Walter Perkins, 72, jazz drummer

NEW YORK -- Jazz drummer Walter Perkins -- who played with such greats as Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, and Ahmad Jamal -- died Feb. 14 of lung cancer. He was 72.

Born in Chicago, he was a leader of the jazz group MJT+3, which recorded a self-titled album in 1959. After the group disbanded in 1962, Mr. Perkins moved to New York and began playing with musicians such as Mingus, Jamal, Gene Ammons, and Carmen McRae. He appeared on dozens of albums. One of his most recent appearances was with William Parker, with whom he recorded "Bob's Pink Cadillac" (2002).

In the 1970s and 1980s he taught drum classes at Girls and Boys High School in Brooklyn. He lived in Queens and continued to teach and play in local clubs until shortly before his death.