Select tracks from Blue Bone Express' first album "The Early Years"

The Early Years: 2004-2007

Dead Man Blues

Inside Obtuse

Bourbon Street Parade

Mouth of the Mississippi Suite I: Omni-Present Blues

Just A Closer Walk

Oakland-based Blue Bone Express, known simply as BBX, has forged a unique place in the San Francisco Bay Area music scene since formed in 2004 by pianist/trumpeter Jara Ra. Their music is primarily a mix of jazz, blues, and r&b, inspired by the deep legacy of New Orleans music culture. Rags and stomps are played and sung effortlessly alongside blues jumps and more modern rock & TV theme covers, amidst a host of original compositions.

Their signature sousaphone and rollicking piano sound keeps the party hopping with infectious 2nd line and shuffle rhythms of traditional New Orleans parades. Not a jazz band to just sit and sip wine to, Blue Bone Express gets bones up on the floor (or street) and keeps the vibe at an ecstatic high. Named “the coolest jazz brass band in Northern California” by the San Francisco Chronicle, BBX is firmly placed to maintain the Bay Area’s standard for hot party jazz.