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.

This summer, JBB performed at the Great American Brass Band Festival in Danville, Kentucky. The band has regular gigs locally at the Times, Dixie’s on Grand, and O’Gara’s. Within the past year, the band has shared bills with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band; the Gangbe Brass Band from Benin, Africa; and Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue; it also performed in its European debut at the Brass Durham International Festival in England. The group’s efforts have been honored with a 2004 Minnesota Music Award for Specialist Group/Artist and with a 2006 nomination for Eclectic Group/Artist.

JBB has released three recordings, most recently Traditionally Speaking (2007), featuring Second Line standards along with popular tunes from Fats Domino (“I’m Walkin’”), Ray Charles (“I Got a Woman”) and Hugh Masekela (“Grazin’ in the Grass”).

Typically playing with seven or eight musicians, Jack Brass at the Times will include OIander, Andrew “Dizzy” Gillespie (snare and cymbal), Mike Mello (sousaphone), Zack Lozier (trumpet, vocals), Gus Sandberg (sax and vocals), and  Scott Agster and Matt Hanzelka (trombones and vocals).

This “Jazz from J to Z” concert is a perfect opportunity to enjoy some Crescent City heat in the middle of a Minnesota winter. Said Ben Jaffe, Director of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, “Not only do they emulate their teachers with exacting precision, they also leave their own distinctive imprint on a musical style that is now theirs.”

Come to the Times at 201 East Hennepin in Minneapolis on Jan. 11 at 3 p.m. Admission is $10, and $7, seniors and TCJS members.