After Dave Steinmeyer returned, the band's personnel remained constant for the next three years, except for the retirement of Kenny Smukal in 1986. Vaughn Nark moved over to the lead chair, and Bruce Gates came on as the fourth trumpet. Bassist Tom Williams left at the end of 1987 and was replaced by Paul Henry. Gil Cray retired in 1988, which opened up the opportunity for Paul Rawlins to transfer to the arranging staff. Dudley Hinote was hired to replace Paul on bass trombone. Also in 1988, Bobbie McCleary transferred to the Diplomats combo. The Note has since been without a full-time vocalist.

The Note continued to do their twice-annual concert tours, but as the 1980's progressed, the effects of canceling the Serenade in Blue radio series began to really be felt. When the program was being aired on more than 2,000 stations all around the country, people were familiar with the Airmen of Note, and they were on hand when the band hit town. By the mid-1980's, however, the band hadn't had any regular media exposure for ten years. The Note continued to have a big following among jazz enthusiasts, but the concert tours also took the band out to small town America, where the Airmen of Note were not exactly a household word. Then too, musical tastes were changing. Many young people weren't interested in jazz, and the older audiences were frequently expecting either a nostalgia trip or a concert band program.

Alto Sax Saul Miller (84--) Joe Eckert (84--) Tenor Sax Pete BarenBregge (84--) Doug Gately (84--) Baritone Sax Don New (84--) Piano Mike Rubin (84--) Bass Tom Williams (--87) Paul Henry (88--) Drums C.E. Askew (84--) Guitar Rick Whitehead	Trumpet Kenny Smukal (84--) Jimmy Lay (--89) Larry Trautman Vaughn Nark Bruce Gates (86--) Trombone Dave Steinmeyer (--89) Rick Lillard Gary Hall Paul Rawlins (84-88) Dudley Hinote (88--) Vocalist Bobbie McCleary Staff Arranger Mike Crotty Gil Cray (81--) Paul Rawlins (88--)

As a result of these factors, as well as an ever-tightening travel budget, the spring of 1988 saw the last of the regular concert tours, at least as they had been conducted for the past 20 years. A couple of new programs were introduced to take their place on the band's calendar. In 1985, Col. Gabriel had retired as Commander of the Air Force Band. He was replaced by the Band's Deputy Commander, Col. James Bankhead. In the fall of 1988, Col. Bankhead initiated the first Serenade in Blue tour.

The idea was to recapture the musical excellence and variety of the old Serenade in Blue radio series in concert format, and the end product was a showband performance featuring a mix of jazz, popular, and show music. The Airmen of Note were the instrumental backbone of the ensemble. They were augmented by a complement of strings and the vocal efforts of Bobbie McCleary and the Singing Sergeants. Gil Cray and Mike Crotty were tasked with putting together a set of charts, and in November of 1988, the Serenade in Blue ensemble made a very successful tour of Georgia and Florida.

However, nothing could quite replace the exposure that both the Air Force and the Airmen of Note gained from a regular radio series such as Serenade in Blue. So Dave, Rick Whitehead, and the audio section worked up a proposal for a new Air Force radio series featuring the Airmen of Note. National Public Radio was interested, and the band started doing some recording, but due to budget limitations and other factors, the programs never got off the ground.

Summer evenings still found the Airmen of Note performing at Washington area park concerts, but summer also brought an increasing number invitations from jazz festivals. For example, in the summer of 1987 the band did the Disneyworld Jazz Festival at Orlando; the Kool Jazz Festival at Hampton, Virginia; the International Jazz Record Collector's Convention at LA; the Armed Services Jazz Festival at Wolf Trap, Virginia; the Detroit/Montreaux Jazz Festival; and their regular annual trip to serve as host band for the Mobile Jazz Festival.

Other notable jobs in the middle and late 1980's included Constitution Hall concerts with Carmen McRae, Carole Lawrence, Clint Holmes, Larry Carlton, and Dianne Schurr; benefit performances in Florida with Bob Hope for the Air Force Widow's Village in 1985 and 1987; the International Trumpet Guild convention with Bobby Shrew; a 1986 concert at Glenn Miller's birthplace in Clarinda, Iowa; the Air Force Association's "Gathering of Eagles" in Las Vegas in 1986, with Jimmy Stewart, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and Chuck Yeager; and the 1988 National Association of Jazz Educators Convention in Detroit.

On January 1, 1990, leadership of the Airmen of Note passed to jazz tenor Pete BarenBregge. Dave appeared with the Note in March, when he and Ray McKinley were honored at a Guest Artist concert, but he was otherwise assigned to non-performing duties section until October, when he retired. He has the distinction of being the longest-serving Airman of Note (24 years), the lead trombonist for well over half of the band's 40-year history, and the second longest-serving leader (10 years).