Highly accomplished musician inspired generations of drummers
Gary Tomlin of Conestogo Born: July 6, 1940, in Toronto Died: April 2, 2018, of brain cancer
CONESTOGO — As a musician, Gary Tomlin was always the quiet, contemplative guy in the background making the most noise. Of course it was good noise, his rhythms as a drummer making him one of the region’s most sought after percussionists.
“He played right up until shortly before he died,” said Andy Macpherson, musician with “The New Vibes Jazz Quartet.” Gary had been the band’s longtime drummer.
“We rehearsed all through November for a December show,” said Andy. “He didn’t play the show, he wasn’t up to it.”
Gary’s final show was in the Conestogo home he shared with his wife Karen Tomlin, an educator and fellow drummer. The house was filled with guests and family that day and Gary was in his element, though his brain tumour and the subsequent surgery and treatment destroyed much of his ability to use his hands and feet. He also couldn’t speak, but Gary compensated, playing with whichever limbs were still at least partially functioning.
“He did a lot of practising,” said Andy. “He was very determined.”
Karen said “the disease did not define him, we did so many things these past four months.”
She spoke of his “grace, dignity and good humour” through the illness.
“I can’t imagine the frustration with his not being able to talk,” she said. “He couldn’t find the words.”
Karen and their children, Aaron and Alyssa, learned to ask Gary questions that could be answered with a simple yes or no, using gestures. He never stopped trying to communicate.
Gary was born in Toronto, the only child of a stay-at-home mom and a successful salesperson father. The family moved to Kitchener when his dad was transferred. Gary was around 10.
He didn’t grow up in a musical household, but Karen said her husband’s parents were supportive of his music, even though he had a rather rocky start after joining the music program at Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate.
“He started playing on a trombone, but he needed orthodontic work and switched to drums,” she said.
Once Gary had those sticks in his hands, it was an awakening of
sorts.
“He began playing professionally at age 15,” she said. “After high school he was working for the Waterloo Music Company as a salesperson and a clinician.”
Many of his clients were schools and Gary, the company’s head of percussion for 10 years, would not only sell instruments, but provide clinics to teach kids to play.
Gary’s formal music education had been limited to what he learned in high school followed by training at Oscar Peterson’s Advanced School of Contemporary Jazz in Toronto. The intensive program — run in the 1960s by the legendary Peterson as well as his bandmates, Ray Brown and Phil Nimmons — was about the only jazz facility for a young musician.
Gary’s musical history was extensive. He performed with several prominent bands including the Fritz-Patrick Trio, a group that were regulars at Lulus, the heartbeat of jazz in the 1980s.
He had played with such luminaries as Oscar Peterson and Peter Appleyard. Gary was also a drum corp instructor, adjudicator and the chief judge for the Ontario Drum Corps Association.
He eventually joined the Waterloo Catholic District School Board as an itinerant music teacher, meaning he moved from school to school teaching percussion while at the same time, running his own private studio.
In the 25 years he worked for the school board, Gary helped develop small ensembles and his percussion program was considered unique and progressive, turning out many young musicians who went on to professional careers.
Andy was one of the early students, having met Gary while still in elementary school.
“He was strict,” recalls Andy, who like Gary had orthodontic issues that forced him to switch from clarinet to drums. It was his winds teacher who recommend that Andy take Gary’s class. Andy had the same reaction Gary did to having those sticks in his hand.
“In the early days, he was strict but very insistent we learn to read music,” said Andy.
“He taught us the whole family of percussion instruments.”
It was Gary’s influence that Andy credits for making him the capable musician he is, able to join in with any band.
Karen had been one of Gary students and after graduating, she joined Gary as a music teacher at their studio. She later returned to university and completed a teaching degree.
They married in 1975, Gary’s second marriage. His first resulted in two children, Ray and Steve, who both live in Eastern Canada.
Alyssa and Aaron Tomlin, the children he had with Karen, live locally and remember growing up in a house that was not so much musical as it was supportive of anything that interested them.
Aaron’s gift was basketball and his father not only got involved with the team, but he used the same principles as he did teaching music, finding a one-on-one coach for his son.
As Aaron said, that coach was Dave Mac Neil, and in April of 1994, Gary helped Dave found the Wildhawks Basketball organization.
“Dad had a hand in creating that,” said Aaron. “We’d go to games all over North America.”
Alyssa said there was nothing their father wouldn’t do for his children.
If she called Gary and asked him to bring her a treat, like a burger, he would, even if he was nearly home and had to drive all the way back to Waterloo. He never complained.
As a grandpa, Gary volunteered to pick up and drop off his grandkids at their school, and it wasn’t long before everyone at the school knew Gary. He was like that, the kind of guy who connected with the people around him.
Andy remembered his friend as a “wonderful human being, loyal, always very professional.”
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