John Cummings

My name is John Cummings and I've played in the McHenry City Band for 55 years (as you have so often been told). With my longevity in the band, I have reluctantly become the unofficial historian of the group.

I play trombone, also known as sackbut, posaune, sliphorn, slushpump, etc.

The trombone was invented in the 15th century. The original trombone was a trumpet fitted with a slide.

The trombone family that evolved consists of alto, tenor, bass, and contra bass instruments.

Our city band uses (3) tenor trombones and (1) bass trombone. This is standard instrumentation for a stage band.

I have had the privilege to play in the city band trombone section with some of the best plays in the area, including our present members Adam Bell, Keith Pitner, and Mike Polyack.

I started playing the trombone as a freshman at Crystal Lake Community High School in 1946. I've since played in many bands, orchestras, combos, etc. I spent (4) years playing in the Navy music system.

When I started playing in the McHenry City Band in 1959 the band was a concert band. The next year (1960) it was changed to its present configuration as a "stage band" (also konwn as a "big band" or "jazz band").

The first concert I remember playing was on the front lawn of the American Legion building on Green Street across from the theater. In the early years, we played at various locations.

In 1964, a bandshell was constructed here in "Pearl Street Park" in approximately the same location as the present gazebo. The bandshell was replaced by the gazebo around 1985.

The original director of the stage band was Stan Vycital. Other directors that followed were Bob "Beef" Freund, John Leighty, Bill Toalson, and our present director Mike Bazan.

Over the years, we have had a variety of guest performers. Some that I recall are listed as follows:

  1. The Andrew Sisters (actually 3 men)
  2. Barbershop Quartets
  3. Singers
  4. Trombonist Tom Garling
  5. Sax player Mark Colby
  6. DJ Barry Winograd (of WDCB) played bari sax for a concert

We have had our adventures with the weather. There was the time we were playing at the opposite end of the park where the tennis courts were located, and a sudden rain storm caught us. Our music was soaked and in many cases the ink ran. There is ample evidence remaining yet today of the streaks of ink on a number of the music sheets.

Another day the winds gusted strongly and blew our music all over.

On another occasion a scary gust of wind blew down a very large tree-sized branch right where a number of listeners were sitting just a couple of minutes earlier. Luckily no one was injured.

All in all it has been a pleasure to play in this band. It has been a wonderful experience that I would not want to exchange for anything else.

Thank you.

Incedentally, some of the people who played over the years are as follows:

  1. Beef, Jim, and George Freund
  2. John Lighty, Bill Toalson, and Mike Bazan
  3. Al Vails, Norm Hollander
  4. Tom and John Krenz
  5. Ed Leasher, Mike Knauf
  6. Kenny Olendorf, Jack VanKanagan, Al Skrona
  7. Marty Klaperrich
  8. Dick Platt, Bill Pelant
  9. Vic Spencer, Walt Murphy, Hank Winczek
  10. And many more