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Herb Pomeroy Tribute Concert set for Stage Fort Park
This Sunday's free 7 p.m. concert at Stage Fort Park will honor the jazz genius of a Gloucester native who abandoned his medical studies to follow his musical muse.
The special Herb Pomeroy Tribute Concert at the Antonio Gentile Bandstand will feature Donna Byrne and the Herb Pomeroy Band with Greg Hopkins, and will include tunes from the songbook they used for many years while together.
Pomeroy was an influential swing and bebop jazz trumpeter. He played with jazz legends as Charlie Parker and Lionel Hampton as well as his own jazz bands for over half a century. He was also a teacher and band leader at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Lenox School of Music.
After a long and celebrated career as a musician and teacher, Pomeroy passed away in August 2007 following a lengthy battle with cancer. This concert marks the first time his band members have played together since the bandstand concert at Stage Fort Park the weekend after Pomeroy passed away.
It is also a return of sorts for longtime Pomeroy collaborator Byrne, according to concert organizer David Benjamin.
"Byrne was greatly affected by Herb's death and she decided to retire soon after his passing," he said. "August 9 will be Byrne's first public performance in quite a while."
In honor of Pomeroy, the musicians are donating their fees to the Herb Pomeroy Scholarship Fund at Berklee.
Born and raised in Gloucester, Pomeroy began playing trumpet at an early age, and in his early teens he started playing around Greater Boston. 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, where he excelled as a jazz trumpeter and began to find his calling in bebop.
"Herb was the son of a local Gloucester dentist and was supposed to follow in the family footsteps," remembers Ba Benjamin, "He went to pre-med for one year and quickly abandoned that and decided to become a jazz musician. His mother was a local piano teacher here in Gloucester. She encouraged him to follow his dreams, musically."
Herb Pomeroy did study dentistry at Harvard University for one year but dropped out to pursue his jazz career. Charlie Parker hired him frequently when the alto saxophonist performed at Boston's Hi-Hat and Storyville.
Pomeroy also played with Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, and Serge Chaloff, among other jazz giants. After experience as a sideman in the big bands of Hampton and Stan Kenton, 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 frequently until 1993. His big band played in Carnegie Hall and in the Newport Jazz Festival on the same bill with Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and other major jazz figures. Pomeroy also backed up many singers, including Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Irene Kral, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra.
The remainder of the 2009 Summer Concert Series will take place on Saturday, Aug. 15 and Sunday, Aug. 23. For more information on these events and other Cape Ann musical happenings, see "Tunes on the Town," on page 10.
- Lifestyle
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Be prepared: What to keep on hand
Benjamin Franklin once said, "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."
Continued ...
With the active hurricane season and Earl to bring heavy rain tonight, we are reminded once again of the veracity of his words. But, it isn't only hurricanes that threaten us. Things like bridge fires can also occur, and did, this past week. An overturned truck can block traffic and people can be stuck in an area with no egress, which also happened here in Gloucester recently. On the more serious side, there can be everything from earthquakes to terrorist attacks, and, while no one is suggesting that we panic about those possibilities, it does make sense to take at least some elementary precautions. -
Chores don't need to leave you sore
As the summer winds down, home owners across the region will be faced with a new set of yard chores — and different chores mean new ways to get injured.
Continued ...
Because of Hurricane Earl's path, some of us may be stepping up the timetable for these chores. So if you have a lot to do and if you want to stay healthy, read below to find out how you can avoid or modify the most common ways people will be injured this fall. -
Can I eat those geranium leaves?
Q: Is there a book or website that teaches one which growing things can be eaten and which can't? Specifically, I have some wonderful lemon geraniums — no flowers, just leaves. Every time I water them or the breeze moves them, the most wonderful smell hits me. I want to know whether I could use them to flavor something in cooking, or add them to my tea. I couldn't find this on the Internet.
Continued ... - Susan Britt: The destructive power of negative thinking
- HEALTH CALENDAR
- Master chefs offer different contest at US Open
- Seinfeld joins country celebs in aiding Nashville
- Thursday, September 2, 2010
- French filmmaker Corneau dies at 67
- Wednesday, September 1, 2010
- Tunes on the Town: Sept. 2 to 8
- Gloucester man's furniture touring New Hampshire
- Schooners, music, fireworks and more this Labor Day weekend
- Irish 'Trad'-ition at Gloucester Stage
- Blues giant to close out free Harbor Loop series Thursday night
- Rockport's own 'Voodoo Child': Guitarist, inspired at 4 by Hendrix, to open Taylor show
- Tuesday, August 31, 2010
- Is there anything more Gloucester than Trupiano's sausage?
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Be prepared: What to keep on hand
