In 2009, we encourage readers to write about a special TCJS or jazz memory for “Coda.” Please type “Jazz Memory” in the subject area and e-mail it to the editor, Jim Torok, < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it >. We look forward to hearing from you!!  Following, three members share their memories of when they joined the TCJS Board of Directors.

 —Starla Barker, Jazz Notes Editor

‘TCJS Kick-off Event Attracts 2,200 Fans!’

by Jane Donahue

What a wonderful-sounding event to report to our current jazz fans. No such luck! It occurred on February 20, 1979, and successfully launched the Twin Cities Jazz Society on a jazz adventure. As reported in an article in the first issue of Jazz Notes, in April, 1979, “2,200 jazz fans packed the Prom Center (on University Avenue in St. Paul) for a free public concert and membership drive.” 30 years later, we’re still viable, and ready to celebrate our 30th anniversary.

I’m proud of the terrific start TCJS received at that kick-off event, and equally appreciative of our current roster of 989 members, made up of a mixture of jazz fans, from new to those who joined at that first event and all the rest in between.

The only New Orleans style brass band based in Minneapolis, the Jack Brass Band (JBB) has been enthralling audiences since 1999. Mixing the Big Easy’s traditions with old-time blues, rock, hip-hop, pop, funk and reggae, this group has impressed no less than Wynton Marsalis, who noted, “If you like your gumbo spicy and your music hot, check out the Jack Brass Band.” Audiences can check out Jack Brass at the Times Bar and Café on Jan. 11 as part of the Twin Cities Jazz Society’s “Jazz from J to Z” season.

JBB founder and bass drummer Mike Olander modeled the Jack Brass after the famed Dirty Dozen Brass Band, bringing the revival of the New Orleans brass bands of the ‘80s and ‘90s to Minnesota, and with it the syncopation of the famed “second line” bands melded with rap and other modern sounds. Olander notes that “The New Orleans brass bands consist of a rhythm section (or back line) of sousaphone (tuba) and two drummers. That’s the tradition and what we have based our instrumentation around. The front line is the horns (trumpets, saxophone, trombones).” Jack Brass opened for the Rebirth Brass Band at Jazz Fest in 2004 and, in the wake of Katrina, helped raise funds and sent instruments south to help revitalize and maintain the music traditions that the group has helped celebrate in the Midwest.