Hampton Donates Memorabilia To UI Music Professor Hopes To Make Moscow A Home For Jazz History
The University of Idaho has received 1,160 pounds of memorabilia from the namesake of the school’s annual jazz festival, Lionel Hampton.
Music professor Lynn Skinner is working through boxes of albums, photos and musical scores belonging to his close friend.
“I’m touched,” he said. “These are some very precious pictures.”
There are slick promotional portraits of Hampton in his younger years, Hampton playing music with children and posing with politicians.
A staunch Republican, Hampton has played the vibes at the White House many times.
This year, the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival will celebrate Hampton’s 90th birthday.
The memorabilia is particularly valuable because most of his belongings were destroyed in a January 1997 fire. The fire got so hot it melted the metal on Hampton’s vibes.
These boxes escaped the flames because they were in storage. Pulling out a worn album titled “Hamp Stamps,” Skinner exclaims, “I’ve never seen that before.”
Skinner’s plan is to eventually find a permanent home at the Moscow school for all the jazz history he is collecting.
“That’s always been their (the university’s) commitment to the festival, to Lionel.” In 1987, the department was renamed the Lionel Hampton School of Music.
Hampton’s fame began when he started playing with Benny Goodman. Later he formed his own Big Band providing a platform for other stars, such as Aretha Franklin.
Skinner also recently received a plaster mold of trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie’s face. Gillespie’s wife was going to send it to the Smithsonian Museum, but changed her mind.
xxxx Festival The Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival begins Feb. 25.