It’s almost as though when graduating in 1964 from Bound Brook High School in New Jersey, Thom Pastor had a crystal ball to see into the future.
Under his photo in his senior yearbook, it said “Future Professional Musician.” He was definitely onto something.
This year, Pastor received the Lifetime Achievement Award from his alma mater for his musical career, which spanned decades, primarily in Las Vegas.
Calling Boulder City home for the past 53 years, Pastor was a mainstay as a member of house bands for numerous Las Vegas resorts in the 1970s and 1980s. Along the way he performed on stage with a who’s who in the entertainment world at that time, including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Bing Crosby, Wayne Newton, Liberace and Aretha Franklin.
“I was fresh off a tour in Japan with Tom Jones in 1973, and my wife and I wanted to have a family,” he said of moving to Boulder City. “We wanted to go somewhere where there was no gambling or anything like that, so we settled here.”
Pastor, now 80, took his first clarinet lesson seven decades ago and has been hooked ever since. Over time, he became proficient in 11 woodwind instruments, making him a bit of a Swiss Army Knife within the entertainment field.
“I made a conscious effort to learn to play them all,” he said. “It helped guarantee I’d have work.”
Pastor, a 1968 graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, got his first taste of performing music professionally as he played behind Martha and the Vandellas, an early Motown trio who were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 with hits like “Dancing in the Streets” and “Nowhere to Run.”
“That was an introduction to myself thinking, ‘I could actually make a living doing this,’” he said. “To that point I had never really considered making a career out of playing music. My thoughts were more of teaching band in high school or something like that and maybe picking up gigs on the weekends.”
Move to Nevada
After graduating from college, Pastor moved to Reno and joined up with a band. At that time, Tom Jones was performing at a casino there and thanks to friends, Pastor joined Jones’ band and toured with him the rest of the year.
“Despite all the things you heard about women throwing their hotel keys, and other things, onto the stage, he was a very dedicated husband and father,” Pastor said of Jones. “Away from the stage, he was very low-keyed and would rather ask questions of others than talk about himself.”
He also had an opportunity to tour with Paul Anka. A few years later, Pastor moved to Boulder City and saw all the opportunities there were in the music industry in Las Vegas.
One of his first jobs was that of performing in the house band in Caesars Palace, where he played behind Frank Sinatra, as well as comedians like George Burns.
“I always wanted to play my best, not for personal reasons but because I was just an instrument for the major act,” Pastor said. “I held that thought throughout my entire career.”
Over the years, Pastor played in house bands not only at Caesars Palace but the Sahara, Aladdin, Las Vegas Hilton and MGM.
“I never worked at places like the Frontier or the Desert Inn — they had their own guys there,” he said. “But my phone always rang, which was good.”
Zen Buddhist master
When reading down the list of names he performed with over the years, two obvious questions come to mind. First off, any favorites?
“For sure Frank Sinatra, especially because of the musical arrangements and he sang so well,” he said. “I was told early on, he was never Frank, he was always Mr. Sinatra. The Supremes were wonderful to work with, as was Aretha Franklin. I would do a solo with Aretha. I’d come down front, and she’d sing “I Never Loved a Man.” She’d rub my head and tell the audience, ‘Girls, this is much sexier than you might think.’ Of course, I was much younger back then. That wouldn’t work for me today at 80.”
The second question: What entertainers does he wish appeared on his list?
“Tony Bennett and Elvis,” he said, with no hesitation.
After moving on from the Strip casinos, Pastor continued to perform and does to this day. He serves as the music director of the Las Vegas Jazz Arts Community Ensemble.
When not performing, Pastor takes part in his second love, Buddhism, for which he is a Zen Buddhist master. That passion for both led filmmakers to begin a documentary about “a jazz musician who teaches meditation,” he said. Netflix has shown interest in the documentary, and some filming has already taken place. Pastor is hoping it will be released next year.
“I feel lucky to have been able to have the career I’ve had and to be here when I was,” he said of his time working in Las Vegas. “The younger people I perform with now will never get to have those types of experiences that I had.”
