On September 28, 2004, the Airmen of Note will celebrate 55 years of service to the Air Force and to the music-loving public. Over these past fifty-five years the Note has made literally thousands of appearances all over the world. From the very beginning the band's first priority has been to serve personnel of the Air Force, and they have indeed performed for everyone from Airmen Recruits at remote airfields to the Commander in Chief at the White House. The public has also had many opportunities to hear one of the world's finest big bands as well, on radio and television as well as in concert.

Surprisingly, very little has been written about the Airmen of Note over the years. There are several reasons for this. For nearly half of the band's existence, it operated almost entirely in the military sphere. At one time the few civilian big band enthusiasts who knew of its existence referred to the Airmen of Note as "one of the Air Force's best kept military secrets." Even since the band has been appearing more frequently in public, the unavailability of commercial recordings has made it difficult for big band fans to sustain an interest in the band. But after forty years of faithfully serving up outstanding music, it is time that some of the facts about the Airmen of Note's long and distinguished history are made known.

For convenience, the history has been divided into periods corresponding to the tours of the band's ten leaders. Each of these leaders has played an important role in the development of the Airmen of Note. However, the history of the Airmen of Note is much more than a history of the leaders and how they shaped the band.

One of the unique characteristics of the Airmen of Note is that the character of the band has been influenced as much by the musicians and arrangers as by the leaders. This is due in part to the high caliber of the men and women that have served on the band over the years, and in part to the continuity of personnel. So even though the different periods of the band's history are identified by the name of the leader, the history of the Airmen of Note during each of these periods is really a history of all of the men and women who have served on the Note.

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