The US Navy Steel Band was the first all-American and only military

steel band The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists. Descripti ...

. It was organized in 1957 by

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Daniel V. Gallery Daniel Vincent Gallery (July 10, 1901 – January 16, 1977) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy. He saw extensive action during World War II, fighting U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic, where his most notable achievement was t ...

, from the band assigned to him, while he was commander of the Tenth Naval District in San Juan,

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. The band was originally called Admiral Dan's Pandemonaics and this remained as a subname after they became the US Navy Steel Band. The band was stationed in Puerto Rico until 1973, when they moved to

New Orleans, LA New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Naval Support Activity New Orleans Naval Support Activity New Orleans was a United States Navy installation until September 2011. During its time in operation, it was the largest military installation in greater New Orleans. It hosts activities for other branches of service and ...

in the

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

section of the city, they increased their performance schedule. Between 1973 and 1979 alone the band traveled over a million and a half miles, and performed as many as 500 concerts a year. They were disbanded in 1999. Their first recording, in 1957, under the direction of Chief Musician Charles A. Roeper, on the Decca label, was an LP called "Pan-Demonia".Steel Drums and Steelbands: A History By Angela Smith, Scarecrow Press (June 7, 2012), Among their other recordings are an LP called ''Blowin' in the Wind'' that was co-issued by the Puerto Rico Council and the U. S. Navy League; it features numerous popular songs of the day and some traditional Puerto Rican songs (all instrumentals).

References

External links

History of the US Navy Steel Band
Bands of the United States Navy Steelbands {{US-band-stub