Jazzman Takes His Vibe To Idaho Tribe Hampton Performs For Nez Perce Children

Even though his birthday comes later in the spring, jazz great Lionel Hampton celebrated Thursday on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation with some spirited traditional dancing and drumming.

“I’m almost a member of the tribe. My name is Sky Chief,” Hampton said Thursday after performing with his vibraphone for Lapwai and Kamiah schoolchildren.

The students also sang “Happy Birthday” to Hampton, who will turn 90 in the spring.

The cultural exchange is becoming a regular part of the annual University of Idaho-Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival.

The tribe’s Clearwater River Casino is a co-sponsor of the festival, which continues through Saturday in Moscow. Last year, during the jazzman’s first visit to Lapwai, he was presented with an eagle feather, one of the highest honors bestowed by the tribe.

A special presentation was made by Yvette Whitman of Lapwai, who said she was saddened when she heard Hampton lost possessions, including a lifetime of photographs, awards and other mementos, in an apartment fire.

She offered him a framed photograph of himself with Sugar Ray Robinson, the late trumpet great Dizzy Gillespie and her uncle, the actor Jimmy Payne. The vintage photo, she told Hampton, had been passed down in her family. Whitman said she wanted to repay the musician for his visits to Lapwai.

“I hear feedback about how inspired the kids are,” she said.