Herb Pomeroy

 

Irving Herbert Pomeroy III, widely known in
jazz circles as Herb Pomeroy, has been a vital
musical force for over 40 years. As a trumpeter
in the 1950s, he shared the stage with Charlie
Parker at some of Bird’s Boston appearances.
He toured the country with the Lionel
Hampton band, the Stan Kenton band, and the
Serge Chaloff Sextet. Since he left the road to
teach at Berklee in 1955, Herb has had a signif-
icant impact on the musical lives of thousands
of students who took his jazz composition and
arranging courses and played in the Berklee
Recording Band, the college’s premier jazz
ensemble which Herb leads. A number of
Herb’s students have gone on to become music
industry forces themselves as composers,
arrangers, producers, and performers.

Herb Pomeroy was raised in a home which fos-
tered his musical development. His mother, a
pianist trained at The New England Conservatory,
worked professionally as a 1920s-style jazz
player. After attending a movie with his
at age 11 which starred Louis Armstron,
decided he had to take up the trumpe
immersed himself in Dixieland jazz and 1 ‘
early swing efforts of Louis Armstrong anc
Benny Goodman. By the time he was in his
freshman year of high school, he was playing
professionally with dance bands around his
hometown of Gloucester, Massachusetts. A
turning point in his musical direction came
when a friend brought him some early bebop
recordings by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie
Parker. At first, Herb could not appreciate the
new music, but after a few more listenings, he
perceived that this was the direction jazz was
going, and became deeply engrossed in bebop.

While home from prep school in the summer of
1948, Herb’s mother told him of an ad she
heard on the radio for the Schillinger House
(now Berklee). Herb enrolled in the school for
the summer and studied piano, trumpet, and
arranging. Most of the students were returned
servicemen, and at 18, Herb was among the
youngest attending. The atmosphere created by
contact with so many mature musicians was
exhilarating and made a deep impression on the
young trumpeter.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
      

After the s
year of pre
ond in his class, with prizes in math and

trigonometry. He enrolled at Harvard in a pre-

er, Herb returned for his senior

  
 

 
 
 
   
  
  
 
 
 

‘hool, ultimately graduating sec-

lental program, planning to follow in the foot-
steps of his father, grandfather, and an uncle
who were all dentists. By the middle of his
freshman year, Herb was feeling unfulfilled in
the predental course and decided to transfer to

 
   
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
   
    
 
  
 
 

and with a number

  

of acts during what is “Boston’s golden

    
  
   
 

age of jazz.” A hig
the Boston jazz co
rlie Parker when the alto

ayed at Boston’s High Hat

at night with his knees shaking
at the thought of playing on stage next to the
bebop legend. Herb found Parker a joy to
work with though, and Parker was appreciative
of his young sideman’s talents. While Herb
soloed, Parker whispered in his ear, “Herbert,
you’re wailing.” Those and other performances
with Parker are preserved on the CDs Charlie
Parker at Storyville, and Bird in Boston,
Volumes 1 and 2.

During 1953-54, Herb played with the Lionel
Hampton band. The group toured the country
extensively. Life on the road before the advent
of the interstate highway system was difficult.
Frequently, the musicians would board the bus
after a one-nighter and travel around the clock
without checking in to a hotel for four days.
The wages were low too, and Herb began think-
ing about going back to Harvard. On subse-
quent road trips with the Stan Kenton band