John Neves thought he was going to be a baseball player. He had the tools—agility, focus, strong arm, good hands. A gifted athlete at East Boston High School in the late 1940s, he starred as an all-city second baseman. After that, he played semipro ball around New England, then spent a season as a professional in 1951. He played in North Dakota, with the Fargo-Moorhead Twins, a minor league outpost in the Cleveland Indians system. His jersey number there, as it had been in East Boston, was a backwards 7—neves. The man had a sense of humor!
John’s older brother, pianist and arranger Paul Neves, introduced John to the bass. John studied privately and played with Paul—but he played more baseball than bass in East Boston. Then came Fargo. And then came army service in the Korean War, where a back injury ended his dream of a baseball career. But he didn’t abandon the Old Ball Game completely—he was known as a fierce competitor when he played on Al Vega’s softball team in the 1950s. By that time, though, he was already a professional musician.
The Stable/Jazz Workshop Years
When Neves returned to East Boston in 1954, he focused on playing the bass at the Stable, the haven for modern jazz. It was a long streetcar and subway ride down to the Back Bay, but he did it to sit in with the trio there. Saxophonist Varty Haroutunian and pianist Ray Santisi knew a good thing when they heard it. They hired Neves, and the house trio became a quartet. It became a quintet when trumpeter Herb Pomeroy arrived.
Most jazz fans who know John Neves associate him with Herb Pomeroy, and with good reason. Neves was the bassist in the celebrated Herb Pomeroy Orchestra from 1955 to 1960, and again from 1977 to 1983 when Pomeroy re-formed it. They played together nightly at the Stable in the 1950s, and in Pomeroy’s quintet in the early 1960s. Finally, the two were faculty colleagues at Berklee from 1975 until Neves’s death in 1988.
Here’s John Neves with the Pomeroy big band, with “Wolafunt’s Lament,” from the album Life Is a Many Splendored Gig. John walks us in and out of this one.
Working with Pomeroy was John’s bread-and-butter, but he had other music to play and found different outlets for it. Neves toured with Johnny Mathis in January 1958 (singers sought him out throughout his career), and then with George Shearing. In 1959 he worked with Ken McIntyre, both as a duo and in a quintet. He reunited with his brother Paul in 1959-60 to form a trio with drummer Alan Dawson. Taking inspiration from the M.J.Q., they played regularly at 47 Mount Auburn, a Cambridge coffeehouse and forerunner of today’s Club Passim. Neves worked with Hal Galper and Sam Rivers at the same club.
Neves left Boston in late 1960 to go with Maynard Ferguson’s big band, and in late 1961 moved from there to Stan Getz’s quartet. The jazz world was reminded of this recently when Verve issued the previously unreleased recording, Getz at the Gate (extended review here).
The Stable closed in late 1962. Its owner, Harold Buchhalter, moved the operation over to Boylston Street and christened his new club the Jazz Workshop. The grand opening in September 1963 featured Stan Getz, and Neves was on the bandstand with him—and with many other artists who followed. Meanwhile, Neves, Santisi and Dawson served as house trio at Lennie’s-on-the-Turnpike. Their trio was the go-to Boston rhythm section of the 1960s.
The Changing Scene of the 1970s
The early 1970s did no favors for the mainstream jazz players, John Neves included. Lennie’s closed, there was little call for house trios, Pomeroy’s orchestra was long since disbanded, rock bands were headlining at the Newport Jazz Festival. When Berklee offered him a teaching position in 1975, Neves readily accepted.
Berklee led Neves to more gigs as well, often in the company of his faculty colleagues. Pomeroy and Santisi were there, as were Phil Wilson and John LaPorta and Maggi Scott. When Pomeroy re-formed his big band in 1977, Neves was on it. He became a regular in rooms like Lulu White’s and the Regattabar in Cambridge. He was part of Scott’s trio for almost three years at Zachary’s in the Collonade Hotel.
Neves was only 57 when he died of a heart attack on July 18, 1988. Scott and Pomeroy each presented a tribute concert in his honor. Scott told journalist Ernie Santosuosso that Neves was exceptional: “He had the Ray Brown feel, the instinct, and John could hear everything. He had an innate feel of time. His time was impeccable. His sound, the tone he got, was always very full. He was like a clock.”
The Quiet Man as Sideman
John Neves was a private man, the archetype of an artist who let his music do the talking. Anyone wanting to find out more about him will inevitably be disappointed. He never recorded an album as a leader, or led a band branded with his name. He was a career sideman. He’s listed in Feather’s 1960 Encyclopedia of Jazz, but not the later editions, and he’s absent from the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. Much of what is available online is copied from Feather, although Mike Fitzgerald has compiled a comprehensive Neves discography. Doug Ramsey wrote a short Rifftides post in 2017.
John Neves should be better known, but he spent almost his entire career in Boston. Perhaps Neves never thought he had all the musical tools he’d need for a successful career in New York. Or maybe he lost interest in the idea. By staying here, he enriched the Boston scene immeasurably.
Jazz Bohemia Revisited with Al Francis
Neves named Ray Brown and Percy Heath as two of his favorite bassists in the Encyclopedia of Jazz. Brown’s influence is apparent, in Neves’s articulate play and big sound. Like Heath, he could play chamber jazz with restraint. (Also like Heath, he didn’t take many solos.) You can hear echoes of both on an overlooked gem recorded by vibraphonist Al Francis, Jazz Bohemia Revisited (LCU 0251, 1986), with Joe Hunt on drums. It was inspired by the sounds of the early sixties Village jazz scene.
In “Wha Love,” you can hear Brown’s influence in John’s confident, rhythmic drive and those big round notes. I love the way Neves asserts the role of the bass in this trio!
“Village Nights” is a study in shifting moods and tempos with some Heath-ish bass. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t praise the play of drummer Joe Hunt, a master of percussive fills and color, on both tracks. This is a trio to savor.
I came from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to study Upright Bass at Berklee in 1979 when I was 17, and was lucky to have John as my teacher, then I transferred to New England Conservatory the next year. The following year my father couldn’t help me any more financially and I was working at the fish and chips next to Berklee when John came in and as I explained my predicament he offered to teach me for free on Saturdays! He was such a generous and caring person and teacher. I’ll always remember him teaching me “don’t be a mere spectator of your own fingers when you’re soloing, play as if you’re singing the notes”.
What a fine remembrance of John! Thanks for sharing it. If I ever write another post about John Neves, “Play as if you’re singing the notes” would make a good title!
John was a friend and mentor when I started playing bass in Boston in 1954. I modeled my playing after his, spent as much time as I could listening to him play with Varty Haroututian and Herb Pomeroy, and was occasionally invited to sit in. John introduced me to Save Kuhn, with whom I played for several years while we were in college. He was an admirable bassist in every respect and a generous and elegant man. John was a wonderful musician largely overlooked by most of the jazz public. If not for him, I wouldn’t have had the career I’ve had. Those who knew him have been lucky.
Thank you for leaving this heartfelt remembrance of John Neves. Boston was blessed to have him residing here for so long.
Two things:
1. Ross Cantamore was a nephew of Cross.
2. John Neves took his first bass lessons from my father, John Christoforo (Johnny Christie).
John’s family lived around the corner from us in East Boston and when John attended East Boston High School, he played football and my father was one of the coaches for the team.
When it would rain, my father would have the team meet at our apartment and John would always stare at my father’s bass. Dad was a free lance bassist at night. After he asked Dad for lessons, he was at our house an evening a week and my father taught him the fundamentals for playing classical music with a bow and the theory found in pop music of the day, and of course, jazz.
John and I became close friends when I was in my 20s and also became a bass player, thanks to Dad. I subbed for him on many an occasion, and introduced him to the woman who was with him to the end.
Respectfully,
Dr. John Christoforo (Johnny Christy)
John, many thanks for your insightful comment. This helps complete the picture of John when he was just starting out. His brother Paul may have brought him to jazz, but your father brought him to the bass. Thanks also for clarifying the relationship between Ross and Cross Centamore–I was fairly certain they had to be family.
John was my first big mentor and he spent many hours with me on Saturdays from 8 am to noon and sometimes beyond. He taught me how to practice and listen. We hung out at his apartment on Charlesgate East several times and listened to LP’s until the sun came up. He was into many other bassists besides Ray and Percy. He told me about an encounter he had where he and Paul Chambers were across the hall at the same hotel when John was on the Road with either Getz or Maynard. PC invited John to his room to play some classical etudes with their bows together. John was very open to improvisation and the Bill Evans trio with Scott Lafaro. He also love N.H.O.P. and Eddie Gomez. He and I sat and watched Dave Holland play a 90 minute solo concert in Jordan Hall at NEC. We were both blown away. John would call me and Rich Appleman at all hours of the night to inform us of a performance taking place on the TV. He would just call and say “Channel 2”. As private as John seemed, he was fairly open with his friends. I feel blessed to have known him well. When I got hired to teach at Berklee we were next door to each other teaching and he would invite me into his room when we weren’t busy and wanted to play piano with me on bass. He was working on Bill Evans reharmonizations of tunes. John never stopped teaching. It was in his blood to share his joy of the “magic” of music. He tried to convince me to audition for Bill Evans Trio when Eddie Gomez left but I didn’t feel ready. John encouraged me to do my own thing because he knew I liked to write. I’ll be forever grateful to him.
I studied with John at Berklee 1980-81.
He was recommended by my former bro in law, Hal Galper.
I had abandoned guitar when I picked up Fender Jazz..then an upright. John was totally wonderful, not only as a teacher, but a friend. He took Saturday mornings ( as someone mentioned) off to work with a beginner, encouraged me and made me realize that music comes from the heart ❤️
I was stunned when I learned of his passing…he had a profound influence which remains to this day !
Simply a wonderful man.
John was my teacher at Berklee from 1972-1974 and it says in the article that John became a colleague with Herb in 1975 at Berklee. I’m sure that John was already a faculty member when I came in 72. He was a remarkable teacher. He had studied with Cross Centamore of the Boston Opera or Philharmonic.
Bruce is correct, John got to Berklee before 1975 and I happily stand corrected. But now I’m trying to find out if Cross Centamore is any relation to another Boston bassist, Ross Centamore, who worked with Don Alessi. And Bruce also sent a follow-up with more insights into John Neves. Many thanks taking the time.