A huge happy birthday to the legendary
Slide Hampton, turning eighty years old today. Many have spent the past decades marveling at Hampton's technique, range, vocabulary, clarity -- you name it, Slide Hampton is, and has been for quite some time, the complete jazz trombonist. I clipped this interview with
J. J. Johnson from the March 1988
Downbeat magazine many years ago while doing my studies at the University of Washington:
I remember seeing this video on TV, but I guess I didn't make it to this part of the program -- after all, I was only 14 years old when this would have been on TV, and probably had to go to bed early on a school night. I've thought of this video off and on for many years, and nobody I talked to ever seemed to have a copy. I got an itch to search for it again, and found it -- of course -- on YouTube. Someone had posted the whole concert in pieces, so I snagged Slide Hampton's solo, and edited it up for your viewing pleasure. Behold: the solo that J. J. Johnson called "The Most Articulate Trombone Performance I've Ever Heard", and a very happy eightieth birthday to
Slide Hampton!
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