TRANSCRIPT:
I’m Mark Rapp, and this is Rapp on Jazz.
Saxophonist Lonnie Hamilton III has long been one of Charleston’s cultural leaders—both on stage and in public life.
Born in 1927, he grew up immersed in the city’s rich musical traditions and played in the Jenkins Orphanage bands during the 1940s. After graduating from South Carolina State, Hamilton served in the U.S. Army and started a career in education, teaching first in Union and later in Charleston.
He went on to earn a master’s degree from VanderCook College of Music in Chicago.
Outside the classroom, Hamilton served nearly twenty-five years on the Charleston County Council and founded a scholarship foundation supporting college-bound students. Throughout his life, he remained an active performer in the Charleston area.
This has been Rapp on Jazz, a co-production of ColaJazz and SC Public Radio, made possible by The ETV Endowment of South Carolina.