Vibraphone, used by Lionel Hampton: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This vibraphone, used by Lionel Hampton, was made by Musser in Elkhardt, Indiana, around 1980. It is a three-octave, M75 Century model, with gold finished bars, gold lacquered resonators, and covered wood end panels.

American jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and bandleader Lionel Leo Hampton (1908 - 2002) began his music career playing drums and took up the vibraphone in the late 1920s. After stints with Louis Armstrong, Nat Shilkret and his Orchestra, and the Benny Goodman Orchestra, Hampton formed his own orchestra in the early 1940s and would lead various incarnations of his group well into the late 1980s. Hampton donated this vibraphone to the Smithsonian in 2001 shortly before his death.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: ca 1980
• user: Hampton, Lionel
• maker: Musser
• Object Name: vibraphone
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 145 cm x 76 cm x 89 cm; 57 3/32 in x 29 29/32 in x 35 1/32 in
• place made: United States: Indiana, Elkhart
• Subject: African American
• ID Number: 2001.0013.01
• accession number: 2001.0013
• catalog number: 2001.0013.01
• Credit Line: Lionel Hampton
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.