- Jazz bassist John Lamb plucked out rhythms with the likes of Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald in the sixties and seventies.

Now at age 90, John carries on the tradition of jazz by mentoring others, and you can still find him performing in St. Petersburg.

(bassist playing) - How did I get interested in music?

Oh, yeah, we had to go to church and all the ladies and men were involved in singing every Sunday, and I was a kid sitting on the second row, and I learned from that how to get into the music and feel.

I think that's where it started.

(bassist playing) So after high school, I went into the military.

They took me into the Air Force as a tuba player.

I stayed in the military about eight or nine years and got out.

That's when I met Duke Ellington.

- John was a wonderful player and got recruited in the sixties to play for Duke Ellington, and he kind of thought Duke was a little bit over the hill at that point.

He was more interested in Miles Davis.

His wife said, "Take that gig," and it turned out to be the greatest gig of his life.

They toured all over the world, they won Grammys.

(jazz music) - When I first went, they said they were going overseas.

I said, "No I can't, I don't want to do that."

Then Mercer came over and says, "Try it anyway.

You might like it."

(laughing) So I continued on.

I said, "Okay, I'll try it one month."

So I went over, sort of fell into the musician's habit.

(jazz music) - He and Buster Cooper, who's a trombone player with Ellington at that same time, Buster moved here in St. Petersburg and John and his wife followed.

They were educators.

John in particular I know mentored a lot of the young jazz talent that we have here, and he continues to do that.

John has got a real spark to him and it's kind of hard to explain what that star quality is.

He'll be out in the audience.

He comes to a lot of music and before long, they're gonna have him on stage 'cause, "Hey, John's here."

Everyone's excited that he shows up.

And I think it's that star quality that he brings and the presence that he has and the talent that he continues to show off to the world.

(jazz music) - Well, I've known John for the better part of nearly 40 years.

I took bass lessons when I got outta high school from him originally, that's how I met him.

But over the years we've worked together on the music scene and musically, he's always been a huge inspiration.

You know, playing with Duke Ellington, he learned all these great tricks over the years and fun things on stage.

(jazz music) He'll come in here and say, "Hey, let's play something slow and melancholy," and he'll start, he'll stomp it off.

Other times he's gonna sit down at the piano with us and say, "Hey, let's play some blues and let's go."

(jazz music) Everyone loves to play with John because they never know, like I said, what to expect.

He can take that song and push it a certain way and make a singer or a trumpet player or whatever, kind of follow his lead and it's a fun time to watch that happen.

(jazz music) ♪ Please be true ♪ - He has a strength still, he has a force.

He has the ability, the knowledge, it's all there, It's all clear.

And we're always happy to see him and have him join us on stage.

He's kind of like this wise elder.

If he feels like I need to hear it, he will pull me aside.

If I feel like I need something, I'll pull him aside.

He's been a constant supporting figure, not only for me, but for a lot of local musicians, it's incredible.

- But it's just more than just that knowledge.

Some people you can't talk to about education, they will never know what you're talking about.

You have to be able to communicate it to them in a different way.

And music taught me how to do that.

(jazz music) - We've been celebrating his birthday since he turned 80.

We did 80, we did 85, and the last one for 90, we had 600 people in the audience to see John perform.

But what we really had was every jazz musician in the area wanted to be part of that show.

And we had the best and the brightest, all who were influenced and loved John and were happy to be on the stage.

- Success means you've accomplished something, but to me, it's something that I had to keep doing to survive.

I mean, I had enough to keep me going, but I wanted to survive.

I wasn't trying to get rich, I was already rich already from inside.

♪ Honey suckle rose ♪ It will always be there, it's a whole being.

It's everything, man.

You can feel it, it's there.

All you have to do is just tune in.

(jazz music) - Really been a great, great influence, not only in my life, but I know in so many other people's lives, he's always touched people and I've never had somebody say anything bad.

They've always said, "John Lamb, oh, I love John Lamb."

Everybody I know has said, "I love John."

So, I love John Lamb.

(jazz music) - John's impact on this community is not that hard to measure.

It's in every jazz performer that I know of, he's inside them 'cause he's inspired them and you're going to feel his legacy for decades to come because all these guys have learned from him and they're gonna take that out into the world.

(bassist playing) (bright music) - [Narrator] To learn more, visit wikipedia.org and search John Lamb musician.