[Trombone-l] Sad news

[Samuel Jay Keyser]

Dear Listers,

I am saddened to write that  Herb Pomeroy passed away on Saturday.   
Many of you may have studied with Herb if you went to Berklee or  
heard him play or been in attendance at concerts or clinics run by  
him.  If you did, then you don't need to be told that he was a master  
musician.  As he grew older, his technique did as well.  But he was a  
living demonstration that music is first and foremost, ideas and  
heart.  His last sessions, a trio in Gloucester, MA, recorded last  
year with bass and guitar were among the best small group jazz I have  
ever heard.

I have had the privilege of playing with Herb once a year when I put  
together a band to entertain parents at MIT's Commencement.  It was  
during those sessions that Herb taught me not to miss the five of  
five change in Pennies from Heaven, that you can begin a solo on  
Struttin' with some Barbecue on an E-natural and that what matters  
most is the joy of it all.

I know this is a trombone list, but when someone like Herb dies, it  
writes several measures of rest on everyone's charts.

Jay Keyser