Lionel Leo Hampton was an iconic jazz musician and bandleader, known for the rhythmic vitality of his playing and his showmanship as a performer. Best known for his work on the vibraphone, Hampton was also a skilled drummer (his original instrument), pianist, and singer. During a recording session in 1930, while accompanying Louis Armstrong, Satchmo asked Lionel to play a vibraphone that had been fortuitously left in the studio. The results were “Memories of You” and “Shine,” the first jazz recordings to feature improvised vibraphone solos. From that point on, the vibes became Hampton’s main instrument. Above, you’ll hear an excitingly different treatment of In The Mood, –– like Glenn Miller never played it –– featuring the St. Petersburg State Orchestra and Lionel Hampton, still at his finest in 1994.
Midnight Sun was originally an instrumental composed by Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke in 1947; it is now considered a jazz standard. This performance was around 1948.
This Kennedy Center performance of Air Mail Special is from a 1982 tribute to Benny Goodman. You’ll probably recognize several well-known dignitaries in the audience.
