The Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps is a World Class (formerly Division I) drum and bugle corps based in Concord, California, USA, was founded in 1970, and is a member corps of Drum Corps International (DCI.) The Blue Devils (sometimes just "the Devils", "Devs" or "BD") are the most successful corps of the DCI era, with a total of nineteen world champion titles to their name over the five decades of DCI's existence. At their first DCI finals appearance in 1973, the Blue Devils placed twenty fourth, advancing the next year to ninth and then to third in 1975. In 1976 they won their first DCI title and since have never placed out of the top five corps at finals, the only corps to lay claim to this amazing streak. The Blue Devils have also won more brass, drum, guard, and marching titles than any other drum corps.
The Blue Devils have been crowned DCI World Champion nineteen times, in 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2019. In addition, they have placed second in finals eleven times (1981, 1983, 1984, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2016, and 2018) and third eight times (1975, 1978, 1985, 1988, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2006). They have not placed lower than second since 2006. In 2014 they achieved the highest score in DCI history, winning the DCI World Championship title with a score of 99.65 out of a possible 100. No competitions were held in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Devils have long stuck to jazz and Latin repertoires, including their famous use of Buddy Rich's Channel One Suite (at the time of its performance in 1976, the longest single piece ever performed in the DCI circuit), as well as such notable charts from the music of Chick Corea and Chuck Mangione. As a result of their musical style choices, the Devils are the corps most associated with jazz. The Blue Devils percussion is also one of the best in the activity and has recently been highlighted with the creation of BD Entertainment, a professional percussion ensemble performing at sports, corporate, as well as other venues. BD Entertainment recently performed at the 2005 NBA All-Star game. Their soprano line is well-known to have some of the best and most exciting "screamers" in all of DCI. As such, a high note trumpet solo can be found in almost every show.
In January 2006, the corps debuted BlueView, a video podcast that documents the months preceding the summer competitive season as well as the summer competitive tour. BlueView has been folded into Blue Devils new audio/video media archive page entitled MediaBox'.
In 2007 the corps celebrates its 50th anniversary with a production entitled Winged Victory. The repertoire includes Pegasus - a Blue Devils classic from its 1982 championship-winning show, The Ascension, and Heaven. A sneak peek of the music was given in a concert at Concord Pavilion on May 6, 2007. Recently, in the 2007 season BD placed first at the DCI Masters of the Summer Music Games in Murfreesboro, TN and at the Coltrin and Associates DCI Southeastern Championship in Atlanta, GA. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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