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Digging deep into the roots of American music, The California Honeydrops embrace the traditions of Blues, Gospel, Second Line New Orleans Jazz, and early R&B. With stellar performances of traditional material as well as their own innovative music, The California Honeydrops get people out of their seats and onto the floor, dancing and singing along.
Formed in November 2007, The California Honeydrops first performed on the streets and in the subways stations in Oakland, California. Playfully crossing genres from Roots and Blues to R&B and soul, The California Honeydrops’ sound is tied together by soulful vocal harmonies, colorful shouts from brass and horns, and a funky, good-times New Orleans rhythm section. They quickly gained a reputation as the best party in the Bay Area.
Born in Warsaw, Poland, band leader and front man Lech Wierzynski began playing blues and jazz as a teenager at after-hours jam sessions in Washington D.C. After studying trumpet with Marcus Belgrave (Ray Charles), Lech continued his career after moving to Oakland. Honing his craft with some of the biggest names in American music, such as Maria Muldaur, Dan Hicks, and Jackie Payne, Lech has grown equally as a trumpeter, singer, and guitarist.
The vibrant rhythm section of The California Honeydrops is fueled by piano veteran Chris Burns (Albert Collins, Freddie Hughes, Maria Muldaur), drummer Ben Malament (Terry Reid, The Marvelettes, The Jelly Roll Souls), and bassist Seth Ford-Young (Tom Waits, Sean Hayes, Beats Antique). Adding an unprecedented energy is saxophonist Johnny Bones (Eddie Palmiere, Nell Carter, Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums).
A Breath of Fresh Air. - Zigaboo Modeliste (The Meters)
This is funky, good time music from the roots in New Orleans to the dance floors of today. It's irresistable, it's timeless. - Angela Strehli
...The influences from this band are heavily rooted in artists from the Stax theater, New Orleans horny funk, crossroad country Blues, and woodshed honky tonks...The openness & youthfulness of the music takes you back to a time when music was made for fun and not for monetary gain...
- Kyle Palarino, BluesWax.com
...The “drops of honey in California” finely move between blues, swing, jazz, and atmosphere flashes of soul. All this mixed with music and joy...
- Michele Manzotti, Il Popolo del Blues (Firenze, IT), Ilpopolodeblues.com
...An amalgam of blues, jug band sounds, vintage jazz, rock-n-roll, and classy R&B. Good timin’ music par excellence...
- Norman Darwen, Blues & Rhythm - The Gospel Truth (Leeds,UK), Bluesandrhythm.co.uk
...The California Honeydrops, from Oakland, are the most refreshing act to roll down the blues highway in some time. Few groups before them have melded so many strains of African American music into such a seamless whole...
- Lee Hildebrand, Living Blues Magazine, Livingblues.com
...Oakland’s The California Honeydrops, find themselves firmly rooted in the African-American music tradition...unique arrangements make their debut CD SOUL TUB!, hard to place in genre and time. “Miss Louise” jives like a lost Chuck Berry with a soaring trumpet line...”All You Got To Do” delivers some sad soul with off-kilter harmonies straight from the pews...
- Ali Green, Elmore Magazine, Elmoremagazine.com
...The California Honeydrops!They are the bomb, and I am the lucky one who gets to introduce them to a national audience. They will make me sound good. It is a very cool disc...
- Bill Wax, Proprietor of Low-Fi’s Bar & Grill, Sirius/XM, “Juke Joint” w/ Bill Wax (M-F, 3-6pm Eastern), Request line:1866-267-0454
...The California Honeydrops music is pleasure between the tradition and soul music... - Silvano Brambilla, “Juke Joint” Radio Citta Bollate (Milan, IT), www.radiocittàbollate.it.
...THE CALIFORNIA HONEYDROPS are an amazing band ! I like this fresh mixture of jazz, blues, soul in all the CD. Soul tub is CD of the week for my weekly blues radio show... - Marc Loison, “Sweet Home Chicago” , Radio 666 (Bonnemaison,FR), http://blues.radio666.com
...within 30 seconds of airplay of 2 “Rain”- phone lines went crazy!...
- Rose Robinson, “Blueslady’s Time Machine”, KFAI, Minneapolis, MN, www.kfai.org
...Honeydrops getting da ship played out of it! Good shit!... - Robb Morrison, KTHR, Wichita, KS
...a refreshing change of pace from the norm… - Leroy Alvarez, WNMC, Traverse City, MI
...Great stuff, I love it!... - Roger Gatchet, KVRX, Austin TX
..Fantastic recording... - Dave Watts, WORT, Madison, WI
...Oh, yeah... - Norma Martinez, KTEP, El Paso, TX
...out standing disc... - AJ Ketchum, WRFG, Atlanta, GA
...Great music! I want to see this band “live”... - Greg “Doc” Lefebre, WGMC rochester, NY
...We were lucky enough to host The California Honeydrops in July. We were astonished by their amazing performance, not to mention attendance. It was a rocking house! We will happily host them again...
- Erik Siebert, Yoshi's Jazz Club, Oakland, CA, http://www.yoshis.com
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