Herb Pomeroy
Encyclopedia
Irving Herbert "Herb" Pomeroy, III (15 April 1930, Gloucester, Massachusetts
– 11 August 2007) was an influential swing and bebop
jazz
trumpeter and educator. He played with musicians such as Charlie Parker
and Lionel Hampton
as well as his own jazz bands for over half a century.
at an early age, and in his early teens started gigging in the greater Boston area, claiming inspiration from the music of Louis Armstrong
. In 1946, at age 16, he became a member of the Musicians Union in Gloucester after the union didn't have enough members to conduct a meeting. After high school, he studied music at the Schillinger House in Boston, which is now the Berklee College of Music
, and began to develop his interest in bebop
.
for a year but dropped out to pursue his jazz career. Charlie Parker liked Pomeroy's playing and hired him frequently when the alto saxophonist performed at Boston's Hi-Hat and Storyville clubs. Pomeroy also played with Lionel Hampton
, Duke Ellington
, Stan Kenton
, and Serge Chaloff
, among other jazz musicians. After his experience as a sideman in the big bands of Hampton and Kenton (separated by a five-month stint at leading his own 13-piece band in the early 1950s), Pomeroy put together a big band that drew national attention in the late 1950s in a Boston club called the Stable. He led the band from 1957 through the mid-1960s and intermittently until 1993. During that time, and afterward, he led additional small groups ranging typically from duo (usually with bassist John Repucci) to quintet. His big band played in Carnegie Hall
and established series such as the Newport Jazz Festival
on the same bill with Benny Goodman
, Ellington, and other major jazz figures. Pomeroy also backed up several singers, including Mel Torme
, Tony Bennett
, Irene Kral
, Ella Fitzgerald
, and Frank Sinatra
. He became noted as a master of music theory
and musical form. Pomeroy's playing exhibited a limited upper range on the trumpet, but his extraordinary improvisational resources counteracted that limitation. Gradually during the mid-1990s, as Pomeroy performed more frequently with small groups, he abandoned the trumpet for the flugelhorn.
Although Herb Pomeroy is generally remembered as a music educator, his first love was performing as a trumpeter. He ranked leading a band and teaching music second and third, respectively, in his hierarchy of passions. He was not enthusiastic about recordings, always emphasizing that jazz is a music that must be witnessed in person. A good example of such an incident can be found in the Berklee video archives. The video documents an October 31, 2005 Friend Hall panel session on jazz in Boston at mid-century. At one point the panel was asked what the best recordings of jazz in Boston in the 1950s are. Several people offered suggestions. Finally, in apparent frustration, Herb told everyone to take all of the recommended recordings (most which featured Pomeroy) "and throw them away." Instead, he suggested that all people in attendance go out to clubs and "see live jazz."
- which included such musician/teachers as Varty Haroutunian, Ray Santisi, Serge Chaloff
, Dick Twardzik
and Pomeroy on the faculty. Later Pomeroy joined the faculty of the Berklee School of Music in Boston where he taught for 41 years. In 1963 Pomeroy was enlisted to revitalize the Techtonians big band at MIT. It was renamed the Festival Jazz Ensemble, and he continued as its director for 22 years. During his time as director he helped the FJE perform throughout the US as well as abroad, even helping them become the first college ensemble to appear at the Swiss Montreux Jazz Festival
. His contribution to Music at MIT is well known and on May 10, 2008 the university had a memorial concert for him in the Kresge Auditorium
. He also taught at the Lenox School of Music, where he conducted a full orchestra of his own students. After his retirement, Herb Pomeroy gave his time helping people study jazz
in the Greater Boston area. In the later part of Pomeroy's life he did several workshops for local Middle and High School aged students, most notably with the Gloucester Educatation Foundation.
Jazz Education Hall of Fame.
, Alan Broadbent
, Toshiko Akiyoshi
, Mika Pohjola
, Gary McFarland
, Franck Amsallem
, Duško Gojković
, Dennis Wilson (trombone), Lee Allen (piano) and Miroslav Vitouš
. Musicians who played in his big bands run the gamut from Boots Mussulli
to Sam Rivers
and include such influential musicians as Alan Dawson
, Jaki Byard
(as saxophonist and arranger), Phil Wilson, Ray Santisi
, Greg Hopkins, Dick Johnson
, Charlie Mariano
, Michael Gibbs
, John LaPorta
, Lennie Johnson, Serge Chaloff
, Ryan Shore
, Mike Nock
, Bill Berry, Hal Galper
, Joe Gordon, Michael D. Palma, Richard Festinger
and many others.
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester is a city on Cape Ann in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is part of Massachusetts' North Shore. The population was 28,789 at the 2010 U.S. Census...
– 11 August 2007) was an influential swing and bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
trumpeter and educator. He played with musicians such as Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
and Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...
as well as his own jazz bands for over half a century.
Early life
Herb Pomeroy began playing trumpetTrumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
at an early age, and in his early teens started gigging in the greater Boston area, claiming inspiration from the music of Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
. In 1946, at age 16, he became a member of the Musicians Union in Gloucester after the union didn't have enough members to conduct a meeting. After high school, he studied music at the Schillinger House in Boston, which is now the Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
, and began to develop his interest in bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
.
Performing career
Herb Pomeroy studied dentistry at Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
for a year but dropped out to pursue his jazz career. Charlie Parker liked Pomeroy's playing and hired him frequently when the alto saxophonist performed at Boston's Hi-Hat and Storyville clubs. Pomeroy also played with Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...
, Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
, and Serge Chaloff
Serge Chaloff
Serge Chaloff was an American jazz baritone saxophonist.The son of noted Boston piano teachers, Margaret and Julius Chaloff, he was among the few major jazz performers on his instrument. Until Chaloff the only prominent baritone player in jazz was Harry Carney of the Duke Ellington Orchestra...
, among other jazz musicians. After his experience as a sideman in the big bands of Hampton and Kenton (separated by a five-month stint at leading his own 13-piece band in the early 1950s), Pomeroy put together a big band that drew national attention in the late 1950s in a Boston club called the Stable. He led the band from 1957 through the mid-1960s and intermittently until 1993. During that time, and afterward, he led additional small groups ranging typically from duo (usually with bassist John Repucci) to quintet. His big band played in Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
and established series such as the Newport Jazz Festival
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by socialite Elaine Lorillard, who, together with husband Louis Lorillard, financed the festival for many years. The couple hired jazz impresario George Wein to organize the...
on the same bill with Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
, Ellington, and other major jazz figures. Pomeroy also backed up several singers, including Mel Torme
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
, Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
, Irene Kral
Irene Kral
Irene Kral , was a jazz singer who was born in Chicago, Illinois and died due to breast cancer in Encino, California.- Biography :...
, Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
, and Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
. He became noted as a master of music theory
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
and musical form. Pomeroy's playing exhibited a limited upper range on the trumpet, but his extraordinary improvisational resources counteracted that limitation. Gradually during the mid-1990s, as Pomeroy performed more frequently with small groups, he abandoned the trumpet for the flugelhorn.
Although Herb Pomeroy is generally remembered as a music educator, his first love was performing as a trumpeter. He ranked leading a band and teaching music second and third, respectively, in his hierarchy of passions. He was not enthusiastic about recordings, always emphasizing that jazz is a music that must be witnessed in person. A good example of such an incident can be found in the Berklee video archives. The video documents an October 31, 2005 Friend Hall panel session on jazz in Boston at mid-century. At one point the panel was asked what the best recordings of jazz in Boston in the 1950s are. Several people offered suggestions. Finally, in apparent frustration, Herb told everyone to take all of the recommended recordings (most which featured Pomeroy) "and throw them away." Instead, he suggested that all people in attendance go out to clubs and "see live jazz."
Teaching career
In addition to his performing career, Herb Pomeroy also enjoyed an active teaching career. He helped found the Jazz Workshop on Stuart Street — under the leadership of Charlie MarianoCharlie Mariano
Carmine Ugo Mariano was an American jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died in Cologne, Germany.-Biography:Mariano was the son of Italian immigrants....
- which included such musician/teachers as Varty Haroutunian, Ray Santisi, Serge Chaloff
Serge Chaloff
Serge Chaloff was an American jazz baritone saxophonist.The son of noted Boston piano teachers, Margaret and Julius Chaloff, he was among the few major jazz performers on his instrument. Until Chaloff the only prominent baritone player in jazz was Harry Carney of the Duke Ellington Orchestra...
, Dick Twardzik
Dick Twardzik
Richard Twardzik was a jazz pianist known for bebop who worked for the bulk of his career in Boston.He trained in classical piano as a child and made his professional debut at 14...
and Pomeroy on the faculty. Later Pomeroy joined the faculty of the Berklee School of Music in Boston where he taught for 41 years. In 1963 Pomeroy was enlisted to revitalize the Techtonians big band at MIT. It was renamed the Festival Jazz Ensemble, and he continued as its director for 22 years. During his time as director he helped the FJE perform throughout the US as well as abroad, even helping them become the first college ensemble to appear at the Swiss Montreux Jazz Festival
Montreux Jazz Festival
The Montreux Jazz Festival is the best-known music festival in Switzerland and one of the most prestigious in Europe; it is held annually in early July in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva...
. His contribution to Music at MIT is well known and on May 10, 2008 the university had a memorial concert for him in the Kresge Auditorium
Kresge Auditorium
Kresge Auditorium is an auditorium building for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located at 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was designed by the noted architect Eero Saarinen, with ground-breaking in 1953 and dedication in 1955...
. He also taught at the Lenox School of Music, where he conducted a full orchestra of his own students. After his retirement, Herb Pomeroy gave his time helping people study jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
in the Greater Boston area. In the later part of Pomeroy's life he did several workshops for local Middle and High School aged students, most notably with the Gloucester Educatation Foundation.
Accolades
Herb Pomeroy was recognized as the Boston Musician's Association 2004 Musician of the Year and received an honorary degree from Berklee after he retired in 1995. His final concert with the Berklee Jazz Ensemble was attended by well-noted musicians from around the world. In 1996 Pomeroy was inducted into the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) Hall of Fame, and in 1997 he was inducted into the Down BeatDown Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
Jazz Education Hall of Fame.
Former students
Former students include diverse players such as Gary BurtonGary Burton
Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...
, Alan Broadbent
Alan Broadbent
Alan Broadbent, MNZM , is a jazz pianist, arranger and composer best known for his work with artists such as Woody Herman, Diane Schuur, Chet Baker, Irene Kral, Sheila Jordan, Charlie Haden, Warne Marsh, Bud Shank, and many others.Broadbent studied piano and music theory in his own country, but in...
, Toshiko Akiyoshi
Toshiko Akiyoshi
is a Japanese American jazz pianist, composer/arranger and bandleader. Among a very few successful female instrumentalists of her generation in jazz, she is also recognized as a major figure in jazz composition. She has received 14 Grammy nominations, and she was the first woman to win the Best...
, Mika Pohjola
Mika Pohjola
Mika Pohjola is a Finnish-born jazz pianist and composer, who resides in New York City. He is one of the most prolific Scandinavian jazz musicians in his generation.-Childhood in Helsinki, Finland 1971-87:...
, Gary McFarland
Gary McFarland
Gary McFarland was an influential composer, arranger, vibraphonist and vocalist, prominent on Verve and Impulse! Records during the 1960s, when he made "one of the more significant contributors to orchestral jazz"...
, Franck Amsallem
Franck Amsallem
Franck Amsallem is a French jazz pianist, composer and also singer. He was born in 1961 in Oran, then in French Algeria, but grew up in Nice, France.He started learning the piano at age 7 and also took up the classical saxophone at the local conservatory...
, Duško Gojković
Duško Gojkovic
Duško Gojković , is a Serbian jazz trumpeter and composer....
, Dennis Wilson (trombone), Lee Allen (piano) and Miroslav Vitouš
Miroslav Vitouš
Miroslav Ladislav Vitouš , is a Czech jazz bassist.-Biography:Born in Prague, he began the violin at age six, and started playing the piano at age ten, and bass at fourteen. As a young man in Europe, Vitouš was a competitive swimmer. One of his early music groups was the Junior Trio with his...
. Musicians who played in his big bands run the gamut from Boots Mussulli
Boots Mussulli
Boots Mussulli was an American jazz saxophonist, based chiefly out of Boston....
to Sam Rivers
Sam Rivers
Samuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....
and include such influential musicians as Alan Dawson
Alan Dawson
Alan Dawson was a respected jazz drummer and widely influential percussion teacher based in Boston. He was born in Marietta, Pennsylvania and raised in Roxbury, MA. Serving in the Army for Korean War duty, Dawson played with the Army Dance Band while stationed at Fort Dix from 1951-1953...
, Jaki Byard
Jaki Byard
Jaki Byard was an American jazz pianist and composer who also played trumpet and saxophone, among several other instruments. He was noteworthy for his eclectic style, incorporating everything from ragtime and stride to free jazz...
(as saxophonist and arranger), Phil Wilson, Ray Santisi
Ray Santisi
Ray Santisi is an American jazz pianist and educator. He performed with people such as Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Mel Torme, Irene Kral, Natalie Cole and many others. The Raleigh, N.C...
, Greg Hopkins, Dick Johnson
Dick Johnson (clarinetist)
Dick Johnson was an American big band clarinetist, best known for his work with the Artie Shaw Band. From 1983 until his death he was the leader of the Artie Shaw Orchestra....
, Charlie Mariano
Charlie Mariano
Carmine Ugo Mariano was an American jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died in Cologne, Germany.-Biography:Mariano was the son of Italian immigrants....
, Michael Gibbs
Michael Gibbs (jazz composer)
Michael Clement Irving Gibbs is a jazz composer, conductor, arranger and producer as well as a trombonist and keyboardist....
, John LaPorta
John LaPorta
John LaPorta was a Philadelphia-born jazz clarinetist and saxophonist. LaPorta's sound has been compared to that of fellow jazz experimenter Jimmy Giuffre...
, Lennie Johnson, Serge Chaloff
Serge Chaloff
Serge Chaloff was an American jazz baritone saxophonist.The son of noted Boston piano teachers, Margaret and Julius Chaloff, he was among the few major jazz performers on his instrument. Until Chaloff the only prominent baritone player in jazz was Harry Carney of the Duke Ellington Orchestra...
, Ryan Shore
Ryan Shore
Ryan Shore is a Grammy Award nominated composer for film, television, records and games. He is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music and is the nephew of Academy Award winning composer Howard Shore.-Music career:...
, Mike Nock
Mike Nock
Mike Nock is a jazz pianist, currently based in Australia. He began studying piano at 11 and by 18 was performing in Australia. He headed a trio that toured England in 1961 and then attended Berklee College of Music...
, Bill Berry, Hal Galper
Hal Galper
-Biography:He studied classical piano as a boy, but switched to jazz which he studied at the Berklee College of Music from 1955 to 1958. He hung out at Herb Pomeroy's club, The Stable, hearing local Boston musicians like Jackie Byard, Alan Dawson and Sam Rivers. Galper started sitting in and became...
, Joe Gordon, Michael D. Palma, Richard Festinger
Richard Festinger
Richard Festinger is an American composer, born in Newton, Massachusetts 1 March 1948, currently living in Richmond CA. Festinger was the founding director of the Earplay ensemble based in the Bay Area...
and many others.
Select discography
- Walking On Air - with Donna Byrne Arbors RecordsArbors RecordsArbors Records is an independent American jazz record label based in Clearwater, Florida. It was founded by the family team of Mat and Rachel Domber in 1989, initially devoted to the recordings of their friend Rick Fay.-History:...
- Life is a Many Splendored Gig - The Herb Pomeroy Orchestra Roulette RecordsRoulette RecordsRoulette Records is an American record label, which was founded in late 1956, by George Goldner, Joe Kolsky, Morris Levy and Phil Khals, with creative control given to producers and songwriters Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. Levy was appointed as director...
LP R-52001 - Band in Boston - The Herb Pomeroy Orchestra United Artists RecordsUnited Artists RecordsUnited Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
LP UAS 5015 - The Band and I - Irene Kral and the Herb Pomeroy Orchestra United Artists RecordsUnited Artists RecordsUnited Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
LP UAS 5016 - Pramlatta's Hips - The Herb Pomeroy Orchestra Shiah Records LP HP-1
- Charlie Parker at Storyville - Charlie Parker with ensemble including Herb Pomeroy on tracks 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Blue Note RecordsBlue Note RecordsBlue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
LP BT-85108 - Here's to Joe - Paul Broadnax with ensemble including Herb Pomeroy Brownstone Records CD BRCD 9611
- Rara Avis - Charlie Parker with Bostonians Herb Pomeroy, Bernie Griggs, and Baggy Grant on tracks 8, 9, 10 Stash Records CD ST-CD-21
- Live at Café Beaujolais - The Herb Pomeroy Trio Weller Records
- Jazz in a Stable - Transition Records LP TRLP 1
- Big Band Saturday Night Ted Herbert LP
Sources
- http://web.mit.edu/fje/www/bios/herb.html
- http://www.newenglandconservatory.edu/faculty/pomeroyH.html