HAMPTON, LIONEL (LEO)

born April 12, 1913, Louisville, Ky., U.S. Hampton byname Hamp U.S. swing musician, the first to use the vibraphone (vibraharp, or vibes) in jazz. He is particularly known for the rhythmic vitality of his playing and for his showmanship as a performer. Hampton studied drums as a child and as a teenager went to California, where he played drums in a band formed with his friend Les Hite, the saxophonist. When the band recorded Memories of You with Louis Armstrong in 1930, Hampton became the first musician to record on the vibraphone. During the 1930s he formed the first of his own groups, and in 1936 he joined the Benny Goodman Trio and it became a quartet. Beginning in the 1930s, Hampton made a series of recordings with musicians drawn from the greatest of the swing bands. From the 1940s through the mid-1960s, he led and recorded with his own big band, and he later continued to perform and record as a guest artist, primarily at jazz festivals.