The Bonebrake Syncopators – That Da Da Strain
Self-released – BS – 1001 [2008]
Topsy – Three Little Words – That Da Da Strain – Yardbird Suite – A Porter’s Love Song (To A Chambermaid) – Limehouse Blues – On The Alamo – Swedish Pastry – Baby Won’t You Please Come Home – Sequence in Bb – China Boy
In the early 2000s, DJ Bonebrake (drummer for X, here on vibraphone) formed the Bonebrake Syncopators with Wally Hersom (Big Sandy, The Lucky Stars) on double bass, TK Smith (Big Sandy, Smith’s Ranch Boys) on guitar, and Jeremy Wakefield (The Lucky Stars, Wayne Hancock, Squarepants Spongebob) on steel guitar. They played drummerless for a year or so, but they decided to add drums, so Dave Stuckey (Dave & Deke Combo, Dave Stuckey and the Rhythm Gang, Dave Stuckey and the Hot House Gang) joined the band.
In 2008, they recorded their debut album. The band’s style was quite eclectic, mixing traditional Jazz with a touch of Western Swing here, Bop arrangements there, and even Hawaiian tunes. Musically, imagine a cross between Red Norvo, Benny Goodman’s small formations, Jimmy Rivers, and a lot of Bop in between, and you will have a slight idea of the result.
Three of them could play solos, giving rich and nuanced combinations and arrangements. Mostly instrumentals, it also features a couple of vocal numbers by Wakefield and Stuckey (who is not credited on the cover for that, I still don’t know why). The relaxed and easygoing singing of Dave Stuckey and the way he plays with the time evokes the great Jack Teagarden.
The musicianship is impressive, and the musical pleasure given by this hot combo is highly communicative. A must-have.
Buy it at https://stuckeyville.bandcamp.com/album/that-da-da-strain
Fred “Virgil” Turgis
