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"Charlie Was a Sailor" by Lionel Hampton & His Big Band

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"Charlie Was a Sailor" by Lionel Hampton & His Big Band

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Lionel Hampton began his career playing drums for the Chicago Defender Newsboys' Band, while still a teenager in Chicago. He moved to California in 1927 or 1928, playing drums for the Dixieland Blues-Blowers. One of Lionels trademarks as a drummer was his ability to do stunts with multiple pairs of sticks such as twirling and juggling without missing a beat. In 1930 Louis Armstrong came to California and hired the Les Hite band, asking Lionel if he would play vibes on two songs. That began his career as a vibraphonist, popularizing the use of the instrument in the process.

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Lionel Leo Hampton was born on April 20, 1908, in Louisville, Kentucky. He spent the early years of his childhood in Birmingham, Alabama. He was greatly inspired by the powerful musical performances at his church, which Lionel later said it was an experience that helped him discover "the beat in me." Lionel Hampton became a jazz drummer before discovering the vibraphone and took his first drum lessons from a Dominican sister at the Holy Rosary Academy. Even after he moved to Chicago with his family, his musical education continued and he learned to play the xylophone from percussionist Jimmy Bertrand.

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Lionel playing the vibraphone at the Aquarium in New York, June 1946.

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Lionel Hampton Biography

http://www.biography.com/people/lionel-hampton-9327170

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Hampton

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Benny Goodman's bands launched the careers of many major names in jazz. During an era of segregation he also led one of the first well-known integrated jazz groups, which included Lionel Hampton and Teddy Wilson. He was proud to have Lionel and Teddy in his quartet.

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"If a guy's got it, let him give it. I'm selling music, not prejudice."

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"If a guy's got it, let him give it. I'm selling music, not prejudice."

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Even the media-created title, King of Swing, would have been far more justly afforded to such legendary black band leaders as Duke Ellington, Count Basie or Jimmie Lunceford. Not even the greatest black jazz artists, such as Louis Armstrong, Ellington or Charlie Parker, were exempt from the long, poisonous reach of the overt racism of their time.

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The black jazz legends Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton were making musical, social and cultural history by playing with Benny Goodman, the enormously popular white band leader and clarinetist known as the King of Swing. Goodman's racial mix worked superbly, and its success struck a significant blow against racism. Considering, racism found its way into in the recording and publishing industries where black composers and musicians were often ripped off by the white power structure.

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President George W. Bush honors Lionel Hampton during a ceremony recognizing Black Music Month in the East Room of the White House on June 30, 2001.