Classics, jazz rock fills Purdue Summer Band concert

Family musical fare fills the Purdue Summer Band’s annual outdoor concert set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 14, at Slayter Center, located on the corner of Stadium and Martin Jischke Drive in West Lafayette.

Tunes by the American jazz rock band Steely Dan and a sampling of original 1950s jazz by the Dave Brubeck Quartet melds with folk melodies from England and Ireland in the concert which features an array of marches and light classics.

Boasting more than 80 members, the Purdue Summer Band is bigger in 2009 than it has been in recent years. more...

40th anniversary of first bandsman on the moon

The Purdue “All-American” Marching Band’s most famous alum, Neil Armstrong, became the band’s most traveled member with a trip to the moon 40 years ago this month in 1969. America’s first man on the moon played baritone horn in 1952 in the marching band, then known as the Purdue Military Band.

Armstrong’s band director, the legendary Paul Spotts Emrick, originated the idea of the World’s Largest Drum and led Purdue’s band to other firsts. That includes being the first band to break out of a rigid military marching block and create a formation - the famous Block P.  more...

Spotts forever linked Purdue with Indianapolis 500

As the “All-American” Band celebrates its 90th year at the Indianapolis 500, alum John Eckert reflects on the last “500” performance of the man who forever linked Purdue with the race – Paul Spotts Emrick.

“Fifty six years ago Paul Spotts Emrick stood with Met singer James Melton, raised his baton and directed his last piece as the director of the Purdue University Band. The piece was, of course, “Back Home Again in Indiana,” a fitting finale to Spotts’ distinguished career.  The last chords where quickly swallowed up with applause, the excited cries of the crowd and the sound of engines roaring to life.  more...

Purdue Band to march in 2010 Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade

On Nov. 25, 2010, the Purdue “All-American” Marching Band will become the first Big Ten band to march in the legendary Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.

AAMB Director Jay S. Gephart made the surprise announcement to hundreds of students gathered for the Indianapolis 500 rehearsal and drum major auditions on Friday, May 1, at the band’s drill field. more...

Purdue jazzman Drew Damon sixth Sudler winner in seven years

“I imagine every little kid wants to be Neil Armstrong,” says Drew Damon, the aeronautical-astronautical engineering major with high-flying dreams who’s been awarded the 2009 Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts. Representing Purdue Bands & Orchestra in the annual campus-wide visual and performing arts competition, Damon is the sixth student musician in seven years to be honored as Purdue’s top senior in the arts.

Damon, who’s played alto sax in the Purdue Jazz Band for four years, was born in Florida and as a preschooler watched rockets soar towards the heavens.  more...

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