Reif Senior Series – JB Brass Quartet.

All Senior Series shows include a complimentary pie and coffee social following the performance!

Limited Senior Series seats available, get your tickets early!

Meet the group:
John Olson – Trombone
John is a retired music educator, serving in the Osseo School District for over 35 years. He was a band director
at Osseo and Park Center High School for most of his career, finishing up with the elementary school band
programs. John is a member of 6 local big bands, a regular member of the Lake Wobegon Brass Band, and
played in the house orchestra at the Carleton Celebrity Room back in the 1980’s, where he met Bob.

Dean Heller – Trumpet/Flugelhorn
Dean is a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a masters degree in music performance. His full time
occupation is teaching trumpet to all levels; from beginners to advanced players through the St. Joseph’s
School of Music. Dean is a member of the Compass Rose Brass Ensemble, the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis,
and the Neoteric Chamber Winds along with other small ensembles.

Bob Kase– Trumpet/Flugelhorn/Piccolo Trumpet – Arranger/composer
Bob earned his Doctorate in Music from the University of Minnesota, after studying Jazz at North Texas State
and as an undergrad student at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. He has a very impressive resume,
including travelling the world as a featured soloist representing Yamaha and Shilke Trumpets. He has played
behind such classic greats as Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, Sonny and Cher, among others. Calls continue to
come in asking him to play with big bands in the Chicago area and other Midwest jazz festivals.
Bob is our resident composer/arranger concentrating on melody and harmony to bring out the best in our 4
voices.

Jeff Sowden – Tuba
Jeff was honored to be selected to the McDonalds All American Band in 1969 – marching in the Macys
Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, and New Years Day at the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena.
Jeff is also a past member of the band at UMD, where he met Bob back in 1973. He and Bob recently reconnected
after 46 years! After not playing the horn at all for over 46 years, he heard of an alumni group
forming of past All American Band members and decided to join, resurrecting his tuba playing.

Five tremendous brass musicians — each a virtuoso in his own right — form the legendary Canadian Brass. With five decades under their belts, the ensemble continues to thrill audiences around the world. Their varied repertoire features brass standards as well as a wide-ranging library of original arrangements created especially for them from a variety of different genres. The hallmark of any Canadian Brass performance is entertainment, spontaneity, virtuosity and, most of all, fun – but never at the expense of the music: whatever the style, the music is central and performed with utmost dedication, skill and excellence. Canadian Brass has developed a uniquely engaging stage presence and rapport with audiences.

Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia’s elegant show, The Rainbow Fish, will include an original stage adaptation of Marcus Pfister’s colorful story as well two of the author’s companion tales, Rainbow Fish Discovers the Deep Sea  and Opposites.

The first of three tales introduces the most beautiful fish in the sea, whose scales shimmer in all the colors of the rainbow. He is admired – and resented – by the entire underwater world, until a clever octopus advises him to give each fish one of his scales. Further adventures follow as The Rainbow Fish finds the courage to explore the great unknown deep sea, discovering a new world with wonderful sights and friendly creatures of all shapes, sizes and colors who are eager to make his acquaintance. The underworld wonderland is the setting for an introduction to the concept of opposites. As a fitting finale, the story ends with the most satisfying opposite of all—give and take—as Rainbow Fish shares one of his shining scales with a friend.

Water Street Dance Milwaukee is a multifaceted dance company that prioritizes artistry, athleticism, and creativity. Their mission is to share authentic presentations of world-class art while pushing the bounds of contemporary dance. In 2019, Water Street Dance Milwaukee was named Overture Center Rising Stars Winner recognizing the company’s talent and potential on a national level.

Playing a full-bodied, emotionally resonant brand of Americana-infused indie rock, Dead Man Winter is a group led by Dave Simonett, best known as one of the founding members of the progressive bluegrass group Trampled by Turtles.

Furnace marks a whole lot of firsts for the accomplished songwriter. It’s his first time putting his long-running, popular string band, Trampled by Turtles, on hiatus to focus all of his efforts on a more personal project. It’s his first time speaking so plainly and literally about something happening in his private life. And it’s his first time dedicating an entire record to a single topic — a topic so significant and intimate that he questioned whether or not he should even release it into the world.

“I’m not even that big of a fan of breakup records, myself,” he says. “I mean, there’s some I really love. Like Blood on the Tracks, f***, I love it. But it was just kind of a necessary — that’s the only way I know how to let it out. It would have been pretty hard to write about anything else at the time.”

There is palpable sadness and moments of poignant reflection, to be sure, but Furnace also propels Simonett forward with an undeniable sense of newfound freedom. At some points, like on the upbeat third track, “Red Wing Blue Wing,” you could describe the music as downright rollicking.

Like many of his contemporary songwriting peers, Simonett turned to his art to process the feelings that were swirling inside of him. “Right when we split up I went on this huge creative tear, and wrote a bunch,” he remembers. “And then as everything kind of settled in and the process started moving, life got really complicated, and it shut down for a long time. So I did something I’ve never done before: I went on a writing retreat. In the middle of winter, last winter, I went to this cabin in Finland, Minnesota, just like me in this little cabin for the week, with snow up to the windows and 20 below the whole time, and just wrote. And when I got to that place, I couldn’t stop it.”

Ultimately, Simonett found the relief he was hoping for when it came time to make the record. Unsatisfied with the piecemeal approach that he used to cobble together the first draft of the album, Simonett rounded up his longtime friends from the Minneapolis roots rock scene — drummer JT Bates, guitarist Erik Koskinen, bassist Tim Saxhaug (also of Trampled by Turtles), and pianist Bryan Nichols — to record the album live to tape. The five of them holed up in the historic Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minn., a ski chalet-like studio nestled deep in the woods where legendary albums like Nirvana’s In Utero were recorded.

“Making the album was this one great week — we just shut ourselves off in Pachyderm. We lived down there for the time. I don’t think I checked my email for like five days, it was awesome,” he says. “The vibe was just to make it feel like we’re playing in a room together. That can be a really joyful way to record. And then I had to go back to my lawyer’s office, you know? So I really treasure that.”

Listening to Davina & the Vagabonds (DATV) is like stepping into a musical time machine. Led by the incomparable Davina Sowers, whose voice and stage presence defy category, DATV’s influences range from Fats Domino and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to Aretha Franklin and Tom Waits. The rollicking quintet’s panache and superlative musicianship recreate the timeless appeal of golden age Americana, bringing edgy nostalgia to older generations and fresh new music to young ears.

Jen Kober with special guest Jason Schommer

Jen Kober is originally from Lake Charles, LA, and has energetically bounded onto the national stage bringing crowds to their feet with her original blend of stand-up, storytelling, and improvised rock-n-roll comedy.  Her hard-hitting hour is phenomenally funny as Kober commands the stage and dares you not to laugh. She is the winner of NPR’s Snap Judgement Comedic Performance of the Year for her Girl Scout Cookie story which went viral upon its release.  She can be seen on Disney+ in The Mandalorian and Diary of a Future President, on HBO’S Hacks, Showtime’s Black Monday and American Horror Story and Netflix: Dead to Me, Ru Paul’s AJ and the Queen.

This performance contains adult language and content.

John Mueller’s Winter Dance Party show is the official live and authentic re-creation of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper’s final tour and the only show endorsed by the Holly, Valens and Richardson estates. Each live concert performance includes unbridled, high voltage entertainment featuring all the hit songs of the 50s era: That’ll Be The Day, Peggy Sue, Oh Boy, Rave On, La Bamba, Chantilly Lace and many, many more. John takes Holly’s songs true to their original form on a reissued 1957 Fender Stratocaster–the exact year and make of Buddy’s guitar and uses the same heavy flatwound guitar strings that Buddy used. John is indeed living proof that Buddy Holly’s legacy lives on!