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Lionel Hampton

Object Details

Exhibition Label
Lionel Hampton began his musical career as a drummer in Les Hite's band, but that changed in the early 1930s, when he tried playing a vibraphone in an idle moment at a recording session. The vibraphone was soon his instrument of choice, and over the next several years, his skill on it earned it a significant place in the jazz idiom. In 1940, after playing for four years with the Benny Goodman Quartet, Hampton formed his own band. Claiming a roster of musicians that included such jazz notables as Quincy Jones and Charlie Mingus, the group became one of America's most highly regarded big bands. Hampton's most endearing trait was his high-energy spontaneity that sometimes raised audience enthusiasm to a fever pitch. "We got no routine," he once said, "We just act the way the spirit moves us."
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Artist
Andre Da Miano, 3 Jun 1908 - ?
Sitter
Lionel Hampton, 20 Apr 1908 - 31 Aug 2002
Date
1937
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image: 25.9 x 33.9 cm (10 3/16 x 13 3/8")
Sheet: 25.9 x 33.9 cm (10 3/16 x 13 3/8")
Mat: 71.1 x 55.9 cm (28 x 22")
Type
Photograph

Featured In

  • 1937: A Year in the Collections
  • Jazzed About Art:Jazz Photography
  • Jazzed About Art:Jazz Portraiture
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