When the great founders of jazz music come to mind, most people think of the great masters of instruments like the trumpet, saxophone, bass, guitar and even clarinet. Lionel Hampton added his skill on the vibraphone to help shape the landscape of jazz for the almost 100 years that he was alive. Hampton was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1908 but moved to Chicago during his youth after his father was killed in World War I. He had an interest in the drums from a young age and got a chance to play with the Chicago Defender's Newsboys Band while in school. He was in other bands before he graduated high school at the age of 15 and moved to Los Angeles.

In LA, he joined the Red Spike's Sharps and Flats and also stretched himself by playing with a band called Paul Howard's Quality Serenaders as well another organized by Les Hits, which got him introduced to the great Louis Armstrong. Armstrong had Hampton in the recording studio with him in 1930, which is when Hampton started playing the vibraphone. One of the songs he played on was a success, and Hampton was on his way to becoming a jazz legend. That success led to gigs with other greats, and he was soon playing with Benny Goodman.

Hampton married his wife, Gladys, in 1936 and she helped him to start his own band called the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. With that move, Hampton sealed his legacy as a great jazz contributor, writing over 200 songs. Hampton's interests were not only music, however, and he created his own record labels, worked in the political realm, helped build low-incoming housing and collaborated with the University of Idaho to educate students on jazz. Hampton had his vibraphone placed in the National Museum of American History in 2001 and passed away in August of 2002.