Slide Hampton

Slide Hampton
Slide Hampton
	File:SlideHampton.jpg Hampton at Jerusalem Jazz Festival
Background information
Birth name	Locksley Wellington Hampton
Born	April 21, 1932 (age 92)
Origin	Jeannette, Pennsylvania, United States
Genres	Jazz, Hard bop
Occupation(s)	Musician, bandleader, composer, arranger, educator, Trombonist
Instruments	Trombone, Flugelhorn
Years active	1950s–present
Labels	MCG Jazz, Atlantic, Epic
Associated acts	Slide Hampton Ultra Big Band, Slide Hampton World of Trombones, Slide Hampton Trombone All-Stars
Website	www.SlideHampton.com

Locksley Wellington "Slide" Hampton (born April 21, 1932) is an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. A master composer, arranger and uniquely gifted trombone player, Hampton's career is among the most distinguished in jazz.^[1]

Biography

Early life

Slide Hampton was born in Jeannette, Pennsylvania. Laura and Clarke "Deacon" Hampton raised 12 children, taught them how to play musical instruments and set out with them as a family band. The family first came to Indianapolis in 1938. The Hamptons were a very musical family in which mother, father, eight brothers, and four sisters all played instruments.^[2] Slide Hampton is one of the few left-handed trombone players. As a child, Hampton was given the trombone set up to play left-handed, or backwards; and as no one ever dissuaded him, he continued to play this way.^[3]^[4]

At the age of 12, Slide played in his family's Indianapolis jazz band, The Duke Hampton Band. By 1952, at the age of 20, he was performing at Carnegie Hall with the Lionel Hampton Band. He played with the Buddy Johnson's R&B band from 1955–1956, then became a member of the Maynard Ferguson's band (1957–1959), where he played and arranged, providing excitement on such popular tunes as "The Fugue," "Three Little Foxes" and "Slides Derangement." In 1958, he recorded with trombone masters on the classic release of Melba Liston, "Melba Liston and Her 'Bones". As his reputation grew, he soon began working with bands led by Art Blakey, Tadd Dameron in 1969, Barry Harris, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, and Max Roach, contributing both original compositions and arrangements. In 1962, he formed the Slide Hampton Octet, with horn players Booker Little, Freddie Hubbard, and George Coleman. The band toured the U.S. and Europe and recorded on several labels.

Career

In 1968 he toured with Woody Herman orchestra, settling in Europe where he remained until 1977. He taught at Harvard, artist-in-residence in 1981,^[5] the University of Massachusetts, De Paul University in Chicago, and Indiana State University. During this period he led his own nine-trombone, three-rhythm band, World of Trombones, co-led Continuum (a quintet with Jimmy Heath that plays the music of Tadd Dameron), freelanced as both a writer and a player. He also appeared on The Cosby Show 1986. The episode entitled "Play It Again, Russell".^[6] Hampton also played the trombone in Diana Ross Live! The Lady Sings... Jazz & Blues: Stolen Moments (1992) DVD.^[7]

On June 4, 2006, Hampton promoted his first concert at The Tribeca PAC in New York City (a tribute to Antonio Carlos Jobim) and debuted the Hampton Ultra Big Band. The concert was the first of many planned for the near future.^[8]

Hampton is a resident of North New Jersey.^[9] He is the uncle of Chicago jazz trumpeter Pharez Whitted.

2009 saw the completion of four new compositions entitled "A Tribute to African-American Greatness". The songs honored Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Venus Williams, Serena Williams and Barack Obama. The songs contained accompanying lyrics written by Hampton and Tony Charles, arrangements honoring Thelonious Monk, Thad Jones, Eddie Harris, Dexter Gordon and Gil Evans round out the program. The album will be recorded in 2010. He recently completed two new Big Band arrangements – "In Case of Emergency" and "The Drum Song" (both Hampton originals). These two songs (and others) will be available exclusively to universities and other educational institutions through Slide Hampton Musique Publishing.

Awards and honors

In 1998 he won a Grammy Award for "Best Jazz Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)", as arranger for "Cotton Tail" performed by Dee Dee Bridgewater. He was also a Grammy winner in 2005^[10] for "Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album," The Way: Music of Slide Hampton, The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra (Planet Arts), and received another nomination in 2006 for his arrangement of "Stardust" for the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band.

In 2005 Hampton was honored at the jazz festival in Indianapolis. There the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation inducted him into their Hall of Fame.^[11]

In 2005, the National Endowment for the Arts honored Slide Hampton with its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award.

Discography

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As leader

Year	Title	Label
1959	Slide Hampton and His Horn of Plenty	Strand
1960	Sister Salvation	Atlantic
1960	Somethin' Sanctified	Atlantic
1961	Two Sides of Slide Hampton	Charlie Parker
1962	Jazz with a Twist	Atlantic
1962	Drum Suite	Epic
1962	Explosion! The Sound of Slide Hampton	Atlantic
1962	Exodus	Philips
1968	Mellow-dy	LRC	Released in 1992
1968	Slide Hampton Big Band	Barclay
1968	Back to Jazz	EMI
1969	The Fabulous Slide Hampton Quartet	Pathe
1969	A Day in Copenhagen	MPS	With Dexter Gordon
1970	Umeå Big Band & Slide Hampton in Montreux	Gazell	With Umeå Big Band
1971	Trombone Workshop	MPS	With Albert Mangelsdorff, Åke Persson & Jiggs Whigham
1972	Life Music	Carosello
1972	Jazz a Confronto 18	Horo	With Dusko Goykovich
1972	Euro Jazz	Supraphon	With Václav Zahradník
1974	Give Me a Double	MPS	With Joe Haider
1979	World of Trombones	West 54
1984	Art Farmer & Slide Hampton in Concert	Enja	With Art Farmer
1984	Cees Slinger-Slide Hampton Quintet in Concert	Vara Jazz	With Cees Slinger
1985	Roots	Criss Cross	With Clifford Jordan
1993	Dedicated to Diz	Telarc
1997	Jazz Matinee	Hänssler Classic	With SWR Big Band
1998	Inclusion	Twin
2002	Slide Plays Jobim	Alleycat Productions
2003	Spirit of the Horn	MCG Jazz