Credit: Jerry Wolford/News & Record

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Farewell to the leader of the band By Jim Schlosser, News & Record   From 1936 to 1978 at what's now Grimsley High School, he led what was one of the best bands in the land. Herbert Hazelman , 94 , died Sunday morning, nearly 29 years after he retired as director of the Grimsley band, which under him won numerous awards, traveled far and rarely hit a sour note . Hazelman not only directed music — he also wrote it, including Grimsley's school song, which starts "All Hail to Thee," in 1948. He also composed the jingle "Sail with the Pilot," which the former Pilot Life Insurance Co. used in commercials for years. Hazelman died at his home on Madison Avenue in Starmount, keeping a vow not to die in a rest home. "There is no need for sadness — it was one hell of a 94-year-old run," declared his only child, Casey Hazelman , a musician himself, who played in his father's band as a teenager and was singled out more than any other member for admonishments. When Hazelman turned 90 four years ago, friends and former band members toasted him at a party. In 2005, Grimsley named the music building in his honor. Well into his old age, the school would summon him back to redirect the band on special occasions. In 1999, he arranged a piece for the 100th anniversary of Grimsley's founding. Even when he performed in retirement, he displayed the same no-nonsense look he did in his prime. But he was a pussy cat then compared to th e years his bands won 13 straight "superior" ratings in annual state competitions and occasionally went to Washington to play at the half-time of Redskins games. He conceded in a 2003 interview that he was tough but fair, although Casey Hazelman said his dad knew, at times, that he was "unfair," especially when he believed a student musician wasn't living up to his or her potential. He was so cantankerous that students hated practices. Casey Hazelman said his dad confessed to him late in life that he hated them, too. In that 2003 story about Hazelman, former Greensboro Mayor Jim Melvin, once a band member, said, "He would throw the baton at you if you missed a note or talked." Melvin was among those who pushed for the naming of the music building for Hazelman, who beamed at the mention of Melvin's name, as well as the names of his other musicians who had done well, including former Mayor Keith Holliday and the famous disc jockey Rick Dees of Los Angeles. Hazelman lived long enough to have a drink with the famous novelist Thomas Wolfe and met George Bernard Shaw . At 17, as a freshmen at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa student, Hazelman wrote "Moronic Dance ,'' a symphony piece that's still played by orchestras and still brought him royalty checks. He didn't live in the past and wasn't the type to deplore music that came after his era. He loved The Beatles . He praised Grimsley bands that came after him and once said that the modern day Grimsley Madrigal Singers had "achieved perfection." Casey Hazelman said his father believed there was only two kinds of music: "Good and the other." Funeral arrangements are incomplete. Casey Hazelman says a memorial service will be held after the holidays. He hopes it can be in the Grimsley Auditorium.

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