This group, which at times has included musicians of the stature of Cat Anderson, Illinois Jacquet, Clifford Brown, and Quincy Jones, has been one of the most long-lived and consistently popular large ensembles in jazz. From the 1950s Hampton undertook numerous "goodwill" tours to Europe, Japan, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere, and made a large number of television appearances, attracting a huge and enthusiastic international following.
Hampton performed in the Royal Festival Hall, London, in 1957, and played at the White House for President Carter in 1978; during the same year he formed his own record label, Who's Who in Jazz, to issue mainstream recordings. In the mid 1980s his band continued to draw capacity crowds throughout the world. Hampton was honored as alumnus of the year by the University of Southern California in 1983.

Hampton was not the first jazz musician to take up vibraphone (Red Norvo had preceded him in the late 1920s), but it was he who gave the instrument an identity in jazz, applying a wide range of attacks and generating remarkable swing on an instrument otherwise known for its bland, disembodied sound. Undoubtedly his best work was done with the Goodman Quartet from 1936-1940, when he revealed a fine ear for small-ensemble improvisation and an unrestrained, ebullient manner as a soloist. The big band format was probably better suited to the display of his flamboyant personality and flair for showmanship, but after a few early successes, especially the riff tunes Flying Home, Down Home Jump, and Hey Bab-Ba-Rebop, the group was too often content to repeat former triumphs for its many admirers. Hampton has at times also appeared as a singer, played drums with enormous vitality, and performed with curious success asa pianist, using only two fingers in the manner of vibraphone mallets.
For a quarter of a century the Lionel Hampton Jazz Club, the Mecca of Jazz in Paris, has contributed year after year to strengthen the reputation of the "Méridien Etoile" Hotel in Paris and throughout the world. Its personality has been established through different styles and concepts that have been expressed and developed. But the Lionel Hampton Jazz Club is firmly turned towards the future.

In 1976, Moustache, a Parisian musician and gourmet, well known in the Jazz world suggested to the "Méridien Etoile's" General Director to liven up the hotel by welcoming great "live" musicians on tour in Europe. The Jazz Club was created, and Moustache, until his accidental death in 1987, reigned supreme over the " Jazz " nights of the Parisian "Méridien Etoile" Hotel.
At that time the Jazz Clubroom was known as the Patio and deserved without doubt a more appropriated name, more related to the immense talents that played at the time. In 1984, Moustache being aware of this, made an unforgettable opening night in obtaining the permission from the mythical "Lionel Hampton" to associate his name to the club.

Since its creation, the Lionel Hampton Jazz Club has always known how to attract big names in Jazz. To name just a few, Fats Domino, Lionel Hampton, the Count Basie Orchestra, BB King, Claude Bolling, Christian Morin, Michel Leeb, Sacha Distel, Cab Calloway, Oscar Peterson, Dr John Screamin'Jay Hawkins, Marva Wright, Ruby Wilson, Allen Toussaint, Solomon Burke, Ann Peeble, Francine Reed, Sherman Robertson, Spanky Wilson, Sonny Rhodes, Chermaine Neville, Jimmy Smith, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dizzy Gillespie, Carrie Smith, Linda Hopkins, Monty Alexander, Tramaine Hawkins, Trudy Lynn, Cash Mac Call... etc...