Now, a Jazz Moment...

MUSIC: "Jazz Twist" CD: Jazz With a Twist, Collectible COL CD 6604 (cut 1)

Slide Hampton: We just loved music so much that we just wanted to be a part of any musical events that we could. And our family, of course, was making music every day.

NEA Jazz Master Slide Hampton was destined to be a musician. After all, he was born into "The Hamptonians."

Slide Hampton: We had all my sisters, four sisters, five brothers, and we had some friends. Maybe, I guess, we had three trumpets, two trombones, four saxophones and three rhythm.

It was with his family that slide first hit the New York scene - and they didn't land in just any old joint...

Slide Hampton: the Pittsburgh Courier, the paper, had a contest and we won the contest. And the prize was that you would have a chance to perform on Carnegie Hall with some well-known group. And we performed opening a concert for Lionel Hampton.

And they didn't stop there. They soon returned to New York for a week-long booking at the Apollo Theater...

Slide Hampton: And then, after the Apollo, we played the Savoy Ballroom for two weeks immediately. And then we went back to the Apollo by popular demand right after two weeks in Savoy. So we were there for four weeks actually.

...the illustrious beginnings of trombonist Slide Hampton with "The Hamptonians." This Jazz Moment was created by the National Endowment for the Arts. I'm Delfeayo Marsalis.