Slide Hampton: Drum Suite

by Francis Lo Kee
March 10, 2007

For Drum Suite, Slide Hampton set out to make an album to feature the drumming of Max Roach, but he accomplished much more: a display of why teamwork is at the essence of powerful jazz. Besides the framing of Roach's melodic and multi-dynamic drumming, the album succeeds in featuring the entire ensemble as part of a singular musical statement. Yes, Roach, George Coleman, Yusef Lateef, Freddie Hubbard and Hampton himself all turn in great solos, but more ...

Slide Hampton: Slide Plays Jobim

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
November 27, 2005

Slide Hampton Plays the Music of Antonio Carlos Jobim came out in 2002, but like many indie releases, it continues to be “discovered through chance and good fortune. I stumbled upon it after a series of happy coincidences, and as a confessed Jobimaniac, I was delighted to find a fresh approach to the material I know so well.

The novelty is due to Slide Hampton's fluid, swinging arrangements and the prominence of his wonderful trombone, not a common ...

Hank Mobley: The Flip

by Germein Linares
January 17, 2004

Leonard Feather once hailed Hank Mobley as “the middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone." Mobley was better than that. An exquisite soul messenger, Mobley was criticized for not being as aggressive, voluminous, or trailblazing as his contemporaries. Indeed, he was not. Instead, his music was steeped in care, precision and nuances. In Mobley's hands, such treatment often dazzled, as on his latest Blue Note reissue, The Flip.

Recorded in 1969 at Studio Barclay in Paris, this album would be Mobley's ...

Slide Hampton and the World of Trombones: Spirit of the Horn

by Jack Bowers
March 2, 2003

I wish my friend Bill Swanson were alive to hear this. Bill loved the trombone, and would have greatly admired this picturesque performance by Slide Hampton’s World of Trombones in concert at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild in Pittsburgh. This is wall-to-wall ‘bones, as Slide leads a dozen of the country’s finest through their paces and welcomes guest soloist Bill Watrous on Ray Noble’s “Cherokee,” Billy Strayhorn’s “A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing” and his own “Blues for Eric.”

Slide Hampton: Jazz With A Twist/Explosion! The Sound of Slide Hampton

by David Rickert
November 1, 2000

A few years ago a “new swing revival” burst onto the music scene, bolstered by newcomers like the Brian Setzer Orchestra, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and the Royal Crown Revue, among others. Suddenly techno clubs featured swing nights, as albums by these artists appeared at the top of the charts. Although the new swing craze has passed as we all knew it would, one positive fallout was that many older stalwarts, like Louis Prima and Louis Jordan, received posthumous exposure ...