Henry Jerome

Trumpeter Henry Jerome (born November 12, 1917 in New York,NY) put together his first orchestra in the mid thirties. They received some fame via broadcasts on ABC from the Edison Hotel. Early vocalists were David Allen & Frank Warren. Jerome and His Stepping Tones found steady work on the hotel ballroom circuit during the late 30s and early 40s. Kay Carlton was the singer. Jerome completely reorganized his sound in 1944.. This new line-up featured Bebop arrangements, and were surprisingly ahead of there time. They played at the huge New York city restaurant, Childs, off of Times Square. Local musicians would pack the place to hear these incredible musicians perform. At this time, only a few artists were playing this style of "progressive" jazz. Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker were a couple of artists that come to mind. While the critics loved his new sound, it proved too non-commercial, and as a result the band disbanded in the late 40s. Jerome moved to California in the 50s, and in 1959 he became the A&R director at Coral Records, and worked with a lot of the early rock 'n roll bands. In the 60s, he composed popular theme songs for television programs. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.