Lionel Leo Hampton (1908–2002), was a U.S. bandleader, jazz percussionist, … Read Full Bio ↴Lionel Leo Hampton (1908–2002), was a U.S. bandleader, jazz percussionist, and vibraphonist.

Hampton was born on 20th April 1908 in Louisville, Kentucky, but moved to Chicago as a child, where he began his career as a drummer. He relocated to Los Angeles to play drums in Les Hite's band. They soon became the house band for Frank Sebastian's New Cotton Club, a popular L.A. jazz club.

During a 1930 recording date in the NBC studios in L.A., Louis Armstrong discovered a vibraphone. He asked Hampton if he could play it. Hampton, who knew how to play the xylophone, tried it and they agreed to record a few records with Hamp on vibes. Hampton is credited with popularizing the vibraphone as a jazz instrument.

In the mid-1930s, the Benny Goodman Orchestra came to Los Angeles to play the Palomar Ballroom. John Hammond brought Goodman to see Hampton play. Goodman asked Hampton to move to New York City and join Goodman, Teddy Wilson, and Gene Krupa who'd already formed a Benny Goodman Trio within the large band - to expand into the Benny Goodman Quartet. The Trio and Quartet were among the first racially integrated bands to record and play before wide audiences; they were just as well received at Goodman's famous 1938 Carnegie Hall concert as was the full Goodman band.

While Hampton worked for Goodman in New York, he recorded with several different small groups known as the Lionel Hampton Orchestra as well as assorted small groups within the Goodman band. In the early 40s he left the Goodman organization to form his own touring band.

Hampton's band fostered the talents of Illinois Jacquet, Dexter Gordon, Ernie Royal, Jack McVea, Charlie Mingus, Monk Montgomery, Wes Montgomery, Quincy Jones, Benny Golson, Fats Navarro, Kenny Dorham, Clifford Brown, Dinah Washington, Betty Carter, Joe Williams, Arnett Cobb, Earl Bostic, and John Colianni among many others.

Hampton's recording of "Flying Home" (1939) with the famous honking tenor sax solo by Jacquet, later refined and expanded by Cobb (1946), is considered by some to be the first rock and roll record. He was known for his tireless energy and his skill on the vibes, drums, and lightning speed two-fingered piano. The bars on the vibraphone are laid out like the piano; Hampton played both instruments the same way.

Beginning in the mid-1980s, Hampton and his band started playing at the University of Idaho's jazz concert, which in 1985 was renamed the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. In 1987 the University's music college was renamed the Lionel Hampton School of Music, the first and only university music college to be named after a jazz musician.

Lionel Hampton died of cardiac arrest at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York on 31st August 2002. He was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York.

How High the Moon
Lionel Hampton Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Somewhere there's music
How faint the tune
Somewhere there's heaven
How high the moon
There is no moon above
When love is far away too
Till it comes true
That you love me as I love you

Somewhere there's music
How near, how far
Somewhere there's heaven
It's where you are
The darkest night would shine
If you would come to me soon
Until you will, how still my heart
How high the moon

Somewhere there's music
How faint the tune
Somewhere there's heaven
How high the moon
The darkest night would shine
If you would come to me soon

Until you will, how still my heart
How high the moon

Overall Meaning

Lionel Hampton’s song How High the Moon is a beautiful love ballad that is tinged with a hint of melancholy. As the opening lines suggest, the music is playing somewhere, but it is only faintly audible. Likewise, the dream of being with a loved one, to reach the heaven, is just out of reach. There is no moon above, and it is as if the universe is conspiring to keep the lovers apart. The lyrics continue to describe the longing for this person, the idea that everything would be better if they were near. Even the darkest night, the bleakest moments, would be filled with light if their love was finally realized.

The song is a melancholic portrayal of the longing for love, the idea that everything would be better if it was finally within reach. The entire song is a series of plaintive pleas, yearning for the lover’s presence. It portrays the idea that even in the most beautiful, heavenly places, with all the music in the world, the absence of love makes everything seem empty. The repetition of “how high the moon” speaks to the impossibly romantic feeling that the love they seek is as high and far away as the moon, yet they still reach for it, wanting it more than anything in the world.

Facts about How High the Moon:

Line by Line Meaning

Somewhere there's music
There exist melodious tunes with notes and rhythms, someplace on this earth.

How faint the tune
Although the music is present, its sound is not very audible or too weak to be recognized.

Somewhere there's heaven
A place where ultimate bliss and joy await, beyond the horizons.

How high the moon
The magnitude of someone's happiness is as great as the distance of the moon from the earth.

There is no moon above
Metaphorically, without the presence of someone's beloved, the light of the moon is not adequate.

When love is far away too
When love remains distant and unfulfilled, it adds to the somberness.

Till it comes true
Until love and dreams are fulfilled, there will remain an insatiable longing and yearning.

That you love me as I love you
A desire for an equal and unconditional exchange of love between two beings.

How near, how far
Although the location of the music and heaven may be in proximity, it may still feel distant and unreachable.

It's where you are
Wherever someone's beloved is present, it's a utopian space of serenity and joy.

The darkest night would shine
The haunting gloomiest nights would look radiant and beautiful if only there was someone to adore.

Until you will, how still my heart
An undying heartache will persist until reunion with the one being loved again.

How high the moon
The passion and intensity of one's love are as high as the moon, and as unreachable as it may be.

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Royalty Network, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Morgan Lewis, Nancy Hamilton

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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