Buckner Funken Jazz, Doing What They Love

Jenn Cohen | November 1, 2012 | 0 Comments

by Charlie Sullivan

Buckner Funken Jazz has been putting their groove on and getting funky throughout Colorado for the last twelve years. The crew’s music can be best described as a fusion of funk and jazz (hence the name), with heavy backbeats, room for a little improvisation, and above all else, a little bit of soul. Whether the outfit is jamming their own arrangements of funk standards, popular and obscure, or original selections, they lay it down in old-school fashion with a contemporary feel.

The band is like an assemblage of snake charmers who hypnotize you with grooves that make you want to move. Performing comes naturally to this bunch. It’s apparent the minute they start executing pieces that they feel the music; it just streams out of them until a song is exhausted, and just when you think it’s over they ramp it up again and take you on another trip.

“We don’t play smooth Jazz,” states Rod “Bucky” Buckner (trumpet, vocals). “We like to change it up and just go with it.”

“We have our original pieces, and [we] take traditional jazz pieces, and play them the way we feel it,” adds Ron Buckner (bass and oh so melodic).

This mesmerizing septet is rounded out by the talents of Bobby Hill (percussion, vocals), Josh Paterson (guitar, vocals), Tony Davis (drums, vocals), Ty Nemechek (sax), and Mark De George (keyboards).

I sat in with the band during one of their Monday night rehearsals and was treated to some sweet sounds. There’s something to be said about watching the creative process unfold and the way well schooled musicians will just meld together and cut loose. The band stepped into “Back It Up,” a Funken Jazz arrangement of an instrumental piece off of Alfonzo Blackwell’s Dance To This album, and disappeared in the song for about ten minutes, letting all of the members have a little solo time; if they’d recorded it, I would have bought a copy on the spot. They also let loose with a new arrangement of “Grandma’s Hand.” If that wasn’t enough, at the end of the session, Ron’s wife Susan had supper ready for the band, and they sat down and broke bread together, now that’s what I call a Monday night ritual.

The outfit knows what it’s like to jam in front of the masses, having played Red Rocks, the City Park Jazz Festival, among others.

“Local shows are sporadic, we’d love to have more gigs,” relays Buckner. “We’re always looking for corporate events and festivals.”

“The festivals always go over big,” affirms Rod. “People like our music, they have a good time, get in some dancing, and we love playing for them.”

If you’re looking to get out of a funk, this is a band that’ll pick you up, get you moving, and get you grooving!

Warning!! Funken has been known to make people dance by themselves.

Herman’s, Saturday November 17, doors open at 7:30 PM BFJ time to be announced

New Years Eve, Oskar Blues, Longmont, CO