz Master in 1988. At the time, music historian Ted Gioia wrote:
Read the whole story here:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1/31/2011755/-Lionel-Hamp-Hampton-spiced-up-jazz-with-good-vibes