Live & Local: The Mile High Freedom Band shares more on 2025 concerts so far

The following is an excerpt of the conversation heard above:

Abi Clark: I've been following you guys on Instagram and getting a view into the classroom. I'm a prior choir kid, so that kind of energy of just learning a song together is so amazing. And you mentioned that you have people from all different backgrounds, so can you bring us into the practice room, what it's like, what the energy is like?

Derek Hebert: Yeah, so we were originally founded mostly as a social organization, like a bunch of band geeks. There was a huge social component and that's never left. So, we're equal parts, community, spirit, that sort of stuff. Plus, the musicality of it. Our rehearsals are typically pretty laid back. I mean, we're there to have fun. We get to come together once a week and bring our musicianship out and play with people that are in the community that we care about and that we're a part of. So, rehearsals tend to be a lot of fun. With an all-abilities ensemble, especially with the larger group, I stress to the musicians all the time, 'if you can't play something, don't play it or just change it or just tweak it, whatever. Play to whatever you can do. And there's 150 of us in the room. The parts are covered. We're going to make great music together, so everybody come and find the place that fits best for you.'

AC: That's kind of the beauty of this band. It has people from all over the community coming together and it's something that's been going on since 1984, which is incredible. I was reading the story online, just the perseverance and as an organization, y'all adapted so much to what was going on to make sure that you put the people first and were there for the people and the growth is amazing! 

DH: In 2025, you don't think of the word freedom, meaning what it meant in 1984, but if you look at a lot of the bands that were forming around the same time period as we were, freedom was code for gay. It was how to call yourself the gay band without being the gay band. And so, a lot of the older organizations still have that in our name. Obviously, it has a totally different connotation today, but that was the whole thing is how do you say that you're this thing without making it hyper public. In the early days, we had members that would use pseudonyms and programs or sometimes even wear hats or stuff going into a performance venue before a concert because they wanted to do this and needed the space to do this, but they didn't want that to be a public thing.

AC: Especially Colorado's history too. I know from talking to The Center on Colfax and learning about what it took to get that organization off the ground, it was a completely different time but of course, we still deal with some of the same things. So having a safe haven like MHFB is really, really important, especially for youth and adults alike. DH (03:00): Yeah, absolutely. In a lot of respects, people say Youth of today have it a lot easier, and they do. There's a lot more visibility, there's a lot more positive example for them. It's a different kind of challenge. It's still challenging and there are still people that are anxious about being public about who they are. How many different people in the world have to actually go around and publicly declare what they are as an existing person? That's still a thing we're expected to do. We're expected to have this coming out moment and repeatedly because every time you're in a new situation, you're coming out to new people, one of the only groups that has to just continually justify their existence, who they are as a person. So even though times have obviously changed a bit, it's still such a big deal that we have to go through that.

AC: Absolutely. It really is, and I'm just blown away by the inclusivity and the celebration that the Mile High Freedom Band does throughout your several programs. I mean, you're nearly at like 250 members. You guys are doing almost 50 performances each season and it takes a lot, I'm sure to put that on. Well, let's talk about this 2025 season because I see "Carnival" is right around the corner, which is so exciting, especially as a jazz station getting into that spirit. It's intoxicating. Can you walk us through some of the highlights of this year's schedule?

DH: So, our 24/25 season is titled Connections. So, each performance we're doing, we're weaving in that idea of everyone being connected together and in all the different ways we can do that and all the different kind of themes that kind of circle around that. "Carnival" is an interesting one. I started that when I was the director of Swing before I took over overall, obviously as a nod to my own heritage. I'm from far southeast Louisiana, but as far as you go before you hit the water, and so, having a Mardi Gras concert was just something fun for me. It was a little taste of home and it's kind of opened up to being one of the swing bands typically largest performances. We're on number, I think 10 or 11 this year. So, we have obviously a lot of music that is very typical for the carnival season (like) Dixieland (and) that kind of New Orleans-Esque jazz music. We have some costume contests this year, so if anyone's ever seen things like Royal Carnival Ball, they dress up, they go all out with their Mardi Gras dress and attire, and so we're going to do a little costume contest or dress up contest, I guess, this year with the winners getting to take home some king cake, which is like the quintessential, Mardi Gras dessert. We'll have a couple of those out there as prizes. It is just a really fun, joyous night to connect people together.

AC: That sounds amazing. Also, on the roster, I see "Earth Songs," all about the planet. It looks like the universal language of music throughout nature.

DH: That one's going to be our next wind band concert. And just like "Power Up", we did all these things with games. This one's all about Earth, and it's about a week and a half before Earth Day, and so we haven't figured out the details finally yet, but we're working out some connections with some environmental groups in the area, ways we can maybe help use this concert to support their mission. And we're talking about possibly engaging some kind of Earth Day service project tied to this concert so that we are really kind of being conscientious of our bigger community here in the region.

AC: I love the intentionality with each of these. I see "In Bloom," kind of like a spring celebration, renewal, growth..

DH: That's our string concert. So basically, just kind of tracking back a little bit. We have basically a concert a month, and we kind of rotate with the Strings group, the Swing group, the Winds group, month to month to month. So that's why you see "Carnival" is the Swings concert in March, and then April is Winds, May is Strings, and then in June Swing is up next, and then Winds comes up next after that.

AC: That makes sense because the Swing one is another Jazz-centered one. Midsummer Magic, that looks beautiful!

DH: So, Summer's Pride Month, obviously. So actually, we end up in a lot of different places. That's when Core is the most active. Boulder Pride does a flag raising, usually on June 1st. They do a big thing on Pearl Street Mall where they raise the flag and we're they're performing. We've done Erie Pride, Longmont Pride, Colorado Springs Pride, Douglas County Pride, and obviously Denver Pride. So, we're all over that month, and that's when we also do our youth program, and the kids are invited to participate in any of the different areas. We have the jazz concert, Midsummer Night's Jazz, that's free and in City Park. Then we have Melodies of Pride, which is the wind band, the Symphonic band, also free in City Park that they can do. And then if they want to do any marching or pep band during Denver Pride, we do a concert, just a standup concert in the family area on Saturday. And then we march the parade on Sunday.

AC: I'm just really blown away by the, like I said, the intentionality and the way that you not only connect your people internally but also connect with the community. You can really feel that community is really the heart of the entire thing. And it has been for the past 40 years.

DH: It is. And these days, I mean, we're not the biggest organization in the world or whatever, but we're bigger than we've ever been, and we have a lot of different moving pieces, and it's a job to get them all moving in the same direction all the time. And so having that intentionality, having these just something simple like a theme for the season that really connects us together and points us in a single direction as we are planning performances and planning, 'what are we going to play and who are we going to serve and who are we going to represent?' And those kinds of things. It's more important than ever the more moving pieces you have going.

Their next concert, Carnival Ball XI is happening March 23, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. More information on the rest of the 2024/2025 season and the various MHFB groups, you can visit their website at Mile High Freedom Band.