In 1981, as a high school senior, I went to a mini-camp with Spirit of Atlanta at Wake Forest University. At the end, we and our parents all went into the stands to see the corps perform its "Georgia on my Mind" opener. All the band students were psyched, but many of the parents didn't really know what to expect. When the corps turned around for that opening company front, you could the sheer physical impact the sound had on the crowd in the stands. It was like being in a wind tunnel. We were pinned to the backs of our seats. Jaws dropped. I like contemporary drum corps, but I miss that visceral sound the corps of the 80s used to produce.
There was a time when signs were posted warning that hearing may be affected due to exposure to the horn lines. To me, that speaks of the awesomeness that was/is Spirit.
When drum corps was still drum corps. Uniforms, not "costumes," bugles, not band instruments, no amplification, no singing, no computers, no keyboards, no giant ridiculous props. Now it's Broadway on a football field. No thanks, I'll take this any day.
I marched mellophone in a smaller corps that year and was in the audience for finals. You could feel the vibration in the air. The middle horns sang like a 100 piece choir, the harmony generated from this horn section that night was surreal. The arrangement is probably one of the best ever written for drum corps. To sum it up, it was a spiritual experience for me, and no doubt many others that night. It give me chills watching this again after so many years. G Force baby, G Force.
UN-F***ING REAL!! I remember seeing that show live and just being blown away!! NO electronics, and no gimmicks!!! THIS is what it was, and still SHOULD be!!!
This is the first drum corps show I ever saw in 1979 when I was 15. I instantly fell in love with drum corps. Spirit of Atlanta 1979 and 1980 were legendary shows with an unforgettable legendary sound. I still think of these two shows and play the LP vinyl records to this day.
I'm glad we played the same closer, concert tune and opening fanfare in 1980. I actually learned my snare music from playing the 1979 record over and over in my college apartment-much to the dismay of my college room mate at the time. I still remember at one camp when it was raining that day. We played a standstill in the gym and if you think THIS is loud, you should hear the Jim Ott horn line and Tom Float drum line in a gymnasium. Say what???
I had the good fortune to hear Spirit of Atlanta several times during the 1979 season. I also got to see them at the finals in Birmingham. They were AMAZING!!! A couple of years later I went to a workshop as a young band director and they played, let it be me by forming an arc around us, facing the wall of a school, I have never felt such power even in the loudest rock ‘n’ roll concerts. But even more than the power, was the beauty of the arrangement and the musicianship of the performers. Jim Ott was a master who has never been replaced.
Thinking of Jerry McEver today, founding member and contrabass, avid Spirit Supporter, one of my best and dearest friends who loved Jim Ott and his years with Spirit. Gone too early.
A summer doesn't pass that I don't remember the MAGIC that was Spirit of Atlanta under Jim Ott's tutelage. Surely they coined the phrase, "Blew Me Away!" because that is exactly what they did. May Jim Ott rest in peace! I was there and it was a wall of sound every bit as powerful as a train. In your face good!!!
Jim Ott was a master at arranging. He could arrange the middle horns in a perfect harmony with the rest of the horn line. His death was a great tragedy and loss to the drum corps world and he is sorely missed. There aren't many who had his ear for what the music could be.
This was the best show ever!! I saw this show live in White Water Wi. Everytime I hear this song it bring tears to my eyes! I was in the Spirit Of St. Louis Drum Corps 1963. And now I am a Legendary Drummer from being in Drum Corps. So I owe it all to Drum Corps!!
