Friar Lionel Hampton with former President George Bush and President George W. Bush

He was fondly known as "Hamp" and also the "King of Vibes" because he introduced the vibraphone as a new voice to jazz music.

In 1936, Hampton, along with pianist Teddy Wilson, joined the Benny Goodman Quartet which included drummer Gene Krupa. This quartet was regarded as the first racially integrated group of jazz musicians in the world.

Hampton formed his first big band in 1940 and wrote more than two-hundred songs. His signature song, Flying Home recorded in 1935, is one of the most influential recordings in the history of American music. The band initiated the first phase of Hampton's career as an educator by graduating such talents as Illinois Jacquet, Dexter Gordon, Clark Terry, Quincy Jones, and singers Joe Williams, Dinah Washington, and Aretha Franklin, just to name a few. The Lionel Hampton Orchestra became known around the world for its tremendous energy, dazzling showmanship, and first-class jazz.

President Eisenhower appointed Hampton to serve as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United States. President George H.W. Bush appointed him as a board member of the Kennedy Center and President Clinton awarded him the National Medal of Arts In 2000, the Friars Foundation presented Hampton with their prestigious Creative Achievement Award for his outstanding accomplishments in entertainment as well as for his humanitarian endeavors.

Thousands watched on 125th Street in Harlem, outside The Cotton Club, as jazz trumpeter, Wynton Marsalis led a New Orleans style procession to the Riverside Church where services were held. Hampton's body was carried in a horse-drawn, glass-covered hearse.

Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Friar Lionel Hampton

More than 2500 mourners, including George H.W. Bush, religious leaders, politicians, jazz musicians, jazz lovers, and the media filled the church. At times one did not know if they were in a church listening to old time gospel music or in a jam session listening to the music of the Lionel Hampton Big Band featuring Illinois Jacquet, Cyrus Chestnut, Jon Faddis, and others with the Cotton Club dancers swinging to the music.

According to Bush, " Heaven will be feeling some backbeat now that Lionel Hampton has arrived. To know Lionel was to know universal joy. He had an elevated sense of what it meant to be a Friend."