Lake Superior Jazz :: Papa Charlie's
8:00 p.m. :: The Southside Aces
https://www.southsideaces.com
For nearly two decades, the Southside Aces have performed traditional New Orleans jazz for weddings, festivals, clubs, and more — music furnished for all occasions. The Aces utilize the traditional canon for its sweetness and spice, joy and sorrow, whatever the mood should call for.
The band first began as the brainchild of clarinetist Tony Balluff and sousaphone player Erik Jacobson. Their whispers and rumors materialized in Tony’s foyer in South Minneapolis, in August 2003. Since their first gig on a flatbed truck in Apple Valley, the Aces have released eight albums, including their most recent —Minneapolis Bump— fifteen original songs inspired by the Jazz Age.
In New Orleans, the jazz tradition thrives off a wide array of styles. The Aces possess a diverse repertoire, with a roll call that includes the names of Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington, and Bix Beiderbecke. Plus Crescent City classics like Bourbon Street Parade, Just A Closer Walk With Thee, and St. James Infirmary. And let’s not forget the funky rhythms of brass band powerhouses like Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Palm Court Strut!
The Southside Aces have performed at the Dakota Jazz Club, Icehouse, Crooners Supper Club, Vieux Carre, Twin Cities Jazz Fest, Bix Beiderbecke Jazz Festival, and Minnesota Orchestra Sommerfest, to name a few. They’ve driven dancers to a frenzy at national dance competitions and led second line parades through the streets of the Twin Cities. And they’ve played events in Denver, Omaha, Chicago, Des Moines, and all across the great State of Minnesota — which, if you’re keeping score, makes them a “territory band.”
9:00 p.m.
The Andrew Walesch Orchestra
http://www.andrewwalesch.com/
Like a good many before him, singer and pianist Andrew Walesch somehow manages to encapsulate the sophistication of a cosmopolite and the self-effacing charm of a country boy.
Whether composing and arranging or appearing in settings ranging from solo artist to big band, this St. Cloud, Minnesota native, who criss-crosses the country playing dates big and small, is as respectful of his predecessors as he is ready to take a leap into the unknown and chart a new course.
In his monthly, sold-out shows with his 10-piece band, Walesch is a traditionalist and an iconoclast rolled into one. His audiences include jazz enthusiasts of a certain age, as well as a younger crowd compelled by his down-home insouciance, and the knowing irreverence of a tried-and-true American nightclub entertainer. “Although they are my idols, I don’t attempt to imitate the great pop and jazz artists of the 50’s and 60’s,” says the singer and pianist, “but I go for broke when we do our shows - vocally and musically - which is what they all did best and why they were in a class of their own."
His vocal and piano chops, along with his keen sensibility to find and interpret a great lyric, have led to some great opportunities for Walesch, including an appearance on the nationally syndicated NPR broadcast Mountain Stage and more recently, an invitation to perform at the 33rd Annual Cabaret Convention at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.