Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Herbie Mann was born Herbert Jay Solomon on April 16, 1930 in Brooklyn, New York and while attending Lincoln High School in Brighton Beach, failed a music class. Be that as it may his first professional gig was in the Catskills at age 15. During the 1950s was primarily a bop flutist, playing in combos with artists such as Phil Woods, with occasional forays into bass clarinet, tenor sax and solo flute.

An early pioneer in the fusing of jazz and world music, he has incorporated elements of African, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, Reggae, Middle-Eastern and Eastern European styles into his music. During the Sixties he was jazz’s preeminent flutist with his emphasized groove approach coming to the fore on his albums Memphis Underground and Push Push due to the rhythm section locked in one perception. It was mid-60’s period that he hired a young Chick Corea to play in some of his bands.

Mann’s shift to a more smooth jazz during the Sixties brought criticism from purist but allowed him to remain relevant as interest in jazz waned. He worked with Cissy Houston, Duane Allman, Larry Coryell, Donald “Duck” Dunn and Chuck Rainey, along with Al Jackson and Bernard Purdie out of Muscle Shoals in Alabama. His #1 dance hit Hijack stayed on the charts for three consecutive weeks in 1975.

In this period Mann had a number of songs cross over to the pop charts, a rarity for a jazz musician. He has provided music for the animated short film Afterlife, founded his own label, Embryo Records, that produced jazz albums, such as Ron Carter’s Uptown Conversation, Miroslav Vitous’ first solo album, Infinite Search; and Phil Woods and his European Rhythm Machine at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival. In 1996, Mann collaborated with Stereolab on the song “One Note Samba/Surfboard” for the AIDS-Benefit album Red Hot + Rio.

Herbie Mann’s final appearance was on May 3, 2003 at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at age 73, passing away that same year on July 1, 2003 after a long battle with prostate cancer.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Herb Pomeroy was born Irving Herbert Pomeroy, III on April 15, 1930 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He began playing trumpet at an early age, and in his early teens started gigging in the greater Boston area, claiming inspiration from the music of Louis Armstrong. By age 16, he became a member of the Musicians Union and after high school, went on to study music at the Schillinger House that is now the Berklee College of Music in Boston. It was here he developed his interest in bebop.

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.

He led his own 13-piece big band in the early 1950s and another that gained national acclaim later in the decade. He would back up singers like Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Irene Kral, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. By the mid Sixties he began abandoning the big band sound for small combos and switched from trumpet to flugelhorn.

Although his first love was performing, Pomeroy was a respected educator. He helped found the Jazz Workshop on Stuart Street, joined the faculties of the Berklee School of Music where he taught for 41 years, the Lenox School of Music, Music at MIT and was the director Festival Jazz Ensemble for 22 years. He was inducted into the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) Hall of Fame and the Down Beat Jazz Education Hall of Fame. On August 11, 2007, Herb Pomeroy, trumpeter and flugelhornist in the swing and bebop tradition passed away.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Nick Moran was born on April 14, 1963 in New York City and began playing trumpet at age ten, switching over to the guitar at thirteen. His early musical influences were the British rock guitarists Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Peter Frampton. He played in several rock groups throughout high school and college while studying classical guitar. He first discovered the music of George Benson at age fifteen along with Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers.

Nick’s study of jazz began informally in 1991 with arranging and ear training classes at the Fachbereich Musik in Mainz, Germany, where he also played guitar and trumpet in the university big band. He returned to New York in 1998 and began formal jazz studies and graduated from City College of New York in 2001. He did rhythm section studies for two years with bassist Ron Carter and studied composition with pianist/arranger Mike Holober.

He has been a member of the Ray Santos Orchestra, Akiko Tsuruga, Shunzo Ohno, Tom Hubbard, Marco Panascia, Adam Rafferty, Rick Stone, Nick Russo and Russ Spiegel, Cliff Korman and Burt Eckoff. Nick Moran currently leads two bands, is an active solo performer, plays a seven-string guitar, performs throughout New York City and is a producer and recording engineer.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Eddie Marshall was born Edwin Marshall on April 13, 1938 in Springfield, Massachusetts and learned to play the drums as a child. He played in his father’s swing group and R&B bands while in high school. He moved to New York City in 1956, developing his percussion style under the influence of Max Roach and Art Blakey.

Two years later he was playing with Charlie Mariano followed by a stint with Toshiko Akiyoshi prior to Army service. He reunited with Akiyoshi in 1965, then worked with the house band at The Dom in New York, and with Stan Getz, Sam Rivers and toured with Dionne Warwick.

In 1967 he was a member of the fusion group The Fourth Way, touring San Francisco during the early Seventies, followed by work with Jon Hendricks and the Pointer Sisters. He would go on to work in Almanac with Bennie Maupin, Cecil McBee and Mike Nock releasing an album in ’77.

In the 1980s he worked in the project Bebop & Beyond, recording tribute albums to Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. Undergoing heart surgery in 1984, temporarily sidelined his career, but he continued to perform on the recorder. He then taught at the San Francisco School of the Arts, issued his second release as a leader in 1999 and in the 2000s worked on the San Francisco Arts Commission. Drummer Eddie Marshall died of a heart attack on Wednesday, September 7, 2011.

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Requisites

Tom Cat ~ Lee Morgan | By Eddie Carter

Submitted for your approval this morning is a Lee Morgan album that many may not be familiar with. Tom Cat (Blue Note Classic LT-1058) is an excellent hard bop album originally recorded in 1964. However, its release was postponed because “The Sidewinder” achieved tremendous success for both the trumpeter and the label. “Search For The New Land,” another superb 1964 session, was released two years later, but Tom Cat remained unreleased until sixteen years after it was recorded. Curtis Fuller on trombone; Jackie McLean on alto saxophone; McCoy Tyner on piano; Bob Cranshaw on bass; and Art Blakey on drums complete the sextet. The copy I own is the 1980 U.S. stereo release.

The album opener is the title tune, Tom Cat, by Lee Morgan. The trio’s introduction strolls in like a cat entering a room ahead of the sextet’s easygoing melody. Lee definitely gets his message across to the listener in the lead solo. Jackie finds common ground in the second reading. Curtis follows with a mellow swing next, then McCoy is as good as it gets in the closer preceding the theme’s reprise and fadeout. Lee’s Exotique begins with a mysterious modal introduction that blossoms into the ensemble’s lively theme. Morgan leads off with an exciting opening solo, then McLean steps in to deliver a spirited statement. Fuller responds to the cooking intensity next, then Tyner follows with a concise comment. Lee adds a few more thoughts, and Blakey gets the last word before the closing chorus dissolves into nothingness.

Twice Around by Lee Morgan opens with the quintet’s introduction slowly, then picks up pace rapidly for the ensemble’s brisk theme. Curtis steps out first on this uptempo cooker, then Jackie opens it up further with a robust reading. Lee takes care of business in the first of two scintillating statements. McCoy follows him with a swift solo, then Lee returns to wail briefly. Art sails in last for a short workout, leading to the theme’s restatement and finale. Twilight Mist is a beautiful, tender ballad by McCoy Tyner. The pianist opens the song with a gentle introduction before Morgan leads the group through the lovely melody. The trumpeter approaches the opening statement elegantly, then steps aside for Tyner’s haunting interpretation ahead of the return to the theme and a gorgeous ending.

Rigormortis by Lee Morgan takes us home on an upbeat note with the sextet’s brisk theme led by the front line. Lee sets things in motion with an invigorating solo. Jackie finds his groove with a few swinging ideas next. Curtis scores a bullseye in the following reading, and McCoy is on target in a lively short statement. Lee and Art build an effective climax, bouncing ideas off each other, leading to the closing chorus. Alfred Lion produced Tom Cat, and Rudy Van Gelder managed the recording console. The album’s sound quality is excellent, with an outstanding soundstage that lets the musicians deliver a private studio session in the listener’s listening room.

If you’ve had a long day or week and are in the mood to unwind with an exceptional, hard bop album, I invite you to discover Tom Cat by Lee Morgan on your next visit to your favorite record shop. Lee and an extraordinary lineup deliver 41 minutes of enjoyable music that’s impossible to listen to without your fingers snapping and your toes tapping. Though lesser known and overlooked in Morgan’s discography, Tom Cat is an excellent release that should easily earn its place in any jazz library!

~ Search For The New Land (Blue Note BLP 4169/BST 84169), The Sidewinder (Blue Note BLP 4157/BST 84157) – Source: Discogs.com © 2026 by Edward Thomas Carter

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