Category Archives: VBF Bands

VBF 2019 Minnesota Bands: Jack Brass Band

The Jack Brass Band formed in 1999 in the Twin Cities metro. Based on the traditions of New Orleans brass bands, they are ambassadors of the Crescent City’s rich musical history. The 8-piece band plays “Feel-Good Music” for audiences of any age, for 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. The band is led by percussionist Mike Olander.

Jack Brass Band

VBF 2019 USA Bands: Imperial Cornet Band

Photo credit: Rob Mesite Photography

The Imperial Cornet Band performs music of the World War I era. Music by Sousa, George M. Cohan, W.C. Handy, Irving Berlin is featured along with selections written and performed by James Reese Europe of the famous 369th Infantry Division, the “Harlem Hellfighters” Regiment. Their programs give audiences a chance to hear what this music sounded like performed by a small band and gain insight on how music was used to further the war effort at home and on the battlefield.

The Imperial Cornet Band performs under the auspices of the Maryland Military Band and is conducted by Jari Villanueva. Mr. Villanueva and several other musicians in the band have played at Vintage Band Festival in the past as members of the Federal City Brass Band or the 26th North Carolina Regimental Band.

Mark your calendars so you can stop by and say hello and hear their concerts of WWI era music!

Thursday August 1 at 8 PM Reunion Restaurant, 501 Division St S, Northfield, MN 55057

-Friday August 2 at 10 AM “The Yanks Are Coming!” Jari Villanueva’s lecture on WWI Bands, Weitz Center for Creativity on the campus of Carleton College in Northfield.

-Friday August 2 at 4 PM Way Park, 720 1st Street West Northfield, MN 55057

-Saturday August 3 at Noon Battle of the Bands Bridge Square, Northfield, MN
-Saturday August 3 at 2 PM Bridge Square, Northfield, MN
-Saturday August 3 at 6pm Northfield Cemetery, Veteran’s Memorial Concert

-Sunday August 4 at 1030 AM Church Service at First United Church of Christ, 300 Union St, Northfield, MN

Vaudeville 1919! at Vintage Band Festival

The North Star Cinema Orchestra will present Vaudeville, 1919 at the Kracum Concert Hall in the Weitz Center for Creativity on the Carleton College campus on Sunday, August 4 at 7:00 p.m. The presentation is a re-creation of a Vaudeville show featuring authentic songs, jokes, skits, and magic lantern slides from 100 years ago. The show will also feature the orchestra accompanying Back Stage, a 1919 film starring Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton.

Featured in the program are singers Victoria Vargas and Rick Penning. Also featured will be Chester, the Wonder Dog, who will perform in a dog act.

Other members of the orchestra are: Martha Jamsa, flute, Nina Olsen, clarinet,  Lynn Deichert, trumpet, Liz Ericksen, violin, Matt McCright, piano, Connie Martin, bass, and David Miller, percussion. Matthew Zimmerman is the projectionist. The ensemble is directed by Ron Rodman, Dye Family Professor of Music at Carleton College, and Director of the Carleton Symphony Band.

Admission to the concert is $10, but is free to youth under 18 and seniors over 65. Admission is also free for anyone with a VBF pin. Proceeds go to the Vintage Band Festival.

The concert is sponsored by the Carleton Dean of the College Office and the Carleton Music Department.

VBf 2019 Minnesota Band: Brio Brass

Brio Brass

Brio Brass has delighted and entertained audiences throughout Minnesota’s Twin Cities Metro area since 1999. Composed of more than 50 adult musicians, the group performs its own unique arrangements written specifically for its members. The ensemble’s large repertoire features a broad spectrum of musical styles. Audiences are entertained with fluid ballads, pop of all eras, show tunes, funky rock and lots of jazz. All of the music that Brio Brass plays has been composed or arranged by the director, Rick Rueckert. He has written more than 200 arrangements and compositions. Expect lots of humming, toe tapping and even dancing in the aisles! Brio Brass will play at the Bridge Square Main Stage for VBF 2019 on Sunday, August 4 at 2 p.m.

Brio Brass

VBF 2019 Minnesota Bands: St. Cloud Municipal Band

The St. Cloud Municipal Band is believed to have started after the Civil War (1865), when union soldiers brought their instruments back home. At that time they were called the St Cloud Union Band, which later changed to the St. Cloud Municipal Band. We do not know for sure when the band came into existence, but in an obituary dated from 1875, it was stated that a member played with the band “for a number of years” by that time. The band was supported by community groups until the 1940s, when it became a program of the city of St. Cloud, Minnesota. However, by the early 2000s, the city no longer wanted the liability of the band anymore, so it asked the group to form its own nonprofit organization. This the first time that St. Cloud Municipal Band has appeared at Vintage Band Festival.

St. Cloud Municipal Band

VBF 2019 USA Bands: Independent Silver Band

Independent Silver Band (IL)

In 1884 to 1889 the prosperous and energetic Illinois community of Mt. Vernon enjoyed the music of its own Independent Silver Band. In July, 2004, the music of the Independent Silver Band came to life once more. It was composed of 10 local men, all of whom attended the same church and Sunday school. By bringing together interested brass players and percussionists from Mt. Vernon and surrounding cities and towns in southern Illinois, the Independent Silver Band assembled the proper team of dedicated persons. They all shared the vision of giving audiences the chance to hear the music of a bygone time. The band leader of Independent Silver Band is William Reynolds.

Independent Silver Band at VBF 2016

VBF 2019: Music to Accompany Golf/Baseball

Vintage Base Ball

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Old Main Green, St. Olaf College

Game #1 10am–Northfield Silver Stars vs. Minneapolis Quicksteps

Game #2 11:30am–Minneapolis Quicksteps vs. Rochester Roosters

Game #3 1pm–Northfield Silver Stars vs. Rochester Roosters

Music soundtrack by New Prague Area Community Band, Rush Wagner conducting

 

 

John Falck Memorial Golf Tournament

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Northfield Golf Course

Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band 12:15pm

Alexander’s Ragtime Brass  5pm

The John Falck Memorial Golf Tournament is a private event sponsored by Three Links Care Center. For information on how to register for this event, please click here.

VBF 2019 Minnesota Bands: 34th Infantry Division Band

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. The 34th Infantry Division Band performs many free public performances throughout Minnesota, including the Minnesota Music Educators Conference, the Minnesota State Fair, and Vikings and Twins sporting events among others. The Red Bull Band will be performing on Saturday, August 3 at 4pm on the Bridge Square Main Stage.

34th Infantry Division Band “The Red Bull Band”

VBF 2019 USA Bands: Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band

The musicians of Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band are dedicated professional and semi-professional brass, reed, and percussion players whose performance is as close to that of a late 19th-century professional touring band as is possible today. Like bands from that era, the group ranges from six players to a full ensemble of 30. It usually tours with 17 reed, brass and percussion players. The band plays only music that would have been heard between the end of the Civil War and the advent of the Sousa Band in 1892, primarily dance music. Concerts feature the most popular examples of polkas, waltzes, quicksteps, schottisches and mazurkas, as well as the march. The band is conducted by Elisa Koehler and managed by Michael O’Connor. Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band will be playing on the Way Park Stage at 1pm on August 2 and on the Bridge Square Main Stage at 5pm on August 3.

VBF 2019 Concerts in Nearby Communities

Most of the performances at Vintage Band Festival 2019 take place in Northfield, Minnesota. However, on Thursday, August 1, the first day of the festival, some VBF bands will be appearing in other communities to share the spirit and the music with a regional audience. All of these concerts will be free and open to the public. Tell your friends!

Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band

Red Wing

Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band

August 1, 7pm, First Lutheran Church, 615 W. 5th St.

 

 

 

 

Original Drachenfelser Musikanten

Montgomery

Original Drachenfelser Musikanten

August 1, 7pm, Memorial Park

 

 

 

 

À Râse dè têre

Nerstrand

À Râse dè têre

August 1, 7pm Grace Lutheran Church, 301 1st St. S.

 

 

 

Owatonna

Territorial Brass

August 1, 7pm , Central Park

 

 

Kentucky Baroque Trumpets

Cannon Falls

Kentucky Baroque Trumpets

August 1, 7pm St. Ansgar’s Lutheran Church, 7459 Hwy19 Blvd