University of Idaho stays on beat with Lionel Hampton

New Crisis, The, Mar/Apr 2001

This story of "firsts" began with the University of Idaho's Jazz Festival.

The festival had been exposing and educating high school and college students to jazz since 1967. In 1984, Lionel Hampton made an appearance at the festival, as did Sarah Vaughn that year.

"When Lionel came here, he was moved by seeing so many young people," Dr. Lynn J. Skinner, director of the festival, told Crisis. " `When I travel,' Hamp told me, 'I see more people over than under 30. If I can help you in any way ... I'd like to help.' That said, he wrote me a check on the spot for $15,000 to establish an endowment."

Skinner happily accepted the funds, but in establishing the endowment discovered that there had never been a jazz festival named in honor of a jazz artist. "So I went to the university president and asked that our festival be named the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival," said Skinner.

So it was that in 1985 the University of Idaho Jazz Festival became the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, the first in the nation named for a jazz musician, and the first named for an African American. When the festival was held this February, more than 19,000 young people were at the university's home in Moscow, Idaho, to listen and to be adjudicated in various competitions.

The festival's success prompted the university regents in February 1987 to name the University of Idaho's school of music in honor of a jazz artist and an African American-Lionel Hampton, a first. The Lionel Hampton School of Music includes programs in opera, composition, chorus and education.

The endowment Hampton started has grown to more than $100,000. It is used to help defray the costs of bringing established artists such as Lou Rawls, Nancy Wilson, Christian McBride, Clark Terry, and Benny Golson to the festival, and also to allow young artists such as Evelyn White, a pianist and vocalist, to perform before an international audience. This year White made her fourth appearance at the festival. How did the festival discover this young talent?

"Well, we stay in traditional jazz and pick those artists who are the very finest in the world. We found Evelyn White through Lionel," Skinner said. "He called and said, 'I have this incredible young piano player and vocalist.' He had her to play right then over the phone. I thought she was incredible."

During this year's festival, the University of Idaho announced a campaign to establish the Lionel Hampton Center. The center will be housed in a new building that will house the university's jazz museum. Another first.