Category Archives: VBF Bands

And that’s a wrap for Vintage Band Festival 2023!

After a blistering July in the midwest, last Saturday turned out to be a spectacularly comfortable day in Northfield, Minnesota for the 2023 edition of Vintage Band Festival. The heat has returned to the 90s this week so we feel incredibly lucky for the weekend reprieve.

The music was fantastic, the audience was fabulous, and the setting was beautiful. If you were there you know what I mean! Thanks to the musicians for their skill and passion, thanks to the audience for being engaged, and thanks to our donors for their tremendous financial support. Thanks to the City of Northfield and our other community partners for their assistance, and thanks to Riverwalk Market Fair and their vendors for another successful collaboration. Thanks also to our food vendors: Little Frida Taco Shop, Maui Wowi, and the Knights of Columbus. We sincerely appreciate all of you!

Please share photos you may have taken on the Vintage Band Festival Facebook page. Here are a few shots of the action on Saturday.

We were treated to a grand entry by the Minnesota Pipes and Drums, a Scottish heritage band from Minneapolis.

Minnesota Pipes and Drums

Please stay in touch over the next many months until we can do this again in the summer of 2024. And don’t forget to mark your calendars for Tuba Christmas in Northfield on December 2, 2023 or the Tuba Christmas that’s closest to wherever you are.

One last VBF 2023 update

It’s the day before VBF 2023 and all through Bridge Square, not a brass tune was heard, not even a note! That will all change on Saturday and the following bands will be a big help.

Kicking off the day at 9:00 am will be the New Prague Area Community Band. They’ve been our opening act on Saturdays as long as any of us can remember and we’re grateful to them and their fearless leader, Rush Wagner, for breaking the musical ice.

New Prague Area Community Band

Right after New Prague finishes, we’ll welcome the Sheldon Theatre Brass Band coming to us all the way from Red Wing, Minnesota. The band was founded in 1989 as the resident performing ensemble at the then newly-restored, turn-of-the-century T. B. Sheldon Theatre in Red Wing. They have played at every Vintage Band Festival!

Sheldon Theatre Brass Band

At noon on Saturday, say hello to the Twin Cities Trumpet Ensemble. Their ranks include 24 of the most talented trumpet players in the state of Minnesota. It’s always a kick to find out what new music they’ve added to their repertoire since the last time they were at Vintage Band Festival. Don’t miss their performance!

Twin Cities Trumpet Ensemble

At 4:00 pm as the sun is passing over the Cannon River to the west, the stage will be set for Metro Brass, the mid-size band with a massive sound. Led by virtuoso trumpeter, Keith Thompson, the band is sure to put on a most entertaining show.

Metro Brass

Closing out the day at 8:45 pm will be the Bend in the River Big Band. They will give us the swing music and the classic big band sound that will make sure you get out of your chair and your comfort zone and dance the night away. Vocalist Linnea Marrin will provide the lyrics to all of the tunes that you have been humming to yourself for the past oh so many years.

All in all it’s going to be a wonderful day. Join us, won’t you? Saturday, July 29, 2023 in beautiful Downtown Northfield MN. Get all the details at vintagebandfestival.org.

Enjoy some “feel-good music” in Northfield

Based on the traditions of New Orleans brass bands, the Jack Brass Band is an ambassador of the Crescent City’s rich musical history. The 8-piece band plays “Feel-Good Music” for audiences of any age and any occasion. JBB has the ability and repertoire to play everything from old New Orleans jazz from Louis Armstrong’s era, to the modern street Mardi-Gras anthems with the instrumentation, feel and energy they have mastered through countless gigs, parades, festival appearances and trips to New Orleans to listen, learn and play alongside the masters. 

Jack Brass Band takes the stage at 2:00 pm in Bridge Square on July 29, 2023.

Bavarian Musikmeisters return to Vintage Band Festival

Members of Bavarian Musikmeisters hail from southern Minnesota and model themselves after traditional German village bands, lederhosen and all. The band’s 35 musicians perform authentic musical arrangements on a variety of brass and woodwind instruments: flute, clarinet, trumpet, flugelhorn, tenor horn, baritone, trombone, tuba and percussion. They perform for numerous events in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and have performed at Germanic festivals in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and South Dakota, as well as at the German-American Mardi Gras Association annual meeting in Las Vegas.

Bavarian Musikmeisters will perform at 1:00 pm on July 29 at VBF 2023.

Latin Rhythms will once again be heard in Bridge Square

Minnesotans are fortunate to have a number of bands that focus on Mexican and other south of the border musical traditions. Two of the best (in our opinion!) are veteran performers at Vintage Band Festival and we’re excited to welcome them back to Northfield in 2023.

Banda La Verdadera

This high-energy Minneapolis band is a favorite Vintage Band Festival performer. Banda La Verdadera plays a type of traditional Mexican music that features brass instruments, woodwinds, drums and singing. The band performs a variety of musical forms, including rancheras, boleros and cumbias. They are in high demand in Minnesota and we’re lucky to have them back in Northfield in 2023.

Mariachi Mi Tierra

The mariachi ensemble is the only ensemble that requires the vihuela and the bass (guitarrón mexicano). These two instruments are the rhythm section. There’s no other ensemble in the world that uses them, except mariachi. If you go to a festival or a party and they say they have mariachi and they don’t have a vihuela and a bass, it’s not really Mariachi. The rest of the instrumentation is pretty straightforward. They include trumpets, violins, and vocal singers.

Mariachi Mi Tierra is the oldest Mariachi ensemble in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area. Rosalio Castro (trumpet), who formed the group in 2003, has played various Mexican styles of music since he was in his teens. Eduardo Castro (also trumpet) is the group’s director. Together, the Castros have brought together a group that produces the full sound of authentic mariachi in Minnesota.

Mariachi Mi Tierra will perform at 5:00 pm on July 29, 2023 and Banda La Verdadera will take the stage at 6:00 pm. View the complete schedule for VBF 2023 here: https://vintagebandfestival.org/vbf-2023/ and check back for any updates.

Brass Messengers to play an evening set at VBF 2023

Brass Messengers are a Minneapolis street band playing mostly original music inspired by global sources.  The BMs formed from the annual rubble of of the Heart of the Beast Mayday Parade and Ceremony in Minneapolis.  The musical origins were found in the music of Africa, the Carribean and Balkans, but now the BMs play whatever works, throwing in a country song to the crying drinkers, a high speed polka or two for the midwest dancers, running in circles with the little ones, activating gatherings of our activist kin or a bit of Black Sabbath for the metal crowd.   But mostly, it is an original music that rises from the heart of the band that can only be described as a homegrown Minneapolis street music sound.

The Messengers play stages large and small, events from parties to bars, large theaters to street parades and funerals.  The Mess have been a part of the HONK community for nine years running, attending more than ten HONK festivals in Sommerville, Seattle and Austin, TX.

Vintage Band Festival 2023 will take place on Saturday, July 29,. 2023 in Northfield, Minnesota’s Bridge Square. Brass Messengers will take the stage at 7:15 pm.

The Red Bull Band returns to Vintage Band Festival

The 34th Infantry Division Band of the United States Army is returning to Northfield for Vintage Band Festival 2023. “The Red Bull Band” has performed at VBF several times in the past and we’re delighted to have them back.

The band is stationed in Rosemount, Minnesota and is currently assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 34th Infantry Division, Minnesota National Guard. The mission of the 34th Infantry Division Band is to provide music throughout the spectrum of military operations to instill in soldiers the will to fight and win, foster the support of citizens and promote the national interests of the United States at home and abroad.

Officially organized 30 April 1900, the 34th Infantry Division Band has proudly served state and nation for over 114 years, seeing service in WWI, WWII and the Global War on Terrorism. Whether performing for the public, supporting military ceremonies, or entertaining US Service members and our allies the Soldier-Musicians of the Red Bull Band are honored to serve in one of the US Army’s most respected Divisions.

Vintage Band Festival 2023 will be on Saturday, July 29, 2023. The Red Bull Band performs at 11:00 am.

Music around town during VBF 2022

Tom Baker’s Mardi Gras Brass

OK, so there’s the fantastic lineups in Bridge Square for four days (Thu-Sun) and Central Park for two days (Sat/Sun) and  the 4 offsite location concerts on Thursday (Farmington, Cannon Falls, Montgomery, and Nerstrand), but is that all there is Vintage Band Festival?

Well, no. Windworks Quintet with play at Fifty North at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, July 29, and at the Northfield Public Library at 2:00 p.m. the same day.

Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band will play at the VFW Post 4393 Hall at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, July 29. Tom Baker’s Mardi Gras Brass will play at the Contented Cow Pub at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, July 29.

Ameriikan Poijat will play at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 30 at Tanzenwald Brewing Co.

Oh, and did we mention that on Sunday, July 31, you can hear Vintage Band Festival bands in 8 Northfield churches?

OK, we’ll stop now. Good luck on getting to each and every one of these shows.

You’re welcome!

To view the complete Vintage Band Festival 2022 Program, click here.

Vintage Band Festival opens with Brass Lassie and Selby Avenue Brass Band

Thursday, July 28 at 6:30 p.m. the first notes of Vintage Band Festival 2022 will sound. Brass Lassie, a Celtic band from the Twin Cities with a brass horn component will play the opening set. Brass Lassie is a bold Minnesota-based ensemble combining Celtic music with a big band attitude, performing extraordinary takes on Scottish, Irish and Breton music. Brass Lassie features a four-piece horn section, a great rhythm section, fine fiddle, flutes, concertina and vocals in smart, joyous brass-driven arrangements. The band’s founder and leader is Northfield native Laura McKenzie and Vintage Band Festival is excited for their return to the VBF stage.

The Selby Avenue Brass Band featuring Thomasina Petrus is a relatively new voice in the Minneapolis/St.Paul music scene. The group is led by Tom Wells, tubist, arranger and composer and music educator in the Twin Cities area. Tom’s compositions and arrangements fuel a band comprised of enthusiastic and experienced musicians (including a couple of Grammy winners). While their musical roots come from the streets of New Orleans, they expand from that genre into many others. Thomasina Petrus is a Minneapolis actor and jazz vocalist, known for her signature role as jazz icon Billie Holiday. In 2019 the band did a club gig at the festival, but this is the group’s first appearance at the Bridge Square Legacy Stage. The music starts at 8:00 p.m.

Banda La Verdadera returns for VBF 2021

BANDA LA VERDADERA

This high-energy Minneapolis band is making its third appearance at Vintage Band Festival. Banda La Verdadera plays a type of traditional Mexican music that features brass instruments, woodwinds, drums and singing. The band performs a variety of pieces, including rancheras, boleros and cumbias. It often performs for weddings, parties, and other events.

Banda La Verdadera is sponsored by Nan and Dave Shumway. Banda La Verdadera plays at 1:30 pm on July 31.

Banda La Verdadera