Blue Devils

The Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps is a Division I drum and bugle corps based in Concord, California and founded in 1970, and is a member corps of Drum Corps International. The Blue Devils (sometimes just "the Devils", "Devs" or "BD") are the most successful corps of the DCI era, with a total of thirteen world champion titles to their name over the four 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 Champions fourteen times, in 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2009, and 2010. In addition, they have placed second in finals seven times (1981, 1983, 1984, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2008) and third eight times (1975, 1978, 1985, 1988, 1995, 1998, 2000, and 2006). The Devils have long stuck to jazz and Latin repertoires, including their famous use of the 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 repertoires as 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 venues. BD Entertainment recently performed at the 2005 NBA All-Star game. In 2006 the corps performed the music of Nino Rota in a show based on the classic Godfather films entitled, The Godfather - Part Blue. A new feature for the corps throughout the months preceding and during the upcoming season is the BlueView video podcast which debuted in January, 2006. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.