Lionel Hampton

"A turning point came in 1936, when Benny Goodman, along with his pianist Teddy Wilson and drummer Gene Krupa, jammed with Lionel Hampton at the residency he held at the Paradise Club in Los Angeles. Goodman immediately hired Hampton, and he was soon participating as a vibraharpist on some of the classic small-band recording sessions of the swing era (pioneering examples of racial mixing, too) and sometimes deputising for Krupa as the Goodman band's drummer. Hampton's true musical skills emerged in this period, his vibes-playing a sophisticated mix of a drummer's drive and a broader melodic imagination than his later circus-act ostentation gave him credit for..." - The Guardian - Lionel Hampton obituary, 2002

Lionel Hampton was a dynamic performer who played at a very high level into his later years.  This video, from the North Sea Jazz Festival, features Hampton at 86, playing with an illustrious group of alumni from the Lionel Hampton Orchestra:

Lionel Hampton's impact on jazz carries on today in the form of the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, an annual teaching-oriented event on the campus of the University of Idaho. Hampton was awarded the National Medal of the Arts and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, among a seemingly endless list of well-deserved honours.