From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sat Apr 20, 2002  2:20 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Lionel Hampton
 
LIONEL HAMPTON (By Shaun Mather)

Born 20 April 1909, Louisville, Kentucky

Vibraphonist / drummer / pianist / singer / bandleader.
Vibraphone swinger Lionel Hampton got his start on the instrument at a Louis
Armstrong session in 1930 when he happened across a spare one in the studio.
The results can be heard on Memories Of You and Shine. He also played with
Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa among others. In 1940 he formed his own
big band and three years later was in the big time with his own composition
Flying Home (# 9 R&B, # 25 pop), which boasts an Illinois Jacquet sax solo.
Other hits included Hamp's Boogie Woogie (# 1 R&B, # 23 pop, 1944), the
monster hit Hey Ba-Ba-Re-Bop (# 1 R&B for 16 weeks in 1946, also # 9 pop)
and Rag Mop (# 4 R&B, # 7 pop, 1950), all on Decca. The band moved towards
the rhythm and blues sounds of the day, courtesy of such future legends as
Dinah Washington and Earl Bostic. He played many festivals and did several
world tours. Hampton appeared in the films Depth Below, Pennies From Heaven,
Hollywood Hotel, A Song Is Born and The Benny Goodman Story. From the
sixties onwards, he led his own small combos, except for special events
like London's Capitol Jazz Festival. He remained among the best-loved of
all jazz musicians and in his eighties he was playing as well as ever.

Website about Hampton today: http://people.a2000.nl/ahbone/Hampton.html
Book: Lionel Hampton with James Haskins, Hamp : An Autobiography.
New York : Warner, 1989.
CD : Proper has released a 4 CD-box (The Lionel Hampton Story) in 2000,
covering the period 1937 - December 1949. A real bargain.