Woody Herman

Woodrow Charles "Woody" Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987), was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders. His bands often played music that was experimental for their time. He was a featured halftime performer for Super Bowl VII.

Herman was born Woodrow Charles Thomas Herrman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a child he worked as a singer and tap-dancer in Vaudeville then started to play the clarinet and saxophone by age 12. Woody Herman's first band became known for its orchestrations of the blues and was sometimes billed as "The Band That Plays The Blues". Woody Herman joined the Tom Gerun band and his first recorded vocals were "Lonesome Me" and "My Heart's At Ease". Herman also performed with the Harry Sosnick orchestra, Gus Arnheim and Isham Jones. Isham Jones wrote many popular songs, including "It Had To Be You" and at some point was tiring of the demands of leading a band. Jones wanted to live off the residuals of his songs; Woody Herman saw the chance to lead his former band, and eventually acquired the remains of the orchestra after Jones' retirement. This band recorded for the Decca label, at first serving as a cover band, doing songs by other Decca artists. Despite the band’s success and other triumphs, Herman was forced to disband the orchestra in 1946 at the height of its success. This was his only financially successful band; he left it to spend more time with his wife and family. Many critics cite December 1946 as the actual date the big-band era ended, when seven other bands, in addition to Herman's, dissolved.

In 1947, Herman organized the Second Herd. This band was also known as "The Four Brothers Band". This derives from the song recorded December 27, 1947 for Columbia records, "Four Brothers", written by Jimmy Giuffre. The band was popular enough that they went to Hollywood in the mid-nineteen forties. Herman and his band appear in the movie “New Orleans” in 1947 with Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong. From the late 1940s to the end of his life, record labels Herman recorded for include RCA, Capitol, MGM and Verve.

Herman's other bands include the Third Herd (1950–1956) and various editions of the New Thundering Herd (1959–1987). In the 1950s, the Third Herd went on a successful European tour. He was known for hiring the best young musicians and using their arrangements. By 1968, the Herman library came to be heavily influenced by rock and roll. He was also known to feature brass and woodwind instruments not traditionally associated with jazz, such as the bassoon, oboe or French horn.

By the 1980s, Herman had returned to straight-ahead jazz, dropping some of the newer rock and fusion approaches. Herman continued to perform into the 1980s, after the death of his wife and with his health in decline, chiefly to pay back taxes caused by his business manager's bookkeeping in the 1960s. As a result, Woody Herman owed the IRS millions of dollars and was in danger of eviction from his home. With the added stress, Herman still kept performing. Before his death, Herman delegated most of his duties to leader of the reed section, Frank Tiberi. Woody Herman died on October 29, 1987 in West Hollywood, California. He is interred in a crypt outside the west end of Cathedral Mausoleum in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, CA.