THANKS FOR THOSE KIND APPLAUSE:

Weather Bird: Lionel Hampton, 1908-2002 After 75 Years Onstage, a Well-Earned Rest (Gary Giddins, September 23rd, 2002, Village Voice)

[I]t's no small achievement to monitor the pulse of musical fashion for nearly 75 years and ride it cowboy-like despite every twist and bounce. If he was ahead of the curve in the '20s, '30s, and '40s, he strutted alongside it it in the decades that followed, never really falling behind-as secure and eager with Chick Corea as with Hank Jones. Nothing musical fazed him. His willingness to extemporize at the drop of anybody's downbeat suggested a talent so natural as to be elemental, but his ear was acute enough to see him through every harmonic labyrinth. Think of another career as long and ardent and constant. You can't-there isn't any.

There aren't many left but it's staggering to realize how long some of these jazz greats performed at the top, or near it, of their craft. Posted by Orrin Judd at September 24, 2002 9:34 PM