The Bop Brothers

The Bop Brothers were formed in 1986 by guitarist Jon T-Bone Taylor, a graduate of the Guildhall School Of Music, London, England, whose nickname arose from the similarity of his blues playing to that of T-Bone Walker, and singer Al Eastwood. By 1987 they had been joined by saxophonist Jerry Underwood, bass player Rob Statham and drummer Sam Kelly. However, Underwood subsequently left to work with John Martyn and Kelly found work on the stage show Ain’t Misbehavin’. Their places were taken by Dick Heckstall-Smith (saxophone, also a member of Colosseum and another graduate of Guildhall) and Louis Borenius (drums). That line-up made their debut in 1995 with Strange News, an album recorded at an original valve studio in Chiswick Reach, which included six Eastwood originals. The delay in its recording was attributed to various other projects, including Taylor and Borenius’ work with Roogalator and as sidemen with Dana Gillespie.