Saturday, June 18, 2011

Story about Lionel Hampton

My friend Bob (aka DJ Thor), writes in to share a story, and a tip on streaming great jazz over the internet:
When I can on Saturday mornings, I listen to riverwalk jazz (10am) and the swing shift (11am-1) on 90.9 or wdcb.org (You can stream it online). I thought you'd appreciate this:

The told a cool story on "riverwalk" this morning about Lionel Hampton's father serving in WWI. A few weeks into leaving for the war, Lionel's father was m.i.a. Lionel's mother attempted to write letters and find where he was, but there was no luck. Lionel went on to become a famous musician down the road and was talking to someone who said there's someone in the hospital claiming to be the father of the famous musician Lionel Hampton (this was 50 years after he had left for the war). The next day, Lionel went to visit this 70 year old man, who turns out to be his father. His father had lost part of his memory in the war, but as things came back when he returned to the US, he found that Lionel's mother had re-married, etc. and didn't want to bother the family. Lionel ended up taking him to New York with him where he spent the rest of his life with him.

Cool little jazz history story.

1 comment:

  1. what a cool story.

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