Celebrating the life and legacy of our friend and founder, A Tribute to John P. Paynter chronicles Mr. Paynter’s impact on the lives of countless individuals through his time on the podium at Northwestern University, leadership of the Northshore Concert Band, and encounters over his lifetime.

Daniel DiCesare

“While I joined Northshore Concert Band long after Mr. Paynter was gone, I did get to work with him on two occasions in high school.

“I’ll start with the second — my high school band was invited to perform at the 1990 Midwest Clinic and John Paynter was a guest conductor on one of the pieces we played. I’m afraid I simply don’t remember what piece it was, and since we didn’t spend any time rehearsing with him — just a single run-through before the performance — I also haven’t retained any impression of what it was like to work with him. Before you say, ‘Well that’s a horrible story,’ let me assure you our band director has drummed into us what a very big deal it was to be invited to perform at the Midwest Clinic, and that it was a tremendous honor to get to perform with Mr. Paynter. So what I do remember is the determination of everyone in the band to do their absolute best for Mr. Paynter.

“The first occasion was a few years earlier, when I participated in the Northshore Concert Band Festival of Music at Northwestern University. Mr. Paynter listened to us play for a few minutes in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, then we moved into the adjacent rehearsal room where he took the podium and worked with us. At some point the trombones came in — this would be a good time to point out I was playing tuba at the time — and Mr. Paynter almost immediately cut off the band. He turned to the trombones, and he was angry. He really let them have it. The rest of us were stunned. Sure, everyone in that band made mistakes, but he sniffed out within seconds that the trombone section wasn’t making any effort to sound good at all — they never did — and that was the one thing he simply would not tolerate.”

Maryann Loda

“John Paynter had legendary stick technique, so musicians rarely missed a cue. When he asked someone to play a phrase and they missed his cue, John would break the embarrassed silence with, ‘A little louder, please?’ Rehearsing with his mentor, Glenn Cliffe Bainum, you would hear the same exact words, feel the same empathy, and see the same twinkle in his eye. No matter where John learned to do it, he always welcomed musicians to make music with grace and impeccably timed humor.

“In setting the scene for high school students to play his arrangement of Malcolm Arnold’s Four Scottish Dances, JPP described men wearing not skirts, but kilts, ‘and they had hairy legs and great, big . . . knobby knees!’ I remember those quoted words exactly from well over fifty years ago. I only wish I wrote down so many other stories from over the years that I was so fortunate to play for John.

“He was a master storyteller who tailored his humor and emotions perfectly to the age of his audience. He knew when to be gentle and when to hone the edge. Late in his Northwestern University career, the Dean called a faculty meeting on the top floor of the old Music Administration Building — the ‘white elephant.’ Paynter said, ‘Before you come to another faculty meeting on the fourth floor, stop and pay your respects to me on the second.’

“When our son was born, John was so happy for me and my husband that he took the time to write us a personal note. He was sure the world was a better place now that our little baby boy was in it. We treasure the note to this day.”

Peter Lograsso

“In the summer of 1984, I was a student at the National High School Music Institute at Northwestern University. We were playing a concert at the Illinois Center in downtown Chicago and I showed up wearing the exact same blue pinstripe suit as Mr. Paynter. We both realized it and had a good laugh. Of course, it was Marietta’s idea to button our jackets together!”

For more JPP stories, pictures, and more, follow along with our Tribute to John P. Paynter all week on Northshore Concert Band’s Facebook page.

A Tribute to John P. Paynter — Memories & Stories, Part 3

Daniel DiCesare

Maryann Loda

Peter Lograsso