Lionel Hampton died today at 94 in in The Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York.

• The Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival's tribute to Hamp's legacy.
• Hans Bebop's The Lionel Hampton Story.

In a 2001 interview he said "Nothing's more important than doing something that you like. And that's jazz music. My heart and soul is in jazz." 

When I think of Lionel, I think of my grandfather Lionel Tiger Wolff (don't ask) and then of Lionel trains. But when I think of the vibes, I think of Lionel Hampton. I heard his Flight of the Bumble Bee as a kid, played straight. I'd heard it before on piano, a test of speed and dexterity. Then he took Rimskij-Korsakov to new places, flying, feeling, pausing; it sent shivers down my spine, shocked me into really hearing jazz for the first time. Others taught me silence, pauses between phrases and notes, are as important as the sounds we make; few as persuasive as Hamp. Thanks.

I'm enclosing an mp3 of Lionel Hampton and Oscar Peterson's Je Ne Sais Pas (6mb).