The Florida Brass drum and bugle corps plays Saturday

Fourteen years ago, seven musicians, all them either brass players or percussionists, got together in Lakeland and formed a group they called the Florida Brass.

It was a modest beginning, but the group has grown over the years to the point where a recent photo showed 57 members. The Florida Brass now perform in concerts and parades all over the state. Its musicians are high school and college students as well as past members of more than 60 different drum and bugle corps nationwide.

On its website, the Florida Brass bills itself as “one of the best musical groups in the state of Florida.”

You can find out for yourself whether you agree when the Florida Brass performs in Bradenton. The group will be at Stone Hall at the Manatee Performing Arts Center for one concert only, at 8 p.m. Saturday.

A lot of people think of bugles simply as those military instruments that soldiers play “Taps” on, but there’s a lot of variety to the instruments. There are soprano, alto, baritone and contrabass versions, and some even have valves.

That allows for a lot of variety in the ensemble’s music, beyond the marches and military music you’d be likely to suspect. In fact, there’s a YouTube video of the Florida Brass performing the Frankie Valli classic pop song “Can’t Take My Eyes of You,” and band’s repertoire includes everything from songs with a Latin drum corps beat to opera music.

Details: 8 p.m. March 4, Stone Hall at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave, W., Bradenton. $27-$30. 941-748-5875, manateeperformingartscenter.com.

This story was originally published March 1, 2017 at 4:03 PM with the headline "The Florida Brass drum and bugle corps plays Saturday."