Swede Wagner – Minnesota Music Hall of Fame https://mnmusichalloffame.org Sun, 25 Jan 2026 00:38:19 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://mnmusichalloffame.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/cropped-MN-hall-of-fame-logo-32x32.png Swede Wagner – Minnesota Music Hall of Fame https://mnmusichalloffame.org 32 32 Swede Wagner https://mnmusichalloffame.org/swede-wagner/ https://mnmusichalloffame.org/swede-wagner/#respond Mon, 05 Jan 2026 20:16:57 +0000 https://mnmusichalloffame.org/?p=2748 Inducted 2026
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Virgil E. C. “Swede” Wagner (1911-1980)
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New Ulm native, trumpeter, bandleader, and arranger. Brother of 1992 MMHF inductee Babe Wagner, Swede ran Babe’s band into the 1950s after Babe passed away in 1949. Swede’s arranging skills of the sometimes-complicated and involved instrumentation of a top-notch old-tyme band’s music was second to none. The recordings that Swede made of “Hot Jazz” (with his brother) at St. Paul’s Schmidt Music during the mid-1940s prove that his prowess on trumpet and power while playing jazz show that Swede was easily in the same league as the jazz cats downriver in Mendota back mid-century.

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