On this date in 1942 the Lionel Hampton Orchestra recorded the jazz classic Flying Home. Although he was born in Louisville, Hampton grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin and learned to play the snare drum from a nun at the Catholic school he attended in his youth. Later, after moving to Chicago in 1916, he learned to play timpani and marimba as a member of the Chicago Defender Newsboys Band, a group sponsored by the leading Black newspaper in the city.

In 1927 Lionel Hampton moved to Los Angeles and was soon playing drums in the Les Hite band. Hite’s group was hired to back up Louis Armstrong for performances and recording sessions. It was in L.A. he met his future wife and business manager Gladys Riddle who bought him his first vibraphone and encouraged him to enroll at the University of Southern California where he studied music theory. In 1936 Benny Goodman’s orchestra was in Los Angeles playing at the Palomar Ballroom when Goodman’s manager John Hammond took him to hear Hampton play at the Paradise Cafe.  Goodman was so impressed with Hampton’s technique that he invited him to join his trio (making it a quartet) with Goodman on clarinet, Teddy Wilson on piano and Gene Krupa playing the drums.  The combo was one of the most popular small jazz groups of the era, and one of the first to feature a racially integrated lineup.

Hampton stayed with the Goodman ensemble long enough to participate in the legendary 1938 Carnegie Hall concert but was off to start his own big band in 1940.  That group’s third recording was 1942’s Flying Home featuring tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet. The tune became a theme song of sorts for Hampton’s band that continued to tour until 1986, and even after that Lionel kept up a busy schedule of appearances until his death 2002. In 1988 the University of Idaho christened the Lionel Hampton Center for the Performing Arts and still hosts an annual jazz festival bearing his name.

Here is a link to the original 1942 recording of Flying Home, recorded May 26, 1942:

"FLYING HOME"