Jerry Jerome, 89; Sax Soloist With Big Bands

Jerry Jerome, a tenor saxophonist who had featured roles with some of the leading big bands of the music’s golden era, has died. He was 89.

Jerome died Saturday of leukemia at his home in Sarasota, Fla.

His goal as a youth was to be a doctor. But his broad career included work as a musical director, an orchestra conductor on radio and television, and an arranger of commercial jingles.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Jerome picked up the saxophone while in high school in Plainfield, N.J. He decided to attend the University of Alabama to take advantage of the less expensive tuition. But the Depression-era education still wasn’t all that affordable, and Jerome found work in local dance bands at night after he put away the books.

By 1935, however, Jerome had become so involved in music that he gave up medicine and became a full-time musician. He first played with Harry Reser’s Clicquot Club Eskimos. He played clarinet and tenor with the Glenn Miller orchestra in 1936 and 1937 and, later, with Red Norvo’s band. After a brief stint in the house band at radio station WNEW in New York City, Jerome joined Benny Goodman’s band at the height of its popularity.

Jerome later told a reporter for the Herald, a newspaper in Glasgow, Scotland, that he landed the job with Goodman because of Goodman’s desire to change the musical direction of the group.

“Benny wanted to change the sound the sax section had at the time. [Bud Freeman] was a wonderful player, but Benny thought he was turning [the sound] of the group into a Chicago-style one.

“Anyhow, Benny wanted to have more of a black sound, and he asked me to join, and I stayed there for two years. It was wonderful being in that band with Jess Stacy on piano and that fabulous trumpet section that included Harry James. . . . But most of all, you were able to hear Benny every night.”

After Goodman split up the band in the early 1940s to undergo back surgery, Jerome joined Artie Shaw’s band and appeared in the Fred Astaire movie “Second Chorus.”

After leaving Shaw, Jerome found work as staff conductor for NBC’s morning radio show. He left that to try his hand in the record business as a talent scout for Apollo Records, a leading R&B; label trying to break into pop music.

Jerome also established himself as a writer of commercial jingles such as “Winston Tastes Good Like a Cigarette Should.”

A resident of Sarasota for most of the last 30 years, Jerome continued to record and played occasionally at local clubs and festivals.

Jerome is survived by his wife, Elaine; four sons from his first marriage: Al Jerome, the president of public television station KCET in Los Angeles; Bill; Jim; and Jerry; two daughters, Joanne Kelvin and Barbara Mazzei; a stepson, David Frankel; 11 grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

‘It was wonderful being in that band. . . . You were able to hear Benny [Goodman] every night.’