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Ukulele master
Jake Shimabukuro has taken the four-string, two-octave instrument to places no one could have imagined back in the golden years of
Don Ho, ranging freely across the music spectrum from jazz, blues, and funk to bluegrass, classical, and folk with the ease of a musician fully in command of the possibilities of his chosen instrument.
Born November 3, 1976 in Honolulu, Hawaii,
Shimabukuro was given his first ukulele lesson by his mother when he was only four years old. Fascinated by the uke, he eventually began playing regularly at a local Honolulu café. He was a founding member of Pure Heart, and played on the trio's first two albums before leaving to form Colon. In 2001
Shimabukuro began his solo career, releasing Elaine Maru (In Memory Of) on Surfside Records that same year. He signed with Epic in 2002 and released Sunday Morning on the label a year later, following it with
Skyline in 2003. In 2005 he found an international distributor for his own label, Hitchhike Records, and began issuing his own music, including
Crosscurrent,
Dragon,
My Life, and the much lauded
Gently Weeps, which included a haunting version of
George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."
By that time,
Shimabukuro had completely rewritten the book on the possibilities of the ukulele, and his skill on the instrument attracted the ear and attention of
Béla Fleck, who has used
Shimabukuro as both an opening act and as a sit-in guest with
the Flecktones.
Shimabukuro's 2011 release,
Peace, Love, Ukulele, topped Billboard's World Albums chart, and he followed it with Grand Ukulele, produced by
Alan Parsons with orchestrations by
Kip Winger (and recorded live with no overdubs), in the fall of 2012. Three years later, in October 2015,
Shimabukuro returned with
Travels, a collection less ambitious in scope than its predecessor but still quite varied. His next project, 2016's
Nashville Sessions, was the product of only six days' worth of recordings, reflecting original compositions written on the spot and played with a new trio
Shimabukuro assembled for the set. For his next project, he returned to the same Nashville studio, expanding his recent trio to a quartet for 2018's The Greatest Day, which offered a mix of originals and well-known covers like
the Zombies' "Time of the Season" and
the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby."
Shimabukuro's next outing came in the form of a trio album. Released in 2019, Trio featured bassist
Nolan Verner and guitarist
Dave Preston playing an eclectic mix of originals, pop covers, and Hawaiian music. ~ Steve Leggett