The Twin Cities Jazz Society’s “Jazz from J to Z” Concert Series presents New Orleans and Big Band Jazz, by the Southside Aces and the Edina High School Jazz Ensemble I, on Friday, April 25, at 7:30 PM, at Edina High School, 6754 Valley View Road, Edina 55439. This concert is part of the TCJS’s Jazz Educational Outreach Program. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $10 (TCJS Members $7 / Students $5) and there is plenty of Free Parking.

Their name is a nod to south Minneapolis, where the band was born, but the music coming from the Southside Aces has the authentic flavor of the south side of the United Sates. New Orleans, to be specific. It's loose and tight at the same time — swinging and free, full of improvised licks that dance in your ears, but built of harmonies and counterpoints that fit together in precise rhythmic frameworks.

Clarinetist Tony Balluff and sousaphone player Erik Jacobson founded the Southside Aces in the fall of 2003. The other members are Andy Hakala, trumpet; Steve Sandberg, trombone; Robert Bell, guitar; and Dave Michael, drums. Ted Schreyer will play tuba in the Edina concert, because Jacobson has another commitment.

Although their instrumentation is different, the Aces owe some of their heritage to the Hall Brothers band of their parents' generation. Balluff has played for several years with the Bill Evans New Orleans Jazz Band, which includes Hall Brothers alumni Evans, Charlie DeVore and Don "Doggie" Berg. All the Aces, though young, have plenty of bandstand experience and style versatility. Jacobson is a member of two New Orleans-style brass bands, the Jack Brass Band and Mama Digdown's Brass Band, and Hakala also is in the Jack Brass Band. Bell is a Django Reinhardt-style guitarist with the Twin Cities Hot Club and co-leader of the Robert Bell & Erin Schwab Hot Swing Combo. Sandberg worked with Ted Unseth's original Wolverines Classic Jazz Orchestra and has recorded with folkster Dakota Dave Hull. Michael has subbed for Doggie Berg and joined Balluff on occasion in the Bill Evans band. Schreyer, of Mankato, is the son of the late banjoist-author Lowell Schreyer and brother of banjoist Debbie Schreyer. In addition to his family's band, he has worked with the Blue Ox Jazz Babies and Evans' band.

DeVore wrote, in a tribute to the Southside Aces for the cdbaby.com Website: "Their repertoire may sound strange to ears more accustomed to current trends in music, but it reflects some of the finest in early jazz music. It’s all here: Jelly Roll, Bix, Fats, Hoagy, Duke, and George Lewis. From a historical point of view, it is refreshing to discover the band’s interest in pieces that are not the usual so-called 'Dixieland' fare. It’s not every day that even the casual jazz listener encounters tunes such as 'Washboard Wiggles' and 'I’m Walkin’ This Town.' "

The Southside Aces have released two CDs — "All Aboard!!" (2005), which is sold out, and "Bucktown Bounce" (2006), available at cdbaby.com and the Electric Fetus in south Minneapolis. To hear samples of their music on the Web, go to www.myspace.com/southsideaces or a href="http://cdbaby.com/cd/southsideaces2"> cdbaby.com/cd/southsideaces2 . Balluff said he's excited about getting the young Edina musicians involved in traditional jazz at the J to Z concert April 25.

The Southside Aces have performed at the Times and the Dakota jazz clubs, Peavey Plaza, Mears Park, Hopkins Jazz Festival, the Doc Evans Jazz Festival, and just last month at the Twin Cities Winter Jazz Fest. They have driven swing dancers to a frenzy at national lindy hop competitions; “Showdown”, at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis, and 2007’s “Big Apple” lindy hop contest in Omaha. Currently they perform the second Sunday of the month at the Nomad World Pub, 501 Cedar Ave. S., Mpls, from 5-8 PM.

The Edina High School Jazz Ensemble I is co-directed by William Webb and Doug Haining. Edina High School has over 50 students participating in their jazz programs as extra-curricular activities, including the EHS Jazz Ensembles I and II. EHS Jazz I premiered a commission written by Dean Sorenson at the MMEA convention a couple of years ago. The Edina High Music Department has been the recipient of a GRAMMY Award twice in recent years. This award recognizes twenty outstanding music programs around the country for their overall excellence in music education. The EHS Jazz Ensemble I will be performing Big Band charts by David Berger, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Sammy Nestico, Bill Holman, and Phil Woods, plus “Struttin' With Some Barbeque” with solos by some of the Southside Aces. Then some of the Edina students will play with the Southside Aces on “Back Room Romp” and “Bourbon Street Parade”. Doug Haining will also solo with the Aces on “St. Phillip Street Breakdown”. The concert finale with feature both bands performing “C-Jam Blues”.

William Webb has directed bands at Edina High School for over twenty years. Under his tenure the Edina Bands have performed locally, nationally and internationally as musical ambassadors. In addition to his work with the Edina bands, William Webb is a founding member of the Minnesota Symphonic Winds, a founding officer and past president of the Minnesota Band Directors Association, a member of the MMEA Board of Directors, and is a past recipient of the Edina Public Schools’ Excellence in Education Award.

Co-Conductor of EHS Jazz I is Doug Haining, a music graduate of St. Olaf College where he studied classical clarinet. He has performed professionally since 1974, backing national artists and Broadway shows and has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Doug also played short stints with Red Wolfe’s ‘Ellington Echoes’, and the Hall Brothers. Since 1979, Doug has been a member of the Wolverines Big Band and he founded and leads the “Twin Cities Seven”. He is also a member of the recently formed Bellagala Big Band.