Meet the Vibraphone
It has been well established here that I am a fan of the horn when it comes to jazz. That is true, for the most part. I love a good Monk piano piece or perhaps Keith Jarrett or Herbie Hancock. However, I would rather listen to Miles or Charlie or Dizzy and that’s just my personal taste. There is one very notable exception and that would be a guy who plays the vibraphone.
Also known as the “vibes” you may be asking, what the hell are they? Well, it looks like a xylophone except that the bars you hit with the mallets are alluminum and the instrument has a sustain pedal. The pedal behaves a lot like a pedal on a piano and adds seconds to the notes. Vibes are used a lot in jazz and one of my all time favorite jazz musicians played them like no one else I have ever heard.
Lionel Hampton came into prominence during the big band era. Initially he was a drummer when he was playing as a teenager in Chicago. Eventually he moved on to the vibes, grew in talent and ability and ended up playing for Benny Goodman in one of the first intergrated bands around at that time. Lionel had a way of working with some of the greats in jazz and music in general. Buddy Rich, Louis Armstrong, Quincy Jones and others all had dealings with Hampton.
He formed his own orchestra in the 1940s and that’s when he recorded the tune that he is best known for. The tune is called “Flying Home” and if you download no other jazz tune from reading this blog, I urge you to download and listen to some version, performed by Hampton, of this tune. There has rarely been a tune that sounds like it is played with such joy and rarely one that will leave you wanting to dance, tap your toes, or pound on a table along with it.
The best versions, I feel, are the live recordings of it and like most of the jazz greats there are a lot of live recordings to choose from. Just about everyone that I have heard has been very good.
Hampton himself had some problems, like many jazz musicians, when the 1960s and 70s came around. He kept playing though, and never lost a recording contract. He also nurtured young talent, kept forming bands and orchestras and never stopped recording new albums.
In 1984 the University of Idaho named their annual jazz festival the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. In 1987 the university renamed its school of music after Lionel.
Hampton was still playing and touring the planet when he suffered a stroke and collapsed on stage in 1991. Even then he stilled kept active and he played his final live performance in 2001, mere months before he passed away.
So, please, add another name to the list of great jazz musicians. Give Lionel Hampton a try. You can do a Google search for him and find some of his collections of music and live recordings. At the very least, you need to listen to “Flying Home.”
You won’t be sorry.
Comments Off