The

United States Seventh Fleet The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of the ...

Band is a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

military band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind instrument, wind and percussion instruments. The conducting, conductor of a ...

in Yokosuka, Japan. It is composed of professional navy musicians and operates under the direct control and supervision of

Fleet Band Activities Fleet Band Activities (FBA), formerly the Navy Music Program (NMP), is the central management office for nine active-duty fleet bands of the United States Navy. It is located at Naval Support Activity Mid-South in Millington, Tennessee. FBA has ...

, the official navy music program. It serves aboard the Seventh Fleet flagship, the USS ''Blue Ridge''. It was created upon the renaming of the Southwest Pacific Force on 7 March 1943. The Seventh Fleet Band is today composed of six professional ensembles, all of which have performed for millions of people throughout the

Western Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. Countries it has performed in include

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, Singapore,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, as well as many other cities and countries of the Far East. The band has used the traditional costumes of these countries in its routines. One of its more notable members was Ralph M. Gambone, who later served as

officer in charge Officer in Charge (usually "OIC") is a very widely used term which may refer to: * Duty officer * Officer in Charge (Philippines), interim position in the context of Philippine governance. See also * Officer Commanding ("OC") * Commanding officer ( ...

of the

United States Navy Band The United States Navy Band, based at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., has served as the official musical organization of the U.S. Navy since 1925. The U.S. Navy Band serves the ceremonial needs at the seat of U.S. government, pe ...

from 1998 to 2007.

Composition

The band leadership consists of the fleet bandmaster and the senior enlisted leader. The band has the following ensembles: *Ceremonial Marching Band *Pacific Ambassadors *Far East Edition *Orient Express *Shiokaze Chamber Ensemble *Shonan Brass Quintet

Far East Edition

It was established in 1974 and is a popular music ensemble known for its transforming itself from a brass band to a rock band to a jazz combo. It can be heard playing traditional New Orleans-style jazz, classic rock, and local regional favorites. It has been featured at major events throughout the Indo-Asia Pacific region and have entertained hundreds of thousands of people over the years.

Orient Express

The Orient Express is a nine-member group of professional rock musicians performing live examples of English-language rock, including covers of songs ranging from

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

or Journey, to

Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is a key musician in popularizing pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. List of awa ...

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists in hist ...

. Orient Express also performs as a

Smooth Jazz Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to e ...

ensemble, as well as a full-range

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

Band. Leadership of this group is coordinated on a talent and personnel level.

Pacific Ambassadors

The Pacific Ambassadors is a 20-piece show band operating in a variety of musical styles, ranging from traditional to contemporary Jazz, Big Band, Latin, and other popular music genres of today. It has been featured as a main attraction at major international cultural events throughout Australia and the Far East, covering more mileage squared than any other navy band operating today.

Ceremonial Marching Band

Marching band performs for official military and civic ceremonies, as well as providing official representation of the Commander, Seventh Fleet during musical performance at public concerts throughout the Western Pacific & Asian areas. In 2012, the band began to attend the "International Military Tattoo" in

to replace the United States 8th Army Band.

Gallery

File:US Navy 060227-N-1194D-009 Seventh Fleet band member Musician 1st Class Frank Newton demonstrates how his saxophone keys operate to Aurora Sribuapun, headmaster of the Pattaya Redemptorist School for the Blind.jpg, Members of the Seventh Fleet band engaging in

cultural diplomacy Cultural diplomacy is a type of soft power that includes the "exchange of ideas, information, art, language and other aspects of culture among nations and their peoples in order to foster mutual understanding". The purpose of cultural diplomac ...

at the Pattaya Redemptorist School for the Blind. File:US Navy 050611-N-4104L-003 Seventh Fleet Band Orient Express performing at Singapore's Sentosa Island Musical Fountain - 20050611.jpg, The band performing for visitors on the platform of the

Sentosa Musical Fountain The Sentosa Musical Fountain, also known as the Magical Fountain of Sentosa, or as the Musical Fountain by locals, was a former musical fountain water feature and entertainment venue made by Waltzing Waters on Sentosa Island in Singapore. It w ...

. File:U.S. Sailors assigned to the U.S. 7th Fleet Band contemporary music ensemble Orient Express perform for the audience inside SM City Iloilo at Iloilo, Philippines, March 2, 2012 120302-N-SM668-011.jpg, Image:USNavyBand 7thFleet 20101216.jpg, Members of the U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet Band perform alongside the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force Band.

References

{{United States military bands, state=collapsed Musical groups established in 1943 Bands of the United States Navy 1943 establishments in the United States Military bands located outside their country of origin