Herb Pomeroy RIP

[Mark Carlsen]

I would be remiss if not to mention the passing of a local legend both as a Jazz Artist and maybe more important, one of the founding fathers of Jazz Education in this country, Herb Pomeroy.
I could go on and on w. his great stories and how lucky I was to play and record and all, but just a few...
Herb missed his graduation from Harvard in the 50's and you know why ??? he had a gig w. Bird that night...this man was the greatest at rehearsing a band ... BAR NONE ] Except maybe Duke] The man remembered the name of every student he had while teaching at Berklee for 40 years and where they were from, and all that took his line writing and Ellington courses ended up being great arrangers and players because of his passion.
I know we just lost Max , but we also just lost Herb...any of you who teach Jazz should know this cat paved the way and will be sorely missed..always remembered...

[Marcus Johnson]

Damn! Tough couple of weeks in the music world.

[Mark Carlsen]

There was a Memorial concert this afternoon at Emanual church in Boston for Herb...3 and 1/2 hours of Music and stories and prayers and although it was tough to sit that long , I am glad I was there.
Great musical program lead by Greg Hopkins and many a small group, big band and soloist performed, along w. Herbs daughter Perry and wife Dotie adding many funny memories to the mix.
A few highlights were Rebecca Paris singing , Steve Kuhn came up from NY and played a solo piece, and the Ellington stuff the big band played w.Herbs ol' stands there holding his music Jon Wheatly played solo guitar, and in my mind was the true essence of what Herb was all about, some great tenor solo's from Bill Pierce, and just a wonderfull collection of different compositions that was a true delight to experirnce. All the love from the musicians and crowd was very much alive.
Herb Pomeroy lives....