Tom Everett, director of the Harvard University Bands since 1971, will retire from that post as of February 15, 2013, reports the Arts Spectrum of Harvard’s Office for the Arts.
In addition to overseeing the Harvard University Band and its popular halftime shows at football games, Everett has been an associate of the department of music and a lecturer on Afro-American studies and on music, as well as jazz adviser to the Office for the Arts, which shares a building with the bands. The plural is highly applicable, as Everett’s responsibilities have embraced not only the Harvard University Band but the Harvard Wind Ensemble and the Harvard Jazz Bands.
An accomplished trombonist who is comfortable in both classical and jazz settings, Everett essentially brought jazz to Harvard, not only through the performing groups he organized and conducted, but by teaching courses in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and at the Extension School. He also brought many top jazz performers to campus, both to play and to talk about their music with students.
Everett’s post-retirement plans include travel with his wife, Betsy, and writing about some of his favorite jazz musicians. While the University carries out a search for his successor, assistant director of bands Mark Olson will serve as acting director.
Everett has mentored generations of musicians who have gone on to satisfying and successful careers; among the most celebrated of these are saxophonist/composer Don Braden ’85 and saxophonist Joshua Redman ’91. Both will perform at a special Jazz Bands concert in Everett’s honor in Sanders Theatre on the evening of Saturday, April 13.
For more about Everett, read “Three Maestros Talk Music,” a 2002 group profile from the Harvard Magazine archives that profiles the band leader and two fellow conductors, the late James Yannatos of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra and Jameson Marvin (now retired) of the Harvard Glee Club.
