and baritone saxophonist Serge Chaloff’s sex-
tet, the trumpeter fared a little better financial-
ly and logistically, but with a family back home,
the life of the traveling jazz musician was a

hardship.

When Berklee founder Lawrence Berk called
and asked him to join the faculty in 1955 at
faculty member Joe Viola’s recommendation,
Herb jumped at the chance, and began teach-
ing that fall. At last tally, he has taught 111
semesters. For the first 31 years, he taught
year-round. Over the course of his tenure at
Berklee, Herb developed three highly special-
ized courses—Line Writing, Jazz Composition,
and Arranging in the Style of Duke Ellington—
which have drawn students to his clas
from around the world.

Herb’s pedagogical approach ha
catalyst, bringing out the stud



cality rather than impose upon
cal ideas and boundaries. As directo
Berklee Recording Band, Herb has showcased
some of the college’s top performers and writ-
ers. Among the alumni of Herb’s courses and
Recording Band are many who have gone on to
become important writers and performers,
including Emmy-winning film composer Alan
Silvestri; poll-winning composer, arranger, and
CBS recording artist Toshiko Akiyoshi; TV and
film composers and arrangers Alan Broadbent
and Alf Clausen; Grammy-winning saxophonist
Ernie Watts; and Atlantic Studios Vice
President Arif Mardin, to name a few.

In addition to his educational career, Herb con-
tinued pursuing an active performing career
leading the 16-piece Herb Pomeroy Orchestra
throughout the Northeast. The group released
four critically acclaimed albums for the
Roulette, United Artists, and Shiah record
labels. Their first, Life Is a Many Splendored
Gig, stayed in the top 10 on the Downbeat jazz
charts for nearly five months in 1957.





















sixties, Herb was commissioned to
ores for the Boston Ballet. The
ebe Snow and Wilderness of
d on the music of Ellington

at Lincoln Center in
a specialist in jazz and

er the past decade, Herb has been in

and internationally for conducting concerts
h the New Music Orchestra of Finland, the
ockholm Jazz Orchestra, North German
‘Radio Orchestra, the New Music Orchestra of
Copenhagen, and the H.E.D. Music Center
Orchestra in Tel Aviv.

Herb Pomeroy has been selected to receive
Berklee’s honorary doctorate of music degree
this year in recognition of the tireless dedica-
tion with which he has served for 40 years on
the Berklee faculty. Herb has helped to mold
the careers of many thousands of musicians by
equipping them with the tools of the trade. As
ripples from a stone cast into still water radiate
outward, similarly, the musical inspiration
Herb provided continues to resonate in the
careers of his former students. In turn, their
music has collectively touched the lives of mil-
lions of listeners across the globe.

Herb Pomeroy Endowed Scholarship

The Herb Pomeroy Endowed Scholarship Fund
is being established by the college to recognize
40 years of outstanding service to Berklee.
Friends, family, faculty, staff, students, and
alumni from around the world have con-
tributed to the fund in order to establish a
meaningful tribute to the person who has
helped so many musicians and contributed so
much of his own music to the world. The Herb
Pomeroy Endowed Scholarship Fund will
annually recognize outstanding jazz musician-
ship or jazz composition at Berklee.