Lionel Hampton
April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002
Although he started his career as a drummer in the late ’20s, Lionel Hampton went on to become one of jazz’s premier vibraphonists, playing with Benny Goodman, Buddy Rich, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong and Quincy Jones to name just a few. By the early ’40s, Hampton was fronting his own group, the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, who would become one of the most popular big bands of the ’40s and ’50s. Over the years, his band would feature several performers who achieved their own fame. That list includes Dinah Washington, Charles Mingus, and Wes Montgomery. Hampton continued to perform and record through the ’80s, but a stroke in 1991 lead to his retirement. He died of congestive heart failure at the age of 94.
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