Tommy Newsom Dies at 78

As I was watching CNN tonight I noticed a quick blurb about Tommy Newsom. My hunch was right that if CNN mentioned a jazz musician, it was probably obituary related.  Sure enough, sadly, Tommy Newsom has died of cancer at age 78.

 

Many people reading this blog probably don't even know who Tommy Newsom was, but if you are old enough to remember the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, you'll know exactly who Tommy was. 

You see, there was at one time a national late night show that actually employed an entire big band as the house band.  Yep, amazingly enough, NBC executives actually were willing pay 17 guys to provide music for the show.   Doc Severinson was the leader for most of the tenure of the band, but when he was not around (which was frequent) Tommy Newsom, lead alto for the band, would take over as the front man. He was known for his dry humor banter with Johnny, always unassuming and acted like he really didn't want to deal with having to be on camera.

 

I actually got to meet Tommy on a recording session that my father did in LA in 1982.  He (my father) was working for the cherry industry at the time and the session was for a jingle to promote cherries.  He managed to get a 2 for 1 ticket to LA for me so I tagged along.  It wasn't until I was on the plane that I got the list of musicians that were on the session.  The list read like a who's who of jazz!  Bill Watrous, Conti Condoli, Tommy Newsom, Ray Brown, Jack Nimitz, Shelly Manne, and others. 

 

The session went well and I was impressed with the down to earth attitudes of all the musicians.  I had heard that the studio scene was cut throat and I was prepared for a tense atmosphere.  It was the exact opposite.  All of the guys were relaxed and it was a great experience. Most of them, including Bill Watrous, hung around after the session to talk and share some advice of the business.  In fact,  I have 8 X 10 photo I signed by everyone in the band) of the session hanging on a wall in my office.   It was a terrific experience, especially for an aspiring college age jazz musician.

Tommy Newsom was friendly, unassuming and as nice a guy as you would expect.  Hearing of his death was sad.  It reminded me that the end of an era is quickly approaching, if not already here.  I hope I'm not the only one that misses hearing a big band on national TV every night.   Thanks for the memories Tommy!