Sound Stories. Sound Voices.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
You are on the KUOW archive site. Click here to go to our current site.
00000181-fa79-da89-a38d-fb7f2bb00002KUOW was established in 1952, when Seattle benefactor Dorothy Bullitt donated a radio frequency to the University of Washington.It was a training ground for students to learn about broadcast techniques and technology, on the air for only 8-10 hours each day.We’ve come a long way! Celebrate our anniversary with us all year long. We’ll be throwing events big and small, curating a monthly podcast filled with classic, archived interviews and stories, and giving you lots of ways to be a part of the fun!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ngu000y5do

1992: How Lionel Hampton invented the jazz vibraphone

William P. Gottlieb/Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Fund Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress
William P. Gottlieb/Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Fund Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress
Lionel Hampton circa June 1946

At the time of this interview Lionel Hampton (1908 – 2002), vibraphonist, band leader and composer, had been a working musician for 62 years when he spoke with Ross Reynolds.

Hampton introduced the vibraphone as a jazz instrument, wrote jazz standards (“Flying Home”), performed with jazz greats Louie Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa , Duke Ellington, Dizzie Gillespie, and discovered Dinah Washington and Joe Williams.  He also recruited Seattleites Quincy Jones and Ernestine Anderson for his bands. 

He talks about breaking the color barrier with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. 

The University of Idaho's annual jazz festival is named the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival  and in 1987 the UI's school of music was renamed for Hampton, the first university music school named for a jazz musician.