My good friend and mentor Charles Fambrough died yesterday after a long battle with kidney and other related problems. There was a benefit held for him a few weeks ago at the Clef Club in Philly where Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, Gerald Veasley and a host of other musicians donated their time and talent to help raise money for his medical expenses. Charles was on a waiting list for a Kidney transplant but a recent examination determined that he had other problems internally and would probably not survive the transplant operation so he was taken off the list. His beloved wife Dolores was determined to nurture him back to health where he would again become a candidate for the surgery. I was just told a few hours ago of his passing as my son Jonathan read of his passing on the internet. Jonathan was a private bass student of Charles at The University of the Arts and continued to study privately with on occasion. I am writing all of this from what I have learned over time. He died on New Year’s day, 2011.
Charles will be missed and remembered by all who knew and loved him. My sincere thoughts go out to his wife and family.
I first met Charles 15 years ago here at my shop where he brought in a Smith bass for some adjustments. About 5 years later I had bought an interesting old Bass and posted pics on my website. Charles ran right over to try it and invited me to play with him a few days later in a concert. I mentioned that it had been about 15 years since I played out publicly but he insisted I come and do a two bass thing with him and even lent me a pickup. That day was a blast so much that I decided to go back and start playing again so I have him to thank for getting me back on the bass as a player. Charles was not just a player, he was in my mind an ambassador that could bring people and music together. He was a statesman in his own right and that's what many people will remember him for, his encouragement and kindness.
I don't know what else so say at this time as this is hard to do so soon after his passing. I will post a few links that I just found on line so you can read a bit of what others have posted so far..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fambrough
http://tromboneforum.org/index.php?t...7936;topicseen
http://jazztruth.blogspot.com/2011/0...fambrough.html
http://jazztimes.com/articles/25380-...rles-fambrough