Just saw this on the news!  Join me as I pray for his family and many friends.........

Lionel Hampton died this morning

His manager says Lionel Hampton died this morning in a New York City hospital. He was 94 and had been in failing health.

Hampton was a virtuoso of the vibraphone and jammed with Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker and Quincy Jones during a six-decade career.

In 1936, Hampton and pianist Teddy Wilson were the black half of the fabled quartet with Goodman and drummer Gene Krupa that broke the racial barriers that had largely kept black musicians from performing with whites in public.

Two days after a 1997 fire at his Lincoln Center apartment, Hampton was forced to borrow a suit, socks, shoes and underwear to receive the Presidential Medal of Arts at the White House.