[Dixielandjazz] Herb Pomeroy Passes Away

[Steve Barbone]

From: Alumni Affairs <alumniaffairs at berklee.edu>
Date: August 13, 2007 4:30:35 PM EDT
To:   barbonestreet at earthlink.net
Subj: Beloved Berklee Faculty Member, Herb Pomeroy, Passes Away at 77

It is with great sadness that I write to you today to tell you of the
passing of Herb Pomeroy on Saturday. . . . etc.

Who was Herb Pomeroy? Our list mates in New England surely know as his big
band was legendary. Below is a bio of this wonderful musician and man.

Steve Barbone

 
With Louis Armstrong as inspiration, Herb Pomeroy chose the trumpet as his
instrument. By age twenty-five, he had performed with Charlie Parker, toured
with Stan Kenton and Lionel Hampton and recorded with Serge Chaloff. Herb
Pomeroy became known as a "musician's musician," a leader in big band jazz,
an improviser of uncommon stature, a legendary educator at the Berklee
College of Music for forty-one years and founder and director of the
Festival Jazz Ensemble at MIT for twenty-two years.

By the age of twenty-two audiences already had identified Pomeroy as an
exceptional trumpet player. He left Harvard University after one year to
join the legendary Charlie Parker Quintet. Herb also received praise as
composer, arranger, soloist, and section player with the bands of Lionel
Hampton and Stan Kenton and then established one of the most formidable
bands in the world - the Herb Pomeroy Big Band.

The Stable, an old renowned Boston jazz venue frequented by musicians,
became the band's home. The band's first recording by Roulette Records life
is a many splendored gig was received with critical acclaim and a five-star
Downbeat review; disc jockeys nationwide played the album tracks as theme
songs for their shows.

He and his band were then invited to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival
alongside the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Benny Goodman Orchestra, the
International Jazz Band, and the Maynard Ferguson Big Band. As stated in the
press, "only the Pomeroy outfit lived up to its initial promise" and proved
itself as one of the premier big bands.

In the following years, Herb performed with his band at Carnegie Hall, the
Kool Jazz Festival, the Boston Globe Jazz Festival, and behind such singers
as Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, Sarah Vaughn, and Nancy
Wilson. In addition to such noted vocalists, he has performed with countless
instrumentalists including Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, Lee Konitz, Jimmy Heath,
Benny Golson and Gerry Mulligan.

An excellent teacher and adjudicator, Herb Pomeroy taught at the Berklee
College of Music for forty-one years and at MIT for twenty-two. As a result
of his influence on generations of musicians, Berklee awarded him the first
Alumni Association Award for his contribution to students. In addition to
teaching at Berklee, MIT, Harvard, Brandeis and countless colleges and
universities in the US, he adjudicated numerous regional and national jazz
competitions. 

In the spring of 1995 Herb retired from the Berklee College of Music and was
presented an Honorary Doctor of Music degree. His last concert with the
Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra was attended by musicians from around the
world. In 1996 Herb was inducted to the International Association of Jazz
Educators (IAJE) Hall of Fame and in 1997 into the Down Beat Jazz Education
Hall of Fame. Since his retirement from Berklee, Herb has returned to
performing and recording and is in constant demand as a sideman. His solo,
trio and quartet performances continue to receive high critical and popular
acclaim.