In 1971 he formed Buckwheat & the Hitchhikers, a 15-piece group doing soul covers.
Years & Years, meanwhile, are a three-piece group with a 90s-influenced dance-pop sound.
He recently recorded a big-band album, "Beyond the Line" (Omnitone), with a 19-piece group.
Case in point: Surfer Blood, a five-piece group from West Palm Beach, Fla., playing its first South by Southwest.
After leaving Aldershot in Hampshire, the three-piece group will head for Bradford, more than 200 miles away.
Clad in red boiler suits, the nine-piece group developed an imposing visual counterpart to their often brutal-sounding music.
Trans Am, a three-piece group from Washington, has developed two contrasting musical personas, each played out tongue in cheek.
His new six-piece group appearing at the Blue Note this week occupies a flexible middle ground.
Mr. Hampton soon formed his own nine-piece group featuring the trumpeter Buck Clayton and the tenor saxophonist Herschel Evans.
Bailo Bah, a flutist from Guinea, leads an eight-piece group with singers, koras and balafon (marimba).
