77th Army Band prepares for Farewell Concert

Walking into the practice room of the 77th Army Band, anyone could see that they were enjoying their last hours of camaraderie with a shared love of music. Saxophonists, guitarists, trumpeters, drummers and all other musicians know what’s coming and are silently waiting for bigger things to come.

The 77th Army Band will have their Farewell Concert at 7 p.m. on September 20 at 801 NW Ferris Ave.

1st Lt. Jaxon T. Lewandowski, Band Director, said they’ll have the usual Big Band show performing with a few surprises thrown in.

“We are including every member of the band,” Lewandowski said. “The woodwinds and maybe some of the other horns that don’t normally get to play in the big band show. We’re going to have lobby music with a nice static display. We’ll get the big band playing in the main show, but also other people that don’t normally play in the big band (will be) playing in the lobby.”

The performance will also be livestreamed on Fort Sill’s Facebook page for those who can’t make it, Keith Pannell, Fort Sill Public Affairs Officer said. After the band leaves, there will be no other band at Fort Sill.

Even though the band is breaking up, Lewandowski said the musicians will be “trickling out” to different positions in Fiscal Year 25 by next year.

“There are plans to utilize this talent pool, not necessarily in a musical sense, but some of the musicians will still be around,” Lewandowski said. “They might be, on their off time, performing at some other events. But nothing musical in an official Army capacity over the next year.”

Some will stay though.

“Our human resources sergeant from HRC (Human Resources Command) came down,” Lewandowski said. “Almost all of the musicians got their one or two choice pick to where to go next. All of the musicians are being taken care of.”

Staff Sgt. Daniel Rogers, saxophonist, said when the musicians get PCS (Permanent Change of Station), they will perform other functions in the interim before they move on to different bands.

“In that time that we’re waiting to leave, we’ll be doing administrative work,” Rogers said.

One of Lewandowski’s favorite memories of the band is seeing them perform for the first time.

“I had not yet assumed command of the band,” Lewandowski said. “It was at the end of April and I got invited to go on a TDY (Temporary Duty) to Altus and to Amarillo. The first time I got on the bus, I didn’t know anybody. Everybody’s setting up, getting everything off the bus at Altus High School and I had never seen them perform before. I was extremely new to everything and everyone there, but everybody was extremely welcoming.

“As a field artillery officer, I had concerns. ‘Will they welcome me because I’m so different?’ I’m in a completely different spectrum of the Army than they are. But everybody was extremely welcoming, super friendly, kind, considerate and I got to view them as this well-oiled machine. When they started playing, immediately I was blown off my feet with how incredible it was to see them play. It was just this dynamic that was just mesmerizing to witness.”

One of Rogers’ most memorable experiences was performing at OU.

“Every year, we go up to OU and do their military appreciation game,” Rogers said. “We’re on the field maybe in two, three minutes, but you’re standing on a field with 82,000 people in the stadium. It’s not much, but we played the service songs and you’re standing in front of 82,000 people and that’s pretty impressive.”

After the disbandment, Lewandowski will work with incoming soldiers from different bases and processing them to their units on Fort Sill.