I met him in 1992 when he came to Houston for the Republican National Convention. He played 2 shows at Rockefeller's. We caught the first show and wanted to go backstage to meet with him.
We were told "no dice" as he slept between performances. One of the men in his entourage was with HUD and when he found out that my brother was volunteering as an usher at the RNC convention, we got to go backstage.
My brother had met Lionel Hampton before that when Lionel played some outlying town near Houston.
We've always regretted not going to see him play at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival in the mid to late 1990s. Does anyone know when his last performance was?