Where Does the Vibraphone Come from?

Alexander Ross
Alexander Ross
• • 5 min read

The Vibraphone Was Invented in About 1920 and Was Soon Common in Dance Bands and Became a Prominent Jazz Instrument. Its Foremost Jazz Practitioners Were...

Where Does the Vibraphone Come from?

The vibraphone was invented in about 1920 and was soon common in dance bands and became a prominent jazz instrument. Its foremost jazz practitioners were Lionel Hampton

Lionel Hampton
As a boy, Hampton lived with his mother in Kentucky and Wisconsin before finally settling in Chicago, where he received tuition on the xylophone from percussionist Jimmy Bertrand. Hampton got his start playing drums in the Chicago Defender Newsboys' Band before moving to California in the late 1920s.
, Milt Jackson, and Red Norvo. The vibraphone was first used in the orchestra in Alban Berg's opera Lulu (1937).

Where does the vibraphone originate from?

in Chicago, where Henry Schluter invented the vibraphone.

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What does the word vibraphone mean?

: a percussion instrument resembling the xylophone but having metal bars and motor-driven resonators for sustaining the tone and producing a vibrato.

Alexander Ross

Alexander Ross

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Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.