Chuck Lampkin, Jazz Drummer
Bill Schenley
Chuck Lampkin, a drummer who played with Dizzy
Gillespie and other jazz greats before becoming one of the
first blacks to be a television news anchor, died Feb. 10.
He was believed to be 78.
He was among those credited with introducing Brazil's
bossa nova music to the United States, said his widow,
Gail Lampkin.
Lampkin suffered kidney failure in 1999, and had a stroke
several years later, his widow said. She declined to give the
cause of death, but said he had been awaiting a kidney
transplant.
Lampkin was believed to be 78, said the Rev. Dale Lind, a
pastor to the jazz community who conducted a memorial
service Feb. 18 at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in New York.
Besides Gillespie, Lampkin's credits include albums with
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Eddie Harris and Rex Stewart.
In addition he performed with Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughn,
and worked with Quincy Jones," according to a family friend.
It is unclear why Lampkin moved from jazz to broadcasting
sometime in the mid-1960s. Some friends speculate that the
experience of serving in the military in the 1950s changed the
direction of his career.
Lampkin was considered one of the nation's first black anchors
in 1970 at WIVB-TV in Buffalo, N.Y. He also anchored at
WDSU-TV in New Orleans, and hosted its "Cookin' with Soul".