Slide Hampton

Locksley “Slide” Hampton (b. Jeanette, Pennsylvania, April 21, 1932 - ) – Trombonist, composer and arranger. A left-handed trombonist and skilled arranger, Hampton has had a long distinguished career in jazz. After playing in the Duke Hampton Band from 1945 to 1952, Slide spent the rest of the decade playing with cousin Lionel Hampton, Buddy Johnson, and Maynard Ferguson. In 1962, he formed the Slide Hampton Octet, which toured American and Europe and recorded on various labels. From 1968 to 1977, he toured with the Woody Herman band, which spent much of that time in Europe. In the last thirty years, Slide has stayed busy as a performer (soloist and ensemble player), arranger, composer and clinician. Over the last ten years, he has been nominated for Grammy’s in several categories, and he won in 1998 for Best Jazz Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist with “Cotton Tail,” sung by Dee Dee Bridgewater. In 2005, the National Endowment of the Arts honored Slide with the prestigious Jazz Masters Award. Also in 2005, Slide played material from the Slide Plays Jobim album (2001) at the Indy Jazz Fest, where he was inducted into the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation’s Hall of Fame.