Claremont
Beneath the octagonal roof, local musicians unpack and assemble instruments, unfold music stands and tune up for the evening’s performance. They arrive a few at a time, climb the concrete stairs to find their seats: Horns form the perimeter against the black railing; woodwinds in the front and center.
Greeting the musicians, who range in age from their 20s to their 60s, and organizing the crowded space is Ed Evensen, the longtime director of the Claremont American Band.
The band has been putting on summertime concerts since the late 19th century, and Evensen has been part of that history since he was in elementary school 55 years ago.
“Let’s see, we have two saxes tonight,” Evensen says cheerfully as he unfolds and positions two metal chairs.
With a seemingly ever-present smile, he turns to greet piccolo player Troy Grimsley, a University of New Hampshire student and Fall Mountain Regional High School graduate, who, in Evensen’s opinion, is the “best piccolo player in the state.”
Soon, the band — 16 players this evening, though sometimes it numbers 30 or more — quiets as Evensen reads off the song list, gently sorting through a stack of worn scores and pausing to allow his musicians to find the right music. Moments later, the still evening is broken beautifully by the crisp sound of horns, the steady beat of a snare drum and the gentle tones of clarinets, saxophones and flutes.
About halfway through the hour-long performance, Evensen pauses his directing duties to play a clarinet lead on Beer Barrel Polka. The small audience, seated on lawn chairs in the park, applauds in appreciation.
“I come just to relax, get out of the house. Unwind, they call it,” said Carol Wilson of Claremont. Her 96-year-old mother, Lora Underwood, proudly pointed toward Trinity Episcopal Church on Broad Street, recalling it was where she was married in 1938.
Wilson remembers as a youngster arriving at the park in her father’s “big brown truck filled with cousins, her mother, grandmother and more to hear the band.
“This place was packed,” said Wilson, promising more people will arrive to enjoy the music later this summer.
The Claremont American Band has a long history. Begun in 1888, it has performed every summer since then. In 1906 and 1911, it was led for a couple of performances by American composer John Philip Sousa, said Evensen, 67.
“It was part of his tour. He would stop by on the way from New York to Boston and Montreal.”
Evensen has been part of the band, which includes his wife, Anne, a former school principal, on trumpet, for not much less than half its 128 years. He began playing in 1961 as a sixth-grade clarinetist, just a year after starting lessons. He credits some of his talent to his mother. “She was an excellent trumpet player and played one year with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra.”
The band’s June 30 performance marked the start of his 55th year either playing, conducting or both.
“It kind of just happened,” said Evensen, about how his first year playing turned into such a long commitment. “I’d like to play more but I have to direct.”
The band plays a variety of American music, including marches, such as Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever, and such show tunes as Give My Regards to Broadway.
Four days after the Claremont concert, it is a different venue and a different audience for Evensen. He is among fellow musicians on an open-sided trailer, performing with the Firehouse Six Dixieland Band at the West Windsor Fourth of July celebration. Dressed like his bandmates in a white shirt, black pants with red suspenders and a black bowler, Evensen is again on clarinet. He rises to play a lead segment of Blackbird and Down By the Riverside.
“I just really love to play,” said Evensen in a later phone interview.
An understatement if there ever was one.
Chronicling the number of venues Evensen has played, the bands and orchestras he has performed with, the audiences he has entertained on a variety of instruments and the thousands of students he has taught would fill a substantial book.
“I think I have played all over God’s creation,” Evensen said with a laugh.
His importance to Claremont’s musical landscape is undeniable: He was recognized with a proclamation by the City Council after 50 years with the Claremont American Band.
Since graduating from Boston University in 1971 with a bachelor’s degree in music education, Evensen has taught both private lessons and in a number of public schools in both New Hampshire and Vermont, including Claremont. He retired in June after 14 years in the Fall Mountain School District. He has performed from Burlington to southern New England at ski resorts, community theater performances and county fairs, in concert halls, parades, bars, colleges and numerous private functions.
His mastery of instruments includes the flute, clarinet, saxophone, piccolo and drums. The list of groups he has played with numbers at least 20 and includes the Claremont Area Jazz Band, East Bay Jazz Ensemble, Vermont Jazz Ensemble, Cook’s Show Band, Colby-Sawyer Theater, St. Johnsbury Big Band, Upper Valley Community Band, Boston Civic Orchestra “and some I cannot remember,” Evensen said.
Quite a resume for someone with no plans for a career in music while a student at Stevens High School.
“I knew one thing, I wasn’t going to do music,” Evensen said before the Firehouse Six performance on the Fourth of July.
He assumed that after graduation he would work at Goddard Bakery in Claremont because his dream of pursing law was out of the question.
“We just didn’t have a lot of money.”
But longtime Stevens High School music teacher Al Gader recognized Evensen’s talent and in his senior year, 1967, took him for a clarinet audition at Boston University.
“That was in May. Auditions were supposed to be done in March,” Evensen said.
But his talent landed him a four-year scholarship, and the high school student who figured to be a manual laborer, was about to embark on long and rich musical career playing and teaching.
Evensen said he was drawn to teaching from his own experience growing up.
“I didn’t grow up with a ton of money so I wanted to help kids in rural areas enjoy music and take part,” Evensen said. “I have been trying to do that my entire career.”
Melissa Richmond, director of the West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts, has played in the Claremont American Band for about 20 years and has known Evensen since she attended school with his daughter.
“As someone who is trying to build a big community of musicians and artists, I have great appreciation for all Ed has done,” said Richmond, who plays several instruments including saxophone and flute.
Richmond said Gader, who still plays on occasion with the Claremont American Band, fostered Claremont’s musical life, and Evensen has emulated that.
“He is a very talented musician and is very invested in the community,” Richmond said.
Though the public knows Evensen as a musician and conductor, Richmond said his ability to repair instruments is equally impressive and important to many students who don’t have money for expensive repairs.
“He is a really good technician and does it for a lot cheaper than other places, sometimes just a couple of bucks,” Richmond said.
Steve Wood, of Claremont, has been a trombonist with the Claremont American Band for more than 20 years and he appreciates Evensen’s talent and approach to conducting.
“He does a very good job and he is an excellent musician,” Wood said.
What has impressed Wood over the years has been Evensen’s easygoing manner, especially when the notes are not played quite precisely as they should. In his first few years, Wood, who said he is not “accomplished” on the trombone, said he felt “like a fish out of water,” but was reassured by Evensen.
“He has always been very forgiving and just takes it all in stride,” Wood said. “He doesn’t get too excited … and has been excellent to work with.”
As for Evensen, his retirement from full-time teaching won’t mean he is stepping aside from entertaining audiences throughout New England or directing the Claremont American Band.
“As long as I can,” Evensen said about his storied musical career.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
