One terrific jazz musician was Lionel Hampton. Lionel was actually a bandleader, actor, jazz vibraphonist and drummer. He has worked with other well-known jazz musicians such as Buddy Rich, Quincy Jones and Charlie Parker.

Lionel spent his childhood with his grandmother in the south before he relocated to Chicago. In the 1920's he began playing the xylophone and drums. His first instrument was the fife drum.

When he was a young adult he played percussion for the Chicago Defender Newsboy's band. When he was living in California, he played for the Dixieland Blue-Blowers.

The first band that he recorded with was The Quality Serenaders, and then he left once more to go play with another band, Les Hite band. It was here that he began studying the vibraphone.

Louis Armstrong really wanted Lionel to play the vibraphones on two of his songs. That's when he made the vibraphone a well liked musical instrument.

While continuing to play with the Les Hite band, Lionel went to the University of Southern California to learn about music. He also worked with the Nat Shilkrer orchestra.

In 1936, he was in the film Pennies From Heaven, starring Bing Crosby. He was sitting next to Louis Armstrong, but hid himself by wearing a mask when he was playing percussion.

In 1936, he was privileged to meet Benny Goodman who went to watch him perform. Benny asked him to join his trio which consisted of Benny, Gene Krupa and Teddy Wilson. It was then renamed the Benny Goodman Quartet.

The year before, Lionel played with Billie Holiday with Benny's orchestra. This group of artists was one of the first integrated jazz bands that played openly in society.

Lionel recorded with various groups while still with Benny Goodman, but in 1940 he left to form his own big band. Lionel's orchestra was a hit within the 40's and 50's.

"Flying Home" featured an Illinois Jacquet solo that began a brand new style of music, R&B. The song was so popular that he did a second version called "Flying Home, Number Two", with Arnett Cobb.

Lionel Hampton's music was a mixture of jazz music and R&B during this time. Some good jazz musicians that worked with him throughout this time was Johnny Griffin, Dinah Washington, Charles Mingus and Dizzy Gillespie.

As time went on, during the 1960's and after, his success decreased, he was still performing hits from the 1930's-1950's. During the 1970's he recorded with the Who's Who Record label, but still did not do as well as he could have.

Going the college course seemed to help a little bit. His band played at University of Idaho's jazz concert often. In 1985, they named it the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. Two years later, they named the music school the Lionel Hampton School of Music.

It had been the only music school at a university that was named after a jazz musician. Lionel kept playing until he had a stroke in 1991 in Paris.

Despite the fact that he had to stop performing as much, he did a performance at the Smithsonian in 2001, not long before he passed on. This jazz music legend won't be forgotten.

You can find his music online by visiting any online music rock station or by searching: list rock music or best music rock.

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