Joliet American Legion Band to play spring concert April 27

JOLIET – Nothing relieves stress like blowing hot air through a long brass tube.

So said Steve Knoderer of Serena, euphonium player, for the Joliet American Legion Band. Playing the opening day at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in the pouring rain is one of his most memorable events; performing at the Rialto Square Theater in Joliet was the most thrilling, he said.

“I am not the most talented musician in the band, but the opportunity to learn about music and to develop as a musician is very rewarding,” Knoderer said. “The musical selection of this band rarely fails to move me. The power this band plays with is matched by few bands anywhere.”

The Joliet American Legion Band, which its musical director and conductor Tom Drake of Lockport called “the most versatile band in the world,” has a new rehearsal home at the Joliet Area Historical Museum. The band will perform its spring concert April 27 at the St. Charles Borromeo Performance Center in Romeoville.

“[The museum] is just a great place to be,” said John Herder of Frankfort, band president. “Downtown Joliet is very convenient for our members; there’s plenty of parking, and we’re treated very well.”

The concept of starting a Joliet American Legion Band originated during World War II when two Joliet men, Archie McAllister Jr. and Bill Austin, were serving together on a small island in the South Pacific, Drake said.

Their goal was to – after the war – form a band of Joliet musicians, led by Archie McAllister Sr., McAllister’s father and director of the Joliet Township High School Band.

Unfortunately, the senior McAllister died before the band’s inception, so McAllister formed it as a memorial to his father and served as its first director, Drake said.

In 1946, as a way to continue Joliet High School Band’s competitive tradition, members “donned their service uniforms” and entered their first state American Legion contest, Drake said.

McAllister continued as band director until 1963, when illness dictated he step down, Drake said. Drake, assistant conductor since 1956, then took McAllister’s place. Drake said the Joliet American Legion Band has three components: concert, marching and symphonic.

“No other band in the world does all three to the extent that we do,” Drake said.

The band features members with wide age ranges, from Drake’s granddaughter, Mallory Drake of Lockport, who had played with the band when she was 14, to several World War II veterans in their 90s, Herder said.

“We used to say 18 to 81,” Herder said, “but if your parents are in the band, you can come in anytime.”

Band members who rehearse every Tuesday evening and play at performances vary, Herder said. Rehearsal attendance averages around 50, although not the same 50. When college students are home and available, that number can swell to 70, Herder said. Membership requirements are modest; the community is welcome to join.

“We have an audition sheet that is devised to demonstrate that you, basically, can play an instrument,” Drake said. “That’s all we ask. The material is not super difficult.”

Drake recalled two incidents that led to national exposure when the band was invited to perform at the opening of the International Cycling Championships in Colorado Springs in 1986.

First, the U.S. Air Force withdrew its offer to fly the band to Colorado Springs, so Bob Hope, master of ceremonies for the opening ceremony, contacted American Airlines and arranged for the band’s flight in and out, at no cost to the band, Drake said.

Then, after two evening news commentators said it was impossible because of the altitude, the Joliet American Legion Band played “America the Beautiful” “in the clouds at the top of Pike’s Peak,” Drake said.

Rick Ellenberger of Champaign, a Desert Storm veteran who has played the French horn nearly his entire life, arrives at rehearsals via train, because “it’s cheaper than driving,” points to Drake as his reason for belonging to the band.

“I’ve played with a lot of conductors. He’s the best,” Ellenberger said. “He’s a musician, he’s a showman, he’s a patriot.”

Bob Picha of Havana has played clarinet in the band for more than 54 years, partly because of Picha’s Joliet musical heritage. Picha said his grandfather, educated in Prague, came to Joliet around 1900 after he was hired to play in the former Dellwood Park Band. Picha himself played in the Joliet Township High School Band. Two daughters also played in the Joliet American Legion Band, he said, “clarinet, because I was their teacher.”

Knoderer’s daughter, flutist Alyssa Urbaseky of Yorkville, joined the band in 1997 when she was 17. Urbaseky appreciates the family connection, Drake and the band’s core group of dedicated musicians.

“They keep me coming back,” Urbaseky said.

If You Go

What: Joliet American Legion Band concert When: 7 p.m. April 27 Where: St. Charles Borromeo Performance Center, Route 53 and Airport Road, Romeoville Tickets: Concert is free. Free will offering accepted. Visit: www.jolietlegionband.org Contact: jalbsecretary@comcast.net

According to band music director and conductor Tom Drake, the Joliet American Legion Band:

• Performs 35 to 40 times per year • Rehearses approximately 250 hours per year • Members spend about $1000 each per year for travel, equipment, uniform parts • Has won 42 state titles, 36 national titles, one international gold medal and one honorary national title. The band has lost the national title only four times in 40 concerts • Has played for three United States presidents and numerous vice-presidents • Has traveled more than a million miles to contests, concerts and parades in the United States and Canada. • Is financed primarily through out of town performance fees and contributions to the Joliet Memorial Band Endowment Fund. • Donates 10 percent of each paying performance goes into the Ray Chapman Scholarship Fund to provide scholarships for high school graduate band members • Has had two other homes. One was Romeoville High School when Drake was its band director. The other was the former St. Charles Borromeo Pastoral Center in Romeoville.