Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps
The Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps is a World Class competitive junior drum and bugle corps based in Concord, California. The Blue Devils are members of Drum Corps International. They have finished in the top four at the DCI World Championships since 1992, and have placed no lower than fifth since 1975. They also hold the record for the highest score in DCI history, winning the 2014 DCI World Championships with a score of 99.65. The Blue Devils hold a record of twenty-one titles to date.
History
In 1957, Tony and Ann Odello and the Concord VFW post assumed control of the Martinettes, a defunct drum corps and drill team. They reorganized the unit as the Blue Devils. Initially, the group performed as an all-boy drum corps with an all-girl drill team. In 1958, the Blue Devils added glockenspiels, becoming a drum and bell corps, while the girls became a separate baton twirling troupe, the Majorettes. The two units continued to perform together, winning numerous state and local competitions between 1957 and 1970. In 1961, the Blue Devils added a flag section to the unit that was then competing in the state's Junior division. In 1968, the drum and bell corps moved into Senior Division competition, and the new junior corps, Blue Devils B, was founded.In 1970, a group of buglers was added to the Blue Devils drums and flags, and the corps entered its first competition as the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps. By 1972, the unit, now with over seventy members, advanced from Class B competition to Class A and traveled on tour outside California for the first time. The summer of 1973 marked the Blue Devils first national tour and their first appearance at the Drum Corps International World Championships in Whitewater, Wisconsin. The younger Blue Devils C Drum and Bugle Corps was also formed in 1973. In 1976, the Blue Devils won the first of the corps' twenty-one DCI World Championship titles.
Over the years, the Devils have often made use of jazz and Latin music repertoires, notably Bill Reddie's Channel One Suite and charts from the music of Chick Corea and Chuck Mangione and that written for Stan Kenton's big band. Since 1994, the percussion caption head has been Scott Johnson.
In 2014, the Blue Devils won their sixteenth DCI World Championship. At the DCI Finals in Indianapolis on August 9, the corps received a record high score of 99.650. The Blue Devils are also the only corps to have crossed the 99-point threshold twice in DCI World Championship history, achieving a 99.050 in 2009, and a 99.650 in 2014.
In the Blue Devils' 2017 program, voiceovers were used from a newly-discovered audio tape recording of the late former director Jerry Seawright addressing the crowd at the Blue Devils' first appearance as a drum and bugle corps in 1972.
In 2023, the Blue Devils claimed their first Three-Peat in the corps’ history. After winning in 2019, 2022 and now its third title in a row, the corps reached a DCI Title “Three-Peat”. The Cadets and The Cavaliers are the only other World Class corps to reach such a feat in Drum Corps International history.
The Blue Devils Drumline was featured in the soundtrack of the 2013 animated film Monsters University. In 2020, the Drumline partnered with Extreme Music to release Bang To Rights, an album consisting of 16 distinct drumline grooves.
Sponsorship
The Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps is sponsored by BD Performing Arts, a 501(c)(3) musical organization.BD Performing Arts also sponsors the Blue Devils B, the Blue Devils C, the Blue Devils Open Class and A Class Winter Guards programs, the Diablo Wind Symphony, and BD Entertainment.
In 2015, BD Performing Arts added the Blue Devils International Corps, a 97-member unit made up of alumni of the Blue Devils and 8 other DCI World Class corps. The corps spent more than a month traveling and performing in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Switzerland, concluding with 9 days and 15 performances of their show at the Basel Tattoo in Switzerland. A similar tour was planned for 2020, with stops in Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the Basel Tattoo in Switzerland, but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Show summary (1972–2025)
Source:| Pale blue background indicates DCI World Class Finalist |
| Dark gold background indicates DCI World Class Champion |
Caption awards
At the annual World Championship Finals, Drum Corps International presents awards to the corps with the high average scores from prelims, semifinals, and finals in five captions. The Blue Devils have won these caption awards:Don Angelica Best General Effect Award
- 2003, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2022, 2023
- 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023
- 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2023
- 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2022
- 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015
High General Effect Award
- 1976, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1994
- 1976, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999
- 1979, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999
- 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999
- 1976, 1977, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1994, 1996, 1997
Blue Devils B Drum and Bugle Corps
The Blue Devils B Drum and Bugle Corps are an Open Class competitive junior drum and bugle corps based in Concord, California. The corps is a member of Drum Corps International and has grown from a feeder corps for the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps to a full-fledged Drum Corps in its own right. The corps has won the DCI Open Class World Championship five times.History
In 1968, the original Blue Devils corps moved up from B Class competition to A Class, and the Blue Devils B was started as a younger cadet corps. In 1973, the Blue Devils B converted from a drum and bell corps to a drum and bugle corps.As a cadet corps, the unit performed for years almost exclusively on the West Coast. Only when the World Championships were held in Pasadena, California did the Blue Devils B become a regular competitor in the Division II & III Championships. The Blue Devils B won the first of three consecutive Open Class World Championships in Indianapolis in 2009. In 2011, the corps also competed in World Class preliminaries, finishing in 19th place and earning membership in DCI.
On September 5, 2018, BD Performing Arts, Vanguard Music & Performing Arts, and Drum Corps International announced that the Blue Devils B had "decided to travel and compete only in California for the 2019 season" and that both the Blue Devils B and the Vanguard Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps would not attend DCI Open Class Championships in 2019.
Show summary (1977–2025)
Source:| Light blue background indicates DCI Open Class Finalist |
| Goldenrod background indicates DCI Open Class Champion |
| Pale green background indicates DCI World Class Semifinalist |
Blue Devils C Drum and Bugle Corps
The Blue Devils C Drum and Bugle Corps are an Open Class competitive junior drum and bugle corp and a feeder corps for the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps.As a junior cadet corps, with members aged 8–14, the unit for many years performed only as a parade and exhibition unit, not entering actual competition. The corps began entering field competitions in 2001, but the corps still performs almost exclusively on the West Coast.
Show summary (1995–2024)
Source:| Year | Repertoire |
| 1995 | Mickey Mouse Club March by Jimmie Dodd / Electric Light Parade by Jean-Jacques Perrey & Gershon Kingsley / When You Wish Upon a Star by Leigh Harline & Ned Washington / Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah by Allie Wrubel & Ray Gilbert |
| 1996 | American Adventures Yankee Doodle / America The Beautiful by Katharine Lee Bates & Samuel A. Ward / Caribe by Michel Camilo / You're a Grand Old Flag by George M. Cohan / Theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark by John Williams |
| 1997 | You're a Grand Old Flag by George M. Cohan / Bandstand Boogie by Charles Albertine / Sing, Sing, Sing by Louis Prima / Rock and Roll by Gary Glitter & Mike Leander |
| 1998 | Rhythm Saved the World by Saul Chaplin & Sammy Cahn / Cotton Candy by Russ Damon / Splish Splash by Bobby Darin & Murray Kaufman |
| 1999 | Saturday Morning Madness Meet the Flintstones by Hoyt Curtin / Rocky and Bullwinkle by Fred Steiner / Pink Panther by Henry Mancini / Linus and Lucy by Vince Guaraldi / George of the Jungle by Stan Worth & Sheldon Allman |
| 2000 | Too Much TV Entertainment Tonight by Michael Mark / Green Acres by Vic Mizzy / Mission Impossible by Lalo Schiffrin / Addams Family by Vic Mizzy / Funeral March of a Marionette by Charles Gounod / Love Boat by Paul Williams & Charles Fox / The Monkees by Boyce and Hart / Star Trek by Alexander Courage / Bugs Bunny by Carl Stalling |
| 2001 | Theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, Cantina Band, Star Wars & Somewhere in My Memory All by John Williams |
| 2002 | Spy Corps 002 James Bond Theme by John Barry / Theme from Get Smart by Irving Szathmary / Spy Kids by Emily Cook, David Klotz & Dave Newton / Soul Bossa Nova by Quincy Jones / Espionage by Billie Joe Armstrong |
| 2003 | Spellbound The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas / Selections from Lord of The Rings by Howard Shore / I Dream of Jeannie Theme by Hugo Montenegro / Theme from Bewitched by Howard Greenfield & Jack Keller |
| 2004 | Arabian Nights Selections from Aladdin by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman & Tim Rice / Caravan by Juan Tizol / Copacabana by Barry Manilow, Jack Feldman & Bruce Sussman |
| 2005 | Repertoire unavailable |
| 2006 | Nightmare in Blue Repertoire unavailable |
| 2007 | Selections from Grease by Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey |
| 2008 | WOZ Ease on Down the Road by Charlie Smalls / We're Off to See the Wizard, Over the Rainbow & If I Only Had a Brain by Harold Arlen & E. Y. Harburg / Brand New day by Charlie Smalls |
| 2009 | ClassiCool William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini / Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns / Carmen by Georges Bizet |
| 2010 | Voyage at C Pirates of Penzance by Arthur Sullivan & W. S. Gilbert / Legend of the One-Eyed Sailor by Chuck Mangione / Eternal Father Strong To Save by John B. Dykes & William Whiting / Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life for Me by George Bruns & Xavier Atencio / Original Music by John Meehan |
| 2011 | The Greatest Show on Turf Entry of the Gladiators by Julius Fučík / Fantasy on Two Folk Songs by Nikolai Pavlovich Budashkin / Over the Waves by Juventino Rosas |
| 2012 | The Magnificent Seven by Elmer Bernstein / Shenandoah / Bonanza by Jay Livingston & Ray Evans / Battle Hymn of the Republic by William Steffe & Julia Ward Howe |
| 2013 | Route 66 Route 66 by Bobby Troup / Car Wash by Norman Whitfield / Fun, Fun, Fun by Brian Wilson & Mike Love / I Can't Drive 55 by Sammy Hagar |
| 2014 | Surfin' BDC Fun, Fun, Fun by Brian Wilson & Mike Love / School's Out for Summer by Alice Cooper, Michael Bruce, Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway & Neal Smith / Surfin' USA by Brian Wilson & Chuck Berry / Wipeout by Bob Berryhill, Pat Connoly, Jim Fuller & Ron Wilson |
| 2015 | The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour, Can't Buy Me Love, Yesterday, "Eleanor Rigby", Drive My Car, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band All by Lennon–McCartney |
| 2016 | B.D.P.D. Dragnet Theme by Walter Schumann / Hawaii Five-O Theme by Morton Stevens / Skyfall by Adele & Paul Epworth / Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson / The A-Team Theme by Mike Post & Pete Carpenter |
| 2017 | Come Fly With Me Married Life by Michael Giacchino / Come Fly With Me by Jimmy Van Heusen & Sammy Cahn / Learn to Fly by Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins & Nate Mendel / Danger Zone by Giorgio Moroder & Tom Whitlock / Staying Alive by Maurice Gibb, Robin Gibb & Barry Gibb |
| 2018 | Candyland: Part Blue! "I Want Candy" by Bert Berns, Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein & Richard Gottehrer / Sugar Sugar by Jeff Barry & Andy Kim / Stuck Like Glue by Jennifer Nettles & Kristian Bush ; Kevin Griffin & Shy Carter / Sugar, We're Goin Down by Pete Wentz & Patrick Stump |
| 2019 | California Dreaming We Built This City by Peter Wolf, Martin Page, Dennis Lambert & Bernie Taupin / "California Girls" by Brian Wilson & Mike Love / California Dreamin' by John Phillips & Michelle Phillips / Axel F by Harold Faltermeyer / Hooray For Hollywood by Johnny Mercer & Richard A. Whiting |
| 2020 | Season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | Opted out of competition for the season |
| 2022 | It's About Time! Dr. Who Theme by Ron Grainer / What Time Is It? by Matthew Gerrard & Robbie Nevil / Don't Stop Me Now by Freddie Mercury / My Life Would Suck Without You by Max Martin, Lukasz Gottwald & Claude Kelly |
| 2023 | BD-Cafari Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N' Roses / Africa by David Paich & Jeff Porcaro / Eye of the Tiger by Frankie Sullivan & Jim Peterik / Roar by Katy Perry, Lukasz Gottwald, Max Martin, Bonnie McKee & Henry Walter |
| 2024 | The Gifts We ReCeive Forever Young by Alphaville / Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears / A House Is Not a Home by Burt Bacharach / Come Sail Away by Styx / You'll Be in My Heart by Phil Collins |