#herb pomeroy

Introduction: John Lewis, best known for his work with the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ), carved out a significant niche for himself in the jazz world with his sophisticated compositions and distinctive piano style. One of his most rewarding endeavors outside the MJQ is the album “The Wonderful World of Jazz,” released in 1961. This album not only showcases Lewis’ prowess as a pianist and composer…

Marquis Hill (trumpet) 1987 :: Jazziversary greetings to Marquis Hill.  Marquis  is already a well-known name on the Chicago Jazz Scene. After retrieving a Bachelor degree in Music Education/Jazz Studies, and studying privately at Northern Illinois University, he started performing heavily in Chicago. He has performed with artist such as: Dee Alexander, Tito Carrillo, Bobby Broom, Willie Pickens, Ron Perrillo, Victor Garcia, Benny Golson, Antonio Hart, Rodney Whitaker, Steve Turre , Ernest Dawkins, Maurice Brown, Corey Wilkes, Willerm Delisfort, Brian Lynch and many others. He has toured the U.S and abroad with many different artist and groups; Sirens of Sound, The Delisfort Project, Chicago 12, Bebop Brass, Ronald Carter Big Band, New Horzions.

In 2011 Marquis released his solo debut album, New Gospel, to critical acclaim. The project contained all original music performed by his group the Blacktet. In the spring of 2012, Marquis Hill received his Master's degree in Jazz Pedagogy from DePaul University. Shortly afterward, he recorded and released his sophomore album, Sounds of the City. Hill's third album, The Poet, is scheduled for an October 2013 release.

In the spring of 2012, Marquis Hill retrieved his Masters degree in Jazz Pedagogy from DePaul University.

Richard Davis (bass) - 1930 :: Happy jazziversary to bassist Richard Davis. Davis is one of the most widely recorded bassists of all time. Among his most famous contributions to the albums of others are Eric Dolphy’s 1964 Blue Note LP Out to Lunch!, Andrew Hill’s Point of Departure and Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, of which critic Greil Marcus wrote (in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll), “Richard Davis provided the greatest bass ever heard on a rock album”.

He has been a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison since 1977. Originally from Chicago, he first became known in that city before establishing himself in New York City for twenty-three years. He teaches bass, jazz history, and improvisation.

Richard Davis began his musical career as a singer with his brothers. Davis sang bass in his family vocal trio. In addition to his earlier years of singing, Richard Davis began studying the double bass in high school with his music theory and band director, Captain Walter Dyett. After high school, Davis studied the double bass with Rudolf Fahsbender of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra while attending Vandercook College. In 1952 Richard Davis received a BME from Vandercook College.

After college, Davis performed in dance bands. The connections he made while performing various gigs led him to meet pianist Don Shirley. In 1954 Davis and Shirley moved to New York city and performed together until 1956. After the musical split, Davis began playing with the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra.

Bessie Smith (vocal) - 1894-1937 was an American blues singer.

Nicknamed The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and, along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on other jazz vocalists.

In 1904, her oldest brother, Clarence, covertly left home by joining a small traveling troupe owned by Moses Stokes. “If Bessie had been old enough, she would have gone with him,” said Clarence’s widow, Maud. “That’s why he left without telling her, but Clarence told me she was ready, even then. Of course, she was only a child.”

In 1912, Clarence returned to Chattanooga with the Stokes troupe. He arranged for its managers, Lonnie and Cora Fisher, to give Smith an audition. She was hired as a dancer rather than a singer, because the company also included the unknown singer, Ma Rainey. Smith eventually moved on to performing in various chorus lines, making the “81” Theater in Atlanta her home base. There were times when she worked in shows on the black-owned T.O.B.A Theater Owners Booking Association circuit. She would rise to become its biggest star after signing with Columbia Records.

Bessie Smith was signed by Columbia Records in 1923 and her first session for Columbia was February 15, 1923. For most of 1923, her records were issued on Columbia’s regular A- series; when the label decided to establish a “race records” series, Smith’s “Cemetery Blues” (September 26, 1923) was the first issued.

She scored a big hit with her first release, a coupling of “Gulf Coast Blues” and “Downhearted Blues”, which its composer Alberta Hunter had already turned into a hit on the Paramount label. Smith became a headliner on the black T.O.B.A. circuit and rose to become its top attraction in the 1920s. Working a heavy theater schedule during the winter months and doing tent tours the rest of the year, Smith became the highest-paid black entertainer of her day. Columbia nicknamed her “Queen of the Blues,” but a PR-minded press soon upgraded her title to “Empress”.

Smith was gifted with a powerfully strong voice that recorded very well from her first record, made during the time when recordings were made acoustically. With the coming of electrical recording (circa 1925), the sheer power of her voice was even more evident.

She made 160 recordings for Columbia, often accompanied by the finest musicians of the day, most notably Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Fletcher Henderson, James P. Johnson, Joe Smith, and Charlie Green.

Smith’s career was cut short by a combination of the Great Depression,which nearly put the recording industry out of business, and the advent of “talkies”, which spelled the end for vaudeville. She never stopped performing, however. While the days of elaborate vaudeville shows were over, Smith continued touring and occasionally singing in clubs. In 1929, she appeared in a Broadway flop called Pansy, a musical in which top critics said she was the only asset.

Herb Pomeroy (trumpet) - 1930-2007:: Herb Pomeroiy was an influential swing and bebop jazz trumpeter and educator. He played with musicians such as Charlie Parker and Lionel Hampton as well as his own jazz bands for over half a century.

Herb Pomeroy studied dentistry at Harvard University for a year but dropped out to pursue his jazz career. Charlie Parker liked Pomeroy’s playing and hired him frequently when the alto saxophonist performed at Boston’s Hi-Hat and Storyville clubs. Pomeroy also played with Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, and Serge Chaloff, among other jazz musicians. After his experience as a sideman in the big bands of Hampton and Kenton (separated by a five-month stint at leading his own 13-piece band in the early 1950s), 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 intermittently until 1993. During that time, and afterward, he led additional small groups ranging typically from duo (usually with bassist John Repucci) to quintet. His big band played in Carnegie Hall and established series such as the Newport Jazz Festival on the same bill with Benny Goodman, Ellington, and other major jazz figures. Pomeroy also backed up several singers, including Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Irene Kral, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra. He became noted[by whom?] as a master of music theory and musical form. Pomeroy’s playing exhibited a limited upper range on the trumpet, but his extraordinary improvisational resources counteracted that limitation. Gradually during the mid-1990s, as Pomeroy performed more frequently with small groups, he abandoned the trumpet for the flugelhorn.

Although Herb Pomeroy is generally remembered as a music educator, his first love was performing as a trumpeter. He ranked leading a band and teaching music second and third, respectively, in his hierarchy of passions. He was not enthusiastic about recordings, always emphasizing that jazz is a music that must be witnessed in person. A good example of such an incident can be found in the Berklee video archives. The video documents an October 31, 2005 Friend Hall panel session on jazz in Boston at mid-century. At one point the panel was asked what the best recordings of jazz in Boston in the 1950s are. Several people offered suggestions. Finally, in apparent frustration, Herb told everyone to take all of the recommended recordings (most which featured Pomeroy) “and throw them away.” Instead, he suggested that all people in attendance go out to clubs and “see live jazz.”

Bessie Smith (vocal) - 1894-1937 was an American blues singer.

Nicknamed The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and, along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on other jazz vocalists.

In 1904, her oldest brother, Clarence, covertly left home by joining a small traveling troupe owned by Moses Stokes. “If Bessie had been old enough, she would have gone with him,” said Clarence’s widow, Maud. “That’s why he left without telling her, but Clarence told me she was ready, even then. Of course, she was only a child.”

In 1912, Clarence returned to Chattanooga with the Stokes troupe. He arranged for its managers, Lonnie and Cora Fisher, to give Smith an audition. She was hired as a dancer rather than a singer, because the company also included the unknown singer, Ma Rainey. Smith eventually moved on to performing in various chorus lines, making the “81” Theater in Atlanta her home base. There were times when she worked in shows on the black-owned T.O.B.A Theater Owners Booking Association circuit. She would rise to become its biggest star after signing with Columbia Records.

Bessie Smith was signed by Columbia Records in 1923 and her first session for Columbia was February 15, 1923. For most of 1923, her records were issued on Columbia’s regular A- series; when the label decided to establish a “race records” series, Smith’s “Cemetery Blues” (September 26, 1923) was the first issued.

She scored a big hit with her first release, a coupling of “Gulf Coast Blues” and “Downhearted Blues”, which its composer Alberta Hunter had already turned into a hit on the Paramount label. Smith became a headliner on the black T.O.B.A. circuit and rose to become its top attraction in the 1920s. Working a heavy theater schedule during the winter months and doing tent tours the rest of the year, Smith became the highest-paid black entertainer of her day. Columbia nicknamed her “Queen of the Blues,” but a PR-minded press soon upgraded her title to “Empress”.

Smith was gifted with a powerfully strong voice that recorded very well from her first record, made during the time when recordings were made acoustically. With the coming of electrical recording (circa 1925), the sheer power of her voice was even more evident.

She made 160 recordings for Columbia, often accompanied by the finest musicians of the day, most notably Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Fletcher Henderson, James P. Johnson, Joe Smith, and Charlie Green.

Smith’s career was cut short by a combination of the Great Depression,which nearly put the recording industry out of business, and the advent of “talkies”, which spelled the end for vaudeville. She never stopped performing, however. While the days of elaborate vaudeville shows were over, Smith continued touring and occasionally singing in clubs. In 1929, she appeared in a Broadway flop called Pansy, a musical in which top critics said she was the only asset.

Herb Pomeroy (trumpet) - 1930-2007:: Herb Pomeroiy was an influential swing and bebop jazz trumpeter and educator. He played with musicians such as Charlie Parker and Lionel Hampton as well as his own jazz bands for over half a century.

Herb Pomeroy studied dentistry at Harvard University for a year but dropped out to pursue his jazz career. Charlie Parker liked Pomeroy’s playing and hired him frequently when the alto saxophonist performed at Boston’s Hi-Hat and Storyville clubs. Pomeroy also played with Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, and Serge Chaloff, among other jazz musicians. After his experience as a sideman in the big bands of Hampton and Kenton (separated by a five-month stint at leading his own 13-piece band in the early 1950s), 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 intermittently until 1993. During that time, and afterward, he led additional small groups ranging typically from duo (usually with bassist John Repucci) to quintet. His big band played in Carnegie Hall and established series such as the Newport Jazz Festival on the same bill with Benny Goodman, Ellington, and other major jazz figures. Pomeroy also backed up several singers, including Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Irene Kral, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra. He became noted as a master of music theory and musical form. Pomeroy’s playing exhibited a limited upper range on the trumpet, but his extraordinary improvisational resources counteracted that limitation. Gradually during the mid-1990s, as Pomeroy performed more frequently with small groups, he abandoned the trumpet for the flugelhorn.

Marquis Hill (trumpet) 1987 :: Bornday greetings to Marquis Hill.  Marquis  is already a well-known name on the Chicago Jazz Scene. After retrieving a Bachelor degree in Music Education/Jazz Studies, and studying privately at Northern Illinois University, he started performing heavily in Chicago. He has performed with artist such as: Dee Alexander, Tito Carrillo, Bobby Broom, Willie Pickens, Ron Perrillo, Victor Garcia, Benny Golson, Antonio Hart, Rodney Whitaker, Steve Turre , Ernest Dawkins, Maurice Brown, Corey Wilkes, Willerm Delisfort, Brian Lynch and many others. He has toured the U.S and abroad with many different artist and groups; Sirens of Sound, The Delisfort Project, Chicago 12, Bebop Brass, Ronald Carter Big Band, New Horzions.

In 2011 Marquis released his solo debut album, New Gospel, to critical acclaim. The project contained all original music performed by his group the Blacktet. In the spring of 2012, Marquis Hill received his Master's degree in Jazz Pedagogy from DePaul University. Shortly afterward, he recorded and released his sophomore album, Sounds of the City. Hill's third album, The Poet, is scheduled for an October 2013 release.

In the spring of 2012, Marquis Hill retrieved his Masters degree in Jazz Pedagogy from DePaul University.

Richard Davis(bass) - 1930 :: Happy birthday to bassist Richard Davis. Davis is one of the most widely recorded bassists of all time. Among his most famous contributions to the albums of others are Eric Dolphy’s 1964 Blue Note LP Out to Lunch!, Andrew Hill’s Point of Departure and Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, of which critic Greil Marcus wrote (in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll), “Richard Davis provided the greatest bass ever heard on a rock album”.

He has been a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison since 1977. Originally from Chicago, he first became known in that city before establishing himself in New York City for twenty-three years. He teaches bass, jazz history, and improvisation.

Richard Davis began his musical career as a singer with his brothers. Davis sang bass in his family vocal trio. In addition to his earlier years of singing, Richard Davis began studying the double bass in high school with his music theory and band director, Captain Walter Dyett. After high school, Davis studied the double bass with Rudolf Fahsbender of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra while attending Vandercook College. In 1952 Richard Davis received a BME from Vandercook College.

Bessie Smith (vocal) - 1894-1937 was an American blues singer.

Nicknamed The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and, along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on other jazz vocalists.

In 1904, her oldest brother, Clarence, covertly left home by joining a small traveling troupe owned by Moses Stokes. "If Bessie had been old enough, she would have gone with him," said Clarence's widow, Maud. "That's why he left without telling her, but Clarence told me she was ready, even then. Of course, she was only a child."

In 1912, Clarence returned to Chattanooga with the Stokes troupe. He arranged for its managers, Lonnie and Cora Fisher, to give Smith an audition. She was hired as a dancer rather than a singer, because the company also included the unknown singer, Ma Rainey. Smith eventually moved on to performing in various chorus lines, making the "81" Theater in Atlanta her home base. There were times when she worked in shows on the black-owned T.O.B.A Theater Owners Booking Association circuit. She would rise to become its biggest star after signing with Columbia Records.

Bessie Smith was signed by Columbia Records in 1923 and her first session for Columbia was February 15, 1923. For most of 1923, her records were issued on Columbia's regular A- series; when the label decided to establish a "race records" series, Smith's "Cemetery Blues" (September 26, 1923) was the first issued.

She scored a big hit with her first release, a coupling of "Gulf Coast Blues" and "Downhearted Blues", which its composer Alberta Hunter had already turned into a hit on the Paramount label. Smith became a headliner on the black T.O.B.A. circuit and rose to become its top attraction in the 1920s. Working a heavy theater schedule during the winter months and doing tent tours the rest of the year, Smith became the highest-paid black entertainer of her day. Columbia nicknamed her "Queen of the Blues," but a PR-minded press soon upgraded her title to "Empress".

Smith was gifted with a powerfully strong voice that recorded very well from her first record, made during the time when recordings were made acoustically. With the coming of electrical recording (circa 1925), the sheer power of her voice was even more evident.

She made 160 recordings for Columbia, often accompanied by the finest musicians of the day, most notably Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Fletcher Henderson, James P. Johnson, Joe Smith, and Charlie Green.

Smith's career was cut short by a combination of the Great Depression,which nearly put the recording industry out of business, and the advent of "talkies", which spelled the end for vaudeville. She never stopped performing, however. While the days of elaborate vaudeville shows were over, Smith continued touring and occasionally singing in clubs. In 1929, she appeared in a Broadway flop called Pansy, a musical in which top critics said she was the only asset.

Herb Pomeroy (trumpet) - 1930-2007:: Herb Pomeroiy was an influential swing and bebop jazz trumpeter and educator. He played with musicians such as Charlie Parker and Lionel Hampton as well as his own jazz bands for over half a century.

Herb Pomeroy studied dentistry at Harvard University for a year but dropped out to pursue his jazz career. Charlie Parker liked Pomeroy's playing and hired him frequently when the alto saxophonist performed at Boston's Hi-Hat and Storyville clubs. Pomeroy also played with Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, and Serge Chaloff, among other jazz musicians. After his experience as a sideman in the big bands of Hampton and Kenton (separated by a five-month stint at leading his own 13-piece band in the early 1950s), 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 intermittently until 1993. During that time, and afterward, he led additional small groups ranging typically from duo (usually with bassist John Repucci) to quintet. His big band played in Carnegie Hall and established series such as the Newport Jazz Festival on the same bill with Benny Goodman, Ellington, and other major jazz figures. Pomeroy also backed up several singers, including Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Irene Kral, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra. He became noted[by whom?] as a master of music theory and musical form. Pomeroy's playing exhibited a limited upper range on the trumpet, but his extraordinary improvisational resources counteracted that limitation. Gradually during the mid-1990s, as Pomeroy performed more frequently with small groups, he abandoned the trumpet for the flugelhorn.

Although Herb Pomeroy is generally remembered as a music educator, his first love was performing as a trumpeter. He ranked leading a band and teaching music second and third, respectively, in his hierarchy of passions. He was not enthusiastic about recordings, always emphasizing that jazz is a music that must be witnessed in person. A good example of such an incident can be found in the Berklee video archives. The video documents an October 31, 2005 Friend Hall panel session on jazz in Boston at mid-century. At one point the panel was asked what the best recordings of jazz in Boston in the 1950s are. Several people offered suggestions. Finally, in apparent frustration, Herb told everyone to take all of the recommended recordings (most which featured Pomeroy) "and throw them away." Instead, he suggested that all people in attendance go out to clubs and "see live jazz."

Richard Davis (bass) - 1930 :: Happy birthday to bassist Richard Davis. Davis is one of the most widely recorded bassists of all time. Among his most famous contributions to the albums of others are Eric Dolphy's 1964 Blue Note LP Out to Lunch!, Andrew Hill's Point of Departure and Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, of which critic Greil Marcus wrote (in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll), "Richard Davis provided the greatest bass ever heard on a rock album".

He has been a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison since 1977. Originally from Chicago, he first became known in that city before establishing himself in New York City for twenty-three years. He teaches bass, jazz history, and improvisation.

Richard Davis began his musical career as a singer with his brothers. Davis sang bass in his family vocal trio. In addition to his earlier years of singing, Richard Davis began studying the double bass in high school with his music theory and band director, Captain Walter Dyett. After high school, Davis studied the double bass with Rudolf Fahsbender of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra while attending Vandercook College. In 1952 Richard Davis received a BME from Vandercook College.

After college, Davis performed in dance bands. The connections he made while performing various gigs led him to meet pianist Don Shirley. In 1954 Davis and Shirley moved to New York city and performed together until 1956. After the musical split, Davis began playing with the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra.

Happy birthday to all you April 15th Jazzlings, have a great day today and an even better year ahead!Achieve your dreams.

Thanks as always to AAJ & JBC for the guidance

Respect to the YouTube massive for the uploads

High five to the Inspiration Crew! (thats you , blog followers)

And thanks to YOU for just passin' thru'

Walk Tall,

Speak low,

Go Placidly