Research topic: Lionel Hampton

Lionel Hampton 1908?-2002, African-American vibraphonist and bandleader, b. Louisville, Ky. When his family moved to Chicago c.1916, the young Hampton began playing drums in a newsboys' band. He moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and became a drummer in saxophonist Les Hite's band. Encouraged by Louis Armstrong, he soon learned the vibraphone and quickly became the instrument's leading jazz exponent, acclaimed early for his solos on Armstrong's 1930 recording of the now-classic "Memories of You." As a member of the Benny Goodman Quartet, Hampton toured from 1936 to 1940, when he formed... Read more