Blue Devils B Drum and Bugle Corps

The Blue Devils "B"
Drum and Bugle Corps

Location	Concord, CA
Division	Open Class
Founded	1968
Director	Rick Odello
Championship titles	Open Class-2009, '10, '11, '14, '16
Uniform	Blue and white vest, Grey collar, White stripe on shoulder, White & grey sleeve w/sequined left sleeve, Diagonal small mirror on front, Black trim all around, Blue and "Galaxy" hip panel, Black pants, Black Shoes & socks Black shako w/square reflector and mirror strip & chains & white plume with blue feather

The Blue Devils "B" Drum and Bugle Corps (also known as "BDB") is an Open Class (formerly Division II/III) 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 World Class (formerly Division I) Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps, to a full-fledged Drum Corps in its own right.^[1] The corps has won the DCI Open Class World Championship five times and is the current Open Class Champion.

History

The Blue Devils organization began in 1957 as a drum and bell corps. In 1968, the original 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 B corps followed the step that the A corps had taken three years before and converted from a drum and bell corps to a drum and bugle corps.^[2]

As a cadet corps, for years the unit performed almost exclusively on the West Coast, venturing to the DCI World Championships only when they were held in Denver in 1977 & '78 and in Dallas in 1991. The corps made the trek to Orlando in 1997, but then did not return to the World Championships until traveling to Denver, Colorado in 2004 and to Madison, Wisconsin in '06. Only when the World Championships were held in Pasadena, California did BDB become a regular competitor in the Division II/III (now Open Class) Championships. After five times being a Division II/Open Class Finalist, the Blue Devils B corps won the first of three consecutive Open Class World Championships in Indianapolis in 2009. With new rules in effect in 2011, the corps also competed in World Class preliminaries, finishing in 19th place and earning membership in DCI. In 2012, the corps finished in second place in Open Class and advanced to World Class semifinals, finishing twenty-first. In 2013, they again finished in second place in Open Class, advancing to World Class semifinals with a 20th-place finish.^[3]

In 2014, Blue Devils B won its fourth DCI Open Class World Championship. When advancing to World Class, the corps surprised many by finishing in 18th place in the preliminaries. The corps then shocked many more by vaulting into 15th place in semifinals, a placement ahead of eight World Class corps.^[4][5]

The corps won its fifth Open Class title on August 8, 2016.

Sponsorship

The Blue Devils "B" Drum and Bugle Corps is one of three drum and bugle corps sponsored by BD Performing Arts, a 501 (c)(3) musical organization that has a Board of Directors, corps directors, and staff assigned to carry out the organization's mission. The Executive Director is Dave Gibbs, and Rick Odello is Corps Director.^[6]

Show summary 1977-2016

References:^[7][8]

References