The Ventura based Barrelhouse Wailers have been delighting dancers and lovers of high times around Southern California since 2013. It's a wonder they haven't become regulars on the festival circuit but I expect that to change as soon as things get back to normal. They made a livestream appearance at Pismo last fall and I'd bet festival directors took notice.
This is a band devoted to the fun side of 20s jazz, the jolly crowds raising glasses in speakeasys side of things. That said there is nothing unserious about the musicianship they bring.
They have an excellent rhythm section.Percussionist Diamono Andreo has a decked out washboard, then there's David Leoncavallo on bass, Jim Wade on tuba, and Todd Temanson strumming the banjo. They push the frontline forward and had me bouncing around the house. That front line is also hot, hot, hot; Drue Chermak on trumpet, Stan Middleton on Trombone, and John C. Webb on reeds. Middleton has the nickname "Skabone", and I'm not surprised he'd have that background, he takes the kind of extensive solos you only hear from the trombone when a band isn't afraid of entertaining the crowd.
Some of the bandmembers are busy musicians playing with a number of groups and in different styles, several of them older on inspection than I expected them to be. That experience helps make what is solidly traditional jazz seem fresh, even contemporary, I can'
