MILL CREEK
The first few notes in the saxophone’s life are a mystery.
When Paul Anderson got his fingers on it in the early 1940s, he was a high school student in tiny Minnewaukan, N.D. His parents bought the instrument secondhand.
After playing it in several small-town bands and passing it on to his children, he put the saxophone in the attic of his Mukilteo home, where it remained, buried under dust for nearly 30 years.
It seemed the saxophone’s song was over, but Anderson’s grandson was determined to wring melody once again from the vintage instrument.
Evan Duvall wanted to play his grandpa’s saxophone in one of the most prestigious and historical concert halls in the world: Carnegie Hall.
In sixth grade, he took clarinet lessons to prepare himself to play his grandfather’s saxophone. Soon afterward, he switched to the sax and began saving money to restore the instrument.
The saxophone was a mess. Key pads dangled from its silver-coated body, rendering it basically unplayable.
Over the years, as Evan advanced through saxophone classes, he remained determined to restore his grandfather’s instrument.
He mowed neighbors’ lawns and saved money his parents gave him for Christmas. Then, in his sophomore year at Henry M. Jackson High School in Mill Creek, he had the $500 needed to fix the sax.
Restored, the saxophone shined. Built sometime in the ’30s, the instrument is a Pan American, an old, discontinued brand. It has fewer keys than most modern saxophones and is silver instead of the more common brass color.
Duvall proudly played the instrument with the school’s wind ensemble, but he still wanted Carnegie.
A week ago, the graduating senior’s dream finally came true.
The 18-year-old sat onstage at Carnegie Hall in front of a well-dressed New York City audience and played.
Under the lead of the band director, Lesley Moffat, the wind ensemble performed “Ave Maria,” “The Marriage of Figaro” and other classics on May 24.
“To get to play at Carnegie Hall is like every musician’s dream,” Duvall said. “Some of the best musicians in the world have played there. For us to basically start our music careers at Carnegie Hall is pretty amazing.”
Now 83, Anderson wasn’t able to make the trip to New York to see the greatest crescendo in his saxophone’s life. Nonetheless, the retired Scott Paper Co. machine adjuster is amazed at his instrument’s reincarnation.
“It started in a tiny town in North Dakota,” he said. “And to get to Carnegie Hall — that’s a story.”
Kaitlin Manry writes for the Herald of Everett.
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