Spotlight of the Week: 1976 Capital Freelancers

1976 Capital Freelancers

11th Place, 77.900

1976, the year of America’s Bicentennial celebration, marked a breakout season for the Capital Freelancers.

The year prior, the northern California corps made its very first national tour, finishing the season strong in 18th place amongst a field of 46 corps that competed at the DCI World Championship Prelims in Philadelphia.

The Freelancers turned heads once again in 1976 as the DCI Finals returned to Franklin Field in the City of Brotherly Love. The corps powered its way up through a field of 47 corps in the Prelims competition to 10th place, before settling into 11th in its very first appearance as a "Top 12" finalist.

Watch the 1976 Freelancers on DVD

Wearing a more traditional style of uniform than the contemporary look the corps debuted in 1980, Freelancers took the field in 1976 in gray tops with black cuffs and piping, a white cross strap and white gloves. A scarlet red cummerbund and drop sash on the left side matched the plume on the corps’ black shakos that were adorned with a silver eagle shield and chain-link chin strap. Black shoes and black pants with a contrasting stripe down the legs completed the look. Color guard tops matched the corps’ uniform with the bottom half traded out for black skirts and calf-length black boots.

Freelancers kicked off their 1976 production the same way that they did in 1975, with “Commencement,” the number one track off the A-side of Stan Kenton’s 1962 album “Adventures in Time.” The corps’ eight-member rifle line led the group down the 50-yard line as symmetrical pods of brass players marched off the back sideline belting out the opening strains.

You could perhaps say Freelancers pioneered the use of “Adventures of Time” in drum corps. After the arrangements of “Commencement” in ’75 and ’76, the corps pulled two more tracks off the record for its 1977 production. By the 1980s other corps caught on to how well the Kenton album — that was initially panned by some critics as “bombastic” and “unjazzlike” — could work in the drum corps arena. The Cadets incorporated it in their 1981 show before Florida’s Suncoast Sound based its entire production on the album in 1986. Blue Devils also dabbled in “Adventures in Time” in both 1991 and 1995.

 

A drum solo interlude gave members of the Freelancers horn line a minute to catch their breath before the corps transitioned into the George Gershwin standard, “I Got Rhythm.” With several tempo changes throughout, the latter half of the arrangement picked up considerably as the color guard rifle line took center stage for a Rockettes-like kick line. Members of the horn line then sashayed and high-stepped their way down the field to the piece’s conclusion.

Marching into a standstill formation, the corps next played Chuck Mangione’s “Echano,” which the jazz flugelhornist released on his 1975 album “Chase the Clouds Away.” The piece gave the corps the opportunity to lay down a Latin groove and to bring a number of soloists to the front.

 

From “Legend of the One-Eyed Sailor” to “Land of Make Believe,” in the mid-1970s Chuck Mangione tunes echoed throughout football stadiums by way of an impressive number of corps. “Echano” was no exception. Those in the stands at the 1976 DCI World Championships would have heard the piece not only from the Freelancers, but also from the Blue Stars, North Star, Cadets and Argonauts.

“Bellavia,” another Mangione tune also played by the Blue Stars in 1976, closed out the Freelancers production.

All tied up

 

Though facing each other head-to-head at just two events prior to the 1976 DCI World Championships in Philadelphia, Freelancers were involved in a notable competitive race with the Chicago-area Guardsmen in the month of August.

During the DCI Midwest Prelims, held at the birthplace of the DCI World Championships in Whitewater Wisconsin on August 7, Freelancers held a one-point lead on the Guardsmen in Prelims before cruising ahead in Finals by an advantage of nearly three points.

A week later in Marion, Ohio, however, Guardsmen turned the tables, creeping ahead by seventh tenths of a point, though the Freelancers would move back ahead the following day in Finals.

As competition got underway August 20 in Philadelphia, the two corps found themselves dead even, tied for 10th place in Prelims with a score of 83.750, giving both the opportunity to advance to the DCI World Championship Finals for the very first time. Similar to two weeks earlier in Whitewater, Freelancers made a huge move between Prelims and Finals ultimately finishing 11th, 3.65 points ahead of the Guardsmen who fell to 12th.

A 2.5-point lead in general effect and 2.7-point lead in percussion were among the highlights on the score sheet in the Freelancers’ Finals-night victory over the Guardsmen.

1976 DCI World Championship Finals Awards Ceremony