BST Jerry Hyman
Happy birthday
Blood, Sweat and Tears
Woodstock alum
BST Jerry Hyman
Brooklyn born
Jerry Hyman was born on May 19, 1947 in Brooklyn. I suppose some other people were, too. And I suppose some of them became musicians. I’m pretty sure that none followed the same path, though.
BST Jerry Hyman
Blood, Sweat and Tears
Jerry Hyman joined Blood, Sweat and Tears after their first album, Child Is Father To the Man in time for their second album, the 1968 Blood, Sweat & Tears.
He played trombone for them from 1968–1970, a time period that enabled him to play at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair.
As broad and deep (and questionable) as the internet is, Jerry Hyman’s story is a seemingly well-kept one. And that’s fine.
BST Jerry Hyman
Accordian
Luckily, there is a long interview with him that is also linked to from Dr Jerry Hyman’s page [Dr Jerry]. Yes, I said “Dr” and that’s another part of the story.
Hyman’s first musical instrument was the accordion. In my 1950s grammar school I remember that classmates that played an instrument often played the accordion. I suppose it was viewed as a portable keyboard before there were portable keyboards.
BST Jerry Hyman
Trombone
In any case, Hyman moved to the trombone, another less-than-popular instrument but one he had a facility for. It was that instrument that led him to salsa bands and believe me there aren’t many more fun events to be at than a party with a salsa band.
Jerry became friends with Dick Halligan, another trombone player, and Halligan offerd Hyman a spot in a new band, Blood Sweat and Tears. Hyman wasn’t ready for that scene and declined. He didn’t pass on the second offer.
Life became a much busier one. Besides attending the famous Woodstock Music and Art Fair, there were Grammys, hit records, hit albums, and touring. ““We traveled 250-plus days a year doing one-nighters.”
BST Jerry Hyman
Redirection
From the outside such a life my seem like one happy glorious continuous party and likely one of those adjectives was sometimes true, but such a life takes its toll and if one has the strength it takes a strong will to walk away.
“I think I had had enough,” he says. “I had seen the experience for what it was. I had learned about, shall we say, the art of artifice. It was time for me to follow my heart and my nose. That was a grand experience because it enabled me in essence to get here.”
BST Jerry Hyman
Dr. Jerry Hyman
After BS & T, Jerry worked in a Pennsylvania antique shop and later LA studios.
Then Bell’s palsy hit. Three times in 10 years. The disease prevented him from playing the trombone.
Luckily he hurt his back and went to a chiropractor. Luckily because as hesitant as he was at first to try methods outside the traditional medical school science, the treatment he received helped.
In 1983 he was graduated as a doctor of chiropractic from the Cleveland Chiropractic College-Los Angeles.
BST Jerry Hyman
Helping musicians
In the early 2000s he began working with musicians whose muscle pain issues he could relate to.
While attached to the life that LA offered, he and his wife Carol wanted something different. After searching they found New Hampshire in 2002, its coast, its art scene, and a way of life that appealed.
In 2017 to they moved to Brevard, North Carolina where he currently practices and Dr Jerry Hyman, chiropractor, helps heal.
For him, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was a long time ago (“…shortly after the first Crimean War, yes?“) and royalties from his music don’t seem to know he moved.
As Jerry Hyman says, ‘Vive Bene, Spesso L’amore, Di Risata Molto’
