When his band, Nande & the Big Difference, disbanded in 2005, Nande turned his attention to fulfilling his dream of recording in the U.S. with American musicians he’d backed when those musicians toured Europe.

Thus began a year of planning and collaboration with James Harman that culminated in May 2006 with Nande and ace guitarist Ronni Busack-Boysen flying to California to record. With Harman as producer, the project took shape in the laid-back Oceanside, Calif. home studio of Harman’s guitarist, Nathan James, who served as engineer and who also added guitar on three tracks. Guitarist Junior Watson contributed his wickedly inventive axe work to four tracks, and Harman co-wrote and sang a couple of tracks. Harman assembled a stellar rhythm section for the endeavor, with Carl Sonny Leyland adding tasteful piano, Buddy Clark on bass, Hal Smith on drums and James Michael “Bonedaddy” Tempo on percussion.

Big Boy Boogie: California Sessions Vol. I. features an abundance of danceable Nande-penned grooves. To name a few: Dig the swamp vibe of “I Need a Woman,” complete with bongos and heavily tremeloed guitar; the urgent Chicago shuffle of “Mover & Shaker,” the foot-stompin’ “Comin’ Home” (co-written with Busack-Boysen); the John Lee Hooker/Howlin’ Wolf-flavored dual harp showcase “She’s Mad Again,” and the carnivalesque two-beat feel of “King of Bad Excuses.” Sample the pure slow-dance sensibility of “Lucky Charm,” the mambo-driven “Confessions of a Workaholic,” and the pleasantly surprising ska feel of “Ol’ Sleepyhead” (co-written with Harman). The recording is a veritable litmus test in blues rhythms.