DATE: Thursday, May 8, 1997                 TAG: 9705080036

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   66 lines

NEWSOM'S BACK WITH AIRMEN OF NOTE

FORTY YEARS ago, Tommy Newsom was touring the world with the Airmen of Note, a jazz ensemble formed by the U.S. Air Force to carry on the big-band traditions of Glenn Miller.

Friday night at Portsmouth's Willett Hall, Newsom and his saxophone will be back with the band that launched his career in the 1950s.

Tickets for the free concert, presented by the Portsmouth Community Concert Association and sponsored by The Virginian-Pilot, have been gone for weeks. However, any seats not claimed by 7:50 p.m. will be available free to those who do not have tickets.

The Portsmouth program will feature a number of Newsom arrangements, including ``Body and Soul'' and ``Satin Doll.''

``We're going to do `Titter Pipes,' one of my originals,'' Newsom said Tuesday. ``It's a duet for saxophones.''

Newsom, a Portsmouth native, will be joined by Peter BarenBregge, the director of the Airmen of Note and also a tenor saxophone player.

The Friday night show will be special because, as Newsom tells it, his experience with the Airmen of Note was a real turning point in his life.

``I was headed for being a schoolteacher, but that band was so good, I decided I'd try to make it in New York,'' he said.

And make it he did.

From his first regular paycheck with the old Vincent Lopez Band at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, Newsom moved on to record with Charlie Byrd, tour Russia with Benny Goodman, work with Skitch Henderson and appear on Merv Griffin's TV show.

In 1962, he landed on ``The Tonight Show'' and stayed 30 years. He led the band when Doc Severinsen was away and became a straight man for many Johnny Carson jokes.

Newsom is a serious composer and arranger.

``I've done arrangements of dance tunes for the Airmen, and they've commissioned me to write pieces,'' he said.

He joined the U.S. Air Force Band during the Korean War and toured during the '50s with the Airmen to such places as Saudi Arabia and Egypt as well as all over Europe.

Although Newsom, 68, ostensibly retired when he returned home to Portsmouth from California several years ago, he still does ``five or 10 gigs a year to keep me interested'' and makes regular treks back to California to do some recording work.

Arranging music for Doc Severinsen is one of his favorite tasks.

``I like to do the symphonic pops stuff for Doc,'' he said. ``You've got all the toys in the world to play with when you're doing symphonic arrangements.''

He recently arranged music from ``Phantom of the Opera'' for Severinsen.

``And I just did an overture based on `Chicago' for him to play with the Chicago Symphony,'' Newsom said. ``It's fun to know a symphony like that is playing your stuff.''

A Cradock native who now lives in Sterling Point, Newsom played with local bands during his high school days and continued during his years at the Norfolk campus of the College of William and Mary, now Old Dominion University. He was a studying at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore when he joined the Air Force Band.

The Airmen of Note are an ensemble of 18 musicians from all over the nation. BarenBregge, the director, also performs as lead tenor saxophonist. ILLUSTRATION: MIKE WILLIAMS

Portsmouth native Tommy Newsom, a former ``Tonight Show'' musician,

will perform Friday. KEYWORDS: INTERVIEW

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu