Henry Jerome (November 12, 1917– March 23, 2011) was an American big band leader, trumpeter, arranger, composer, and record company executive.
Born Henry Jerome Pasnick in New York, he attended primary and secondary schools in Norwich, public for the former and Norwich Free Academy for the latter. He attended the Juilliard School of Music, studying trumpet with William Vacchiano and composition and orchestration with Max Schlossberg. Jerome formed his first professional orchestra while in 1931 when he was 14. In high school he received an offer from the American Export Lines for his orchestra to perform on a ship sailing from New York to Europe. Without quitting school, Jerome secured permission from the Norwich Free Academy to accept the job.
From the mid-1930s through the end of the 1940s, trumpeter Jerome ran the band in some form continuously, working steamships, hotels, and circuits. In its various guises, the Jerome band was a "sweet" band, specializing in light ballads and moderate tempos. The ten-piece outfit received some notoriety via remote broadcasts on ABC from the Green Room at the Edison Hotel. Early vocalists were David Allen and Frank Warren. Henry Jerome and His Stepping Tones found steady work on the hotel ballroom circuit. Kay Carlton was vocalist. Songs such as ‘Homing Pigeon’, ‘I Love My Mama’, ‘Nice People’, ‘Night Is Gone’, ‘Until Six’ and ‘Oh, How I Need You, Joe’ soon became staples of east coast airwaves.
As well as east coast dates the band took engagements at the Chase Hotel in St. Louis, the Claridge and Peabody in Memphis, and the Roosevelt in New Orleans. However, their main income was still derived from the Edison Hotel, where they were booked over several years.
Jerome completely reorganized in 1944, modernizing his sound. His new line-up featured bop arrangements, courtesy of Johnny Mandel, which were surprisingly ahead of their time. Of note in Jerome's later line-up was future Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan on bass clarinet and future Nixon-administration White House Counsel Leonard Garment on saxophone. The bands songs were released on labels including Roulette, MGM Records, London Records, Coral Records and Decca Records.
Though Jerome's new sound excited critics it proved too non-commercial, and he disbanded in the late 1940s, becoming musical director at Decca. While there he released a series of popular orchestrated albums called ''Brazen Brass.'' While Jerome was inspired by the success of Enoch Light's "Persuasive Percussion" album and sound, he deserves credit at least for dumping the sweet sound for something bold, splashy, and, well, brazen.
The trademark "brazen" sound was enhanced through stereo by recording an equal number of trumpets on each channel, muted horns on the right and open horns on the left. Jerome conceived the idea and Dick Jacobs wrote the arrangements. Jerome produced and conducted nine Brazen Brass albums for Decca, as well as several more conventional sweet albums. He released one more "brazen" style album in the late 1960s, for United Artists.
From Decca Records he moved to Coral where his clients included the Burnette Trio and Lenny Dell & the Dimensions. The Burnette sides, including hits such as "Train Kept a Rollin'," remain among the undisputed masterpieces of the rockabilly sound. Jerome then became A&R director at MCA Records until 1968 then United Artists Records from 1968 to 1970. He also composed the theme songs to two popular television programs, The Soupy Sales Show and Winky-Dink and You.
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| Paul Burlison, Johnny Burnette, Henry Jerome & Dorsey Burnette. |
He was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1970 as a producer for the recording of the cast album for the Broadway musical, Promises, Promises. The album featured Jerry Orbach and Jill O’Hara, and was noted for the “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.”
In 1971, he became president of Green Menu Music Factory, collaborating with Kim Gannon, Leonard Whitcup, Bobbi Martin, Norman Simon, Angelo Musulino.. He used two pseudonyms, Van Grayson and Al Mortimer, to get royalties for musicians that he put on salary.
Henry Jerome died in Plantation, Florida on March 23, 2011 (age 93). (Edited from Wikipedia, AllMusic & Band Chirps)