THE BLUES OF BIG BAND LEADER HERMAN

The crisis that erupted over the weekend with a report of Woody Herman’s imminent eviction from his home (a situation that was resolved Tuesday) was many years in the making. More than 20 years have gone by since the big band leader unwittingly fell into a financial abyss that has only deepened with the decades, because of interest and penalties on the tax money he owes.

The last publicly released figure for Herman’s indebtedness to the Internal Revenue Service was about $1.6 million. It is unknown, however, how much, if any, of that has been whittled away over the years.

Much of Herman’s story has been well known in music circles since he told it to Gene Lees for use in his Jazzletter, a widely read monthly publication written and circulated by Lees, the critic and songwriter.

Following is an excerpt fromJazzletter, dated June, 1984: “Woody’s manager for years was a corpulent diabetic ex-Marine . . . named Abe Turchin . . . we all loved Abe and said he had a heart of gold. And we all knew he gambled. But after all, it was his money. Or was it? For two years during the late 1960s, Abe gambled away the money Woody thought had been paid to the government for his income taxes. When the government stepped in, it was discovered that Abe hadn’t filed withholding on the musicians, either.

“And Woody was held responsible for all of it. He came close to going to prison. And he has been paying those taxes ever since. He told Artie Shaw a year or two ago, ‘I’ll be on the road the rest of my life.’ �

Herman’s daughter, Ingrid Herman Reese, told much the same story. “The only inaccuracies,� she says, “were that his name was Turchen, not Turchin, and there were three years, not two, for which taxes were not paid--1964, 1965 and 1966.�

Turchen apparently died about three years ago. He is still listed in the Sioux City, Iowa, phone directory. A woman at his number who refused to identify herself said Wednesday that Turchen was “not responsible� for Herman’s troubles. She said Turchen was dead. “Woody Herman knew what was going on,� said the woman, who claimed she was Turchen’s sister-in-law. “It’s a big lie. Goodby.�)

That Herman may have been victimized by careless management, does not, in the government’s eyes, reduce his responsibility for the back taxes, however.

“His employees’ money was not forwarded to us,� said IRS spokesperson Lowell Langers. “It wasn’t just a simple question of his own personal taxes.�

So the IRS seized his four-bedroom, three-bath Hollywood Hills home and sold it for $99,800 in 1985 to satisfy some of that debt, Langers said.

Herman’s family claims the house is now worth about $400,000. According to county records, Herman bought the house from actor Humphrey Bogart in 1946 for $56,000.

During his 1984 interview, critic Lees asked Herman how he had the courage to keep on in the light of his difficulties. Herman’s answer was: “Two reasons. The first is my love of music. The second is that I have an overwhelming need to make a living.�

Speaking of his debt to the IRS, he said: “It gets bigger. My lawyer is trying to get a settlement for once and for all, and I am hoping he will.�

A figure behind the scenes is the prominent Washington lawyer Leonard Garment, who as a young man had played saxophone and worked briefly in the Woody Herman orchestra. Garment told this reporter Monday: “There are good lawyers working on this case and we are trying to have something worked out.� Garment has been in direct contact with Ingrid Herman Reese.

Woody Herman’s world today is short on finances and health but infinitely long on friendships. Ironically, the news about his latest trauma and the outpouring of sympathy it evoked, coupled with offers of assistance, brought about the first notable improvement in his condition and spirits. He was able to talk on the telephone to Frank Sinatra, and to express his gratitude to KKGO (the radio station whose owner, Saul Levine, offered to pay off the overdue rental debt of four months for $4,600) and others who had rallied to his side.

The station has already set up an account for an Oct. 23 Woody Herman Tribute at the Wadsworth Theatre. The account has substantially increased with almost $4,000 in contributions from listeners, said Jeff Gehringer, operations manager at the station.

Despite the outpouring of public support for the ailing Herman, the IRS has not been as sympathetic.

“It’s not just a sudden thing. We’re talking 20 years later,� IRS spokesperson Langers said. “The fact that an individual may be a public figure and well loved can’t figure into our considerations. The code is specific and we’re required to collect the taxes.�

When taxes are delinquent, the government can seize any money or property to pay off the debt, Langers said.

Though Herman by 1980 had had the IRS problem hanging over him more than a decade, he remained stubbornly philosophical, convinced that somehow things would work out and that his duty was to concentrate on his music. He was encouraged in this belief when plans were confirmed for the band to drop anchor at a “Woody Herman Room,� adjacent to the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Orleans.

“We’ll be spending 36 weeks a year at the same place,� he said. “And I’ll decide who replaces us when we’re on the road. It will not only make my life easier, but it will do the same for the young men in the band.�

The dream location took not much more than a year to turn into a nightmare. By late 1982, business at the room was in a slump and the hotel owners decided to abandon the project. Almost at the same time Charlotte Herman, the former dancer whom Woody Herman had married 46 years earlier, died after a long illness at the Hollywood hillside home the couple had bought from Bogart--the same home from which Herman was almost evicted Tuesday.

Soon it was back to the old routine for the so-called “Road Father,� though he would no longer make his own way between one night stands; two years earlier he had fallen asleep at the wheel, incurring injuries that necessitated months of recovery.

Despite all these problems, there were bright interludes during the next four years. The orchestra by now was recording regularly for Concord Jazz, traveled successfully at home and abroad and last year celebrated, a little in advance, Herman’s 50th anniversary as a band leader. (The band played its first gig in Brooklyn on election night of 1936.) A concert was staged in July, 1986, at the Hollywood Bowl, with Herman’s regular band as well as an all-star orchestra of his alumni, headed by the pianist-composer Nat Pierce.

Ralph Burns, the Oscar-winning composer who got his big-time start with Herman, wrote a new work to be premiered that night. Tributes came to the bandleader from all over the world.

Contrary to popular belief, the orchestra has not disbanded. At times the classical clarinetist Richard Stoltzman has played as a guest soloist; saxophonist Frank Tiberi, a 20-year veteran of the Herman Herd, normally leads it now, and Buddy De Franco, the clarinet virtuoso, will front it for an appearance shortly in Malibu.

Clearly Woody Herman’s difficulties are not yet over; but neither is his life in the only true home he has known for four decades, and neither is the life of the Thundering Herd that has been, for countless future stars, the ultimate finishing school of American music.

Times intern Jane Lieberman contributed to this story.