Saturday night I attended a tribute to Tom Everett, the recently retired director of the Harvard Bands. Among his accomplishments at Harvard, Tom started the Harvard Jazz Band 40 years ago, and that group blew the roof off Sanders Theater last night. The night featured two of Tom’s students on tenor saxophone. Don Braden stepped in as conductor of the band when Tom stepped down, and continued Tom’s tradition of having the group perform all genres of the discipline. Joshua Redman performed as guest soloist, and his animated style brought the house to its feet. As my wife noted, Redman makes his saxophone sound like a woodwind rather than brassy. Pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Ron Mahdi and drummer Yoron Israel joined Redman for a rendition of John Coltrane’s Wise One, the treat of the evening.

If you live in the Boston area and never saw the Harvard Jazz band, make the effort to attend a concert. In my 35 years connected with the institution, they never failed to please. That’s due to the efforts to Tom, helping talent musicians find their voice for 40 years. I wish him a happy retirement!