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FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM

Jake Shimabukuro is an amazing guitar player.  The media that he uses to express that phenomenal talent is on the diminutive instrument known as the ukulele.  The ukulele’s use is more popular in traditional Hawaiian music, but it has made its way into mainland pop music recently via the likes of Ingrid Michaelson, Amanda Palmer, and one of my favorites – Nellie McKay (review / ukulele pic).

Well, Jake brings his music from Hawaii, but he is nothing resembling a “traditional” Hawaiian ukulele player.He is a master fret-worker on the ukulele and brings sounds out of it that you wouldn’t necessarily find on the islands.

Jake Shimabukuro hit the stage around 7:30pm.  His set bridged gaps between traditional Hawaiian music, to jazz, to blues, to classical, to folk, to classic rock, to bluegrass, to flamenco, to traditional Japanese music.  He played a few new tunes from his forthcoming album including “143” and “Piano-Forte.”  The latter was written with two piano parts (left and right hand), and due to Jake only containing the standard issue “two hands” only played the left-handed rendition.  We’ll have to wait for the album for the full version.

Here’s what he blessed us with last night…

Setlist: about 90 mins

• 143
• Blue Roses Falling
• Me & Shirley T.
• Let’s Dance
• Dragon
• “Bowing for the Queen” story
• In My Life (Beatles)
• While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Beatles)
• Sakura Sakura
• Piano-Forte (left hand rendition)
• Trapped
• Five Dollars Unleaded
• Orange World
• Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
• Encore: Crazy G
  

Jake was a very talkative person, full of stories about song origins and his childhood: the too many sugary drinks induced “Me & Shirley T.,” the Carlos Montoya-influenced flamenco number “Let’s Dance,” the Bruce Lee meets Eddie Van Halen song “Dragon” (beautifully full of finger taps), playing with Bette Midler and bowing a lot for the Queen of England, the Ralph McDonald (of Jimmy Buffett’s band) 9/8-time rhythm that inspired “Trapped,” and riding around Hawaii in his dad’s old pickup truck.  Full of stories, full of excellent melodies and wicked fast hands – Jake Shimabukuro was a treat.

more photos below

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Jake’s Site
• Jake on MySpace
• The Shedd

~Dan – np: Haftor Medbøe Group – A Box of Monkeys -EP-

JAKE SHIMABUKURO PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2010 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

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