Slide Hampton interviewed

As a teacher he wants to help his students express their own individuality through music, trombonist Slide Hampton tells David Srebnik ( Washington Star ). To be individual may not be at the heart of today's society anymore, but in jazz it still is one of the most important elements. Besides teaching musical knowledge he also wants to pass on a few life lessons. He warns against drugs, alcohol and smoking, but also against listening to too much of the same music. He was the last child in a musicians' family which didn't have a trombone player. Thus, his parents called him "Slide" and decided that he had to take up the trombone.