Hampton jazz fest gets national award
A Northwest jazz festival known to Seattleites for its heated student-jazz competition has received the National Medal of Arts.
The Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival, which takes place in February on the University of Idaho campus in Moscow, Idaho, received the honor. President Bush presented the award Thursday to festival artistic director John Clayton and University of Idaho President Timothy P. White in the East Room of the White House.
The University of Idaho is the first public university to receive the National Medal of Arts since it was created in 1984.
The university is in heady company. Other honorees among the nine given included jazz guitarist Les Paul, novelist N. Scott Momaday and painter Andrew Wyeth.
The Hampton festival started in 1967 as the University of Idaho Jazz Festival. It was renamed in 1985, after the great vibraphone player Lionel Hampton, who became famous during the swing era. In 1987, the University of Idaho School of Music was renamed for Hampton, as well.
Hampton and his big band performed every year at the festival, from 1984 until his death in 2002. The four-day concert series and student competition attracts more than 10,000 students from 300 schools. Students attend clinics as well as concerts by such artists as Diana Krall, Clark Terry and Wynton Marsalis, and receive professional critiques.
Seattle schools have dominated the competition over the years, with the faceoff between Roosevelt High School and Garfield High School an annual ritual.
The festival celebrates its 41st anniversary Feb. 20-23.
Paul de Barros: 206-464-3247 or pdebarros@seattletimes.com