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August 31, 2002
Not pictured
Seems like there's only one reason I ever link Great Day in Harlem. . .
In an AP story, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports:
Jazz great Lionel Hampton diesNEW YORK -- Lionel Hampton, the vibraphone virtuoso and standout showman whose six-decade career ranked him among the greatest names in jazz history, died Saturday. He was 94.
[. . .] Hampton worked with a who's who of jazz greats, from Benny Goodman to Charlie Parker to Quincy Jones.
Hampton and pianist Teddy Wilson were the black half of the fabled quartet with Goodman and drummer Gene Krupa that in 1936 broke the racial barriers that had largely kept black musicians from performing with whites in public.
Wilson had recorded with Goodman and Krupa previously, and white soloists "jammed" informally with black groups, but a color line was drawn when a white band was on stage.
[. . .] A Republican Party stalwart, Hampton appeared at fund-raising and celebratory party events, but played the White House during Democratic administrations too, performing over the years for Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan and Bush.
He was back in Washington in January 1997 as a recipient of the National Medal of the Arts. President Clinton hailed him as "more than just a performer. He is a lion of American music. And he still makes the vibraphone sing."
I'm not in the mood for black Republican jokes just now, thanks.
It should surprise no one that one of the best pages about a jazz musician is in The Netherlands. Google's cache of the page is working; the actual Lionel Hampton Story page seems to be getting slashdotted at the moment.
I'm not checking to see how old Quincy Jones is, because I don't want to think about that now. He's a celebrity DJ at Radio@Netscape; "Thriller" was playing last time I clicked it, but there's jazz there too, and what we'll call pop for lack of a better term. If you like your music kept as segregated as bands used to be less than 70 years ago, it's not the place for you.
And neither is this site.
Posted by Aaron at August 31, 2002 08:11 AM
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