"Off the Record" is a series of programs highlighting some of the most significant recordings in the history of drum corps. Each episode combines excerpts from the extensive Fleetwood Records catalog with context and commentary provided by an award-winning audio producer and long time drum corps devotee. It's a fascinating look at how we came to be who we are.

"Off the Record" is drum corps time-travel, in 20 minute intervals. Horns up!

Frank Dorritie is one of the legends of the activity .... a performer, instructor, arranger, adjudicator, and observer over the past 5 decades. Frank has been playing the bugle and trumpet since the 1960s, and has performed with artists like Billy Cobham and Maynard Ferguson. He has instructed and/or arranged for the Blue Devils, Cadets, Santa Clara Vanguard, Cavaliers, Chesterton and Tenri High Schools, the Bushwackers, Bridgemen and a host of others. His audio production honors include 9 Grammy Nominations, 2 Grammy Awards and membership in both the World Drum Corps and Buglers Halls of Fame. He is active internationally as a clinician and adjudicator, holds the DCA Soprano/Trumpet/Tenor Individual titles for 2003, 2005 and 2006. Frank also chairs the Department of Recording Arts at Los Medanos College. The opinions expressed in this column are strictly those of the author.

From their first recording in the summer of 1958, which featured a both a studio recording and a competition recording of the Lt. Norman Prince Princemen of Malden, Massachusetts, Fleetwood established itself as a leader and innovator in the art of recording the excitement of the competitive drum and bugle corps activity. Fleetwood documented the growth and development of the activity at its highest levels by recording many of the major competitions of the day including the VFW and American Legion Nationals, the CYO Nationals, The National Dream Contest, The World Open, The U.S. Open, the Canadian National Championship and the first several DCA Championships. Fleetwood, along with its sister publication Drum Corps News was also responsible for developing showcase performance venues for drum corps by hosting the Evening with the Corps indoor stage show each spring and the World Open competitions each summer. Fleetwood was the gold standard of drum corps recording from 1958 to 1976, producing hundreds of catalogued and private short run recordings. Fleetwood reemerged at the 2004 DCA Championship. Although the master tapes no longer existed, Glenn Kubacki, using original Fleetwood records from a multitude of sources, was able to digitize, remaster and produce 125 titles on CD for sale. Titles that had not been available for over 30 years, nearly 350 in total, are now available on their website.