Military bands have a long tradition of supporting and entertaining service members and civilians with music.
In Wisconsin, the National Guard's 132nd Army Band keeps the tradition alive and thriving with approximately 60
citizen-Soldier-musicians who travel the state, the country and even the world with a variety of music that everybody
enjoys.
A descendant of the Army Guard's famed 32nd "Red Arrow" Division bands of World War I and World War II, today's 132nd
Army Band is an exceptional band of outstanding musicians. The band inaugurates Wisconsin governors, has played honors
for the President of the United States, helped commission the battleship USS Wisconsin, has played with the Milwaukee
and Beloit/Janesville Symphony Orchestras, commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the Wisconsin Guard's World War II
service in Australia, welcomed home each of the Wisconsin Guard's Desert Storm units, and played for military ceremonies
and public performances in Germany.
Many band members are civilian musicians, music students or band directors, and others represent a number of other
civilian professions in their hometowns throughout Wisconsin and other nearby states. But when they come together
as the 132nd Army Band, they're all musicians in one of the finest military bands in the Nation.
Audiences may be surprised at the versatility of this Army band, which plays a wide range of music that goes far
beyond traditional concert and marching band material. Within the unit are various performing ensembles including
the "Patriot Jazz" big band, the "EZ Jazz" jazz combo, the "Claymore Project" Rock Band, the "Soldiers of Sax"
saxophone ensemble, the "Guardian Winds" woodwind quintet, and brass quintets.
And of course there is the concert band. With as many as 60 musicians, the 132nd concert band has delighted audiences
from Wisconsin to Australia to Germany.
The 132nd Army Band has a group appropriate for almost any event, from parades to concerts, and everything in between.
