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1975 Blue Devils


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Now I'm a curious soul, and was wondering what made such a dramatic difference to BD's overall performance from 1974 to 1975.

I hear two distinctly different animals when I listen to the recordings. Did they just get good or were there other factors involved?

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Wayne Downey!

Now I'm a curious soul, and was wondering what made such a dramatic difference to BD's overall performance from 1974 to 1975.

I hear two distinctly different animals when I listen to the recordings. Did they just get good or were there other factors involved?

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The entire visual/musical package was jazz in 1975, where as the 1974 show still had a "mixed bag" of jazz, pop, concert wind music. The execution levels were much improved in '75 also, along with higher musical/visual demands.

In 1974 Blue Devils were 17th in musical analysis at prelims, while they jumped all the way to 2nd at '75 finals. Somebody mentioned Wayne Downey....well in terms of caption improvement from 74 to 75, brass is where the biggest improvement was.

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I can't remember what year they came to the NT Open and won, either 74 or 75...but they were good! There drum line, I thought, improved from 75 to 76 big time.

The entire visual/musical package was jazz in 1975, where as the 1974 show still had a "mixed bag" of jazz, pop, concert wind music. The execution levels were much improved in '75 also, along with higher musical/visual demands.

In 1974 Blue Devils were 17th in musical analysis at prelims, while they jumped all the way to 2nd at '75 finals. Somebody mentioned Wayne Downey....well in terms of caption improvement from 74 to 75, brass is where the biggest improvement was.

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I hear two distinctly different animals when I listen to the recordings.

While that's true, I have to say that their 1974 performance of "Legend of the One-Eyed Sailor" is my favorite. Maybe it's because of the limitations in their execution(??), they hold the proper (original) slow-to-medium tempo, whereas in subsequent years it's just a bit too fast. In 1974, they really set a powerful groove with that tune. Listen to the finals performance, and try and keep from dancing! Ken Kobold's recordings that year were awesome too. I have used the 1974 "Legend" concert as a demonstration recording.

Edited by scottgordon
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I wondered whether other factors came in to play such as inheriting members from other corps such as Stockton Commodores or the entire brass line from the 74 Kingsmen! :smile:

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The entire visual/musical package was jazz in 1975, where as the 1974 show still had a "mixed bag" of jazz, pop, concert wind music. The execution levels were much improved in '75 also, along with higher musical/visual demands.

In 1974 Blue Devils were 17th in musical analysis at prelims, while they jumped all the way to 2nd at '75 finals. Somebody mentioned Wayne Downey....well in terms of caption improvement from 74 to 75, brass is where the biggest improvement was.

1. I thought Wayne Downey taught BD in '74 as well.

2. Music analysis evaluates the content of the brass program (i.e. arrangements), which was Jim Ott's job in both 1974 and 1975.

Frankly, I think Jim Ott had a lot to do with BD's improvement. As I understand it, while he was BD's arranger 1971-1976, the Commodores were the greater focus of his time and attention until some point between the 1973 and 1974 seasons, when he stopped working with Stockton. His sister (mello soloist Bonnie Ott) switched from Commodores to Blue Devils, and BD became Jim Ott's primary corps. They improved greatly in '74 (24th to 9th), and again in '75 (9th to 3rd) with a full season of Ott's focus.

Of course, Wayne Downey was no slouch either....but I think he was there all along. He was working with a ton of NoCal corps in 1971....seemed like every corps' introductory spiel had his name among the staff list. (And he was still marching junior corps then, too.)

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The entire visual/musical package was jazz in 1975, where as the 1974 show still had a "mixed bag" of jazz, pop, concert wind music. The execution levels were much improved in '75 also, along with higher musical/visual demands.

I agree.... I saw them in 1974 and '75, and they simply had a better overall product in '75.

Fran

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