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CNN Live Saturday

Jazz Great Lionel Hampton Dies

Aired August 31, 2002 - 12:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The music world now morns the passing of 94-year-old jazz great Lionel Hampton. He died this morning of heart failure. His career spans seven decades, a number of presidential audiences and seemingly countless generations of jazz lovers. Reporter Mark Scherrer explains.
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MARK SCHERRER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lionel "Leo" Hampton was born on April 20, 1908 in Birmingham, Alabama, and raised by his grandparents in Chicago.

It was at the Holy Rosary Academy in nearby Wisconsin that Hampton first developed his unique percussion technique, with help from the musically trained Dominican nun. As a teenager Hampton made his performing debut as a drummer with the Chicago Defenders Newsboys Marching Band.

It was with this band that Hampton first tried his hand at the xylophone. In 1930, after a short stint with the Les Height (ph) Band, Hamp, as he was sometimes known, found himself in California's Cotton Club, backing the legendary Louis Armstrong. It was Armstrong, in fact, who first asked him to play the vibraharp, an instrument that would become Hampton's trademark.

LIONEL HAMPTON, JAZZ MUSICIAN: Louie ask me did I know anything about the instrument. What was it? And I explained it to him. He said, can you play something on it? I said sure, you know.

SCHERRER: Six years later, Hampton would help break down racial barriers in America when he accepted Benny Goodman's offer to become a member of the Benny Goodman quartet. Before leading his own band Hampton spent four years with Goodman recording hits as "Moon Glow" and "Dina".

HAMPTON: It was the first time black and white ever played together. At that time there were blacks and whites associating together.

SCHERRER: It was also in 1936 that Hampton married his wife Gladys, a financial wizard who would help Hampton create his own music publishing company and record label, enabling the musician to become a philanthropist. Among his charitable works, the establishment of low- income housing in Harlem and Newark, New Jersey and music scholarships at a number of universities. Hampton, a friend of many U.S. presidents became an international spokesman for jazz, teaching it in classrooms and on stage. He also helped launch the careers of artists like Dexter Gordon, Nat King Cole, Charlie Mingus and Quincy Jones.

Hampton's nickname, the Vibes President of the U.S.A., was an office he held for over seven decades.

Lionel Hampton, an innovator and consummate entertainer. His legacy will echo throughout the musical landscape for many years to come.

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