Pictured is vibraphonist and drummer Lionel Hampton at the Bologna Jazz Festival, founded in 1959 by producer and manager Alberto Alberti along with Cicci Foresti
During a recording session in Los Angeles in 1930, Louis Armstrong suggested to Lionel Hampton, who had previously tried his hand at drums and piano, that he try playing a newly invented instrument, the vibraphone
Within a few years Hampton became the absolute innovator of this instrument, used in those years mostly to create special effects, contributing radically to its wide diffusion in the jazz field that occurred in the following decades
In 1936 Lionel Hampton joined clarinetist Benny Goodman ‘s quartet along with pianist Teddy Wilson and drummer Gene Grupa. Two years later Benny Goodman called him to replace Gene Krupa in the orchestra he conducted. In 1938 the orchestra of the American clarinetist and composer along with some special guests, including Lester Young, Count Basie, Johnny Hodges, performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall, a concert hall until then reserved solely for classical music performances
Contribution shared by Claudio Pungetti
