Lamberth, a pediatrician, medical researcher and father of five, recently put out his second album, Three Guitars, which he wrote and recorded entirely on his own.
Lots of musicians wear other hats, but few wear quite so many as Erik Lamberth '88. The father of five is a pediatrician in private practice in Bucks County, Pa., and an active medical researcher who chairs the Institutional Review Board at Grand View Hospital, and yet he still somehow found the time to release his second album, Three Guitars, which he wrote and recorded entirely on his own. (Additionally, some younger alums may recognize Lamberth from their classroom; he was a visiting assistant professor in the biology department in the early aughts.)
“Balance is always tricky, especially with work, family and music,” says the former biology major, whose college band, Roadrunner, opened for Living Colour when they played on campus.“I guess not watching TV frees up a lot of time!”
Lamberth's latest CD is evenly split between jazz and blues compositions, and though the titular instrument is the album's star, he also plays bass, keyboard and tenor saxophone on its songs. In fact, that last instrument was actually Lamberth's first. Though he took up guitar at 15 and later studied it at the Berklee College of Music, he first played sax in his elementary school band, and later brought his instrument with him to Haverford, where played it in the Jazz Ensemble before insinuating his guitar into the group.
“One day, I showed up to rehearsal with my guitar, not my sax,” remembers Lamberth.“I got a lot of strange looks. I mean, I didn't even have music for the guitar! So I looked over the piano player's shoulder the whole rehearsal, and afterwards they said, ‘Yeah, you can be the guitarist.'”
Though Three Guitars was only released in May, Lamberth is already hard at work on his next album. Recording is under way on an emotive, jazz-focused collection with a full band—the Erik Lamberth Quartet—and Seattle producer Cyrus Rhodes. A spring 2013 release is planned.
—Rebecca Raber
For more information on his music and a calendar of shows:eriklamberth.com.
This article originally appeared in the Fall 2012 issue of Haverford magazine.
