Showing posts with label Jake Shimabukuro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jake Shimabukuro. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Tommy Emmanuel - Accomplice One

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:52
Size: 146.2 MB
Styles: Assorted guitar styles
Year: 2018
Art: Front

[3:27] 1. Deep River Blues (With Jason Isbell)
[3:21] 2. Song And Dance Man (With Ricky Skaggs)
[2:34] 3. Saturday Night Shuffle (With Jorma Kaukonen, Patbergeson)
[2:52] 4. Wheelin' & Dealin' (With J.D. Simo, Charlie Cushman)
[4:12] 5. C-Jam Blues (With David Grisman, Bryan Sutton)
[4:50] 6. (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay (With J.D. Simo)
[5:19] 7. Borderline 9with Amanda Shines)
[2:51] 8. You Don't Want To Get You One Of Those (With Mark Knopfler)
[5:00] 9. Keepin' It Reel (With Clive Carroll)
[4:25] 10. Looking Forward To The Past (With Rodney Crowell)
[4:04] 11. Purple Haze (With Jerry Douglas)
[3:13] 12. Rachel's Lullaby (With Jake Shimabukuro)
[3:26] 13. Djangology (With Frank Vignola, Vinny Raaniolo)
[5:30] 14. Watson Blues (With David Grisman, Bryan Sutton)
[5:13] 15. Tittle Tattle (With Jack Pearson)
[3:26] 16. The Duke's Message (With Suzy Bogguss)

Accomplice One is a testament to Tommy’s musical diversity, the range of expression that stretches from authentic country-blues to face-melting rock shredding, by way of tender and devastating pure song playing. The songs are a mix of new takes on indelible classics and brand new originals from Tommy and his collaborators. The artists who stepped forward to join Tommy in the studio are an impressive list of some of today’s most respected performers, from across the musical spectrum.

"Confession time – I’m not usually a fan of multiple collaborator type albums. Too often they strike me as a marketing wheeze in which the guest artists add little to the equation. Fair play to acoustic guitar man Tommy Emmanuel though, on Accomplice One he’s taken advantage of guests toting a variety of instruments to explore a wide range of musical styles.

What this means though, is that your response to the material is liable to be very much a matter of personal taste. So for my part the jet-propelled bluegrassy picking on “Wheelin & Dealin’”, featuring banjo from Charlie Cushman and electric guitar from JD Simo, is a winner. Likewise the rattling Celtic folk of “Keepin’ It Reel”, with Clive Carroll. On a different note, the Americana ballad-styled reading of Madonna’s “Borderline”, colored by Amanda Shires’ fiddle and vocals, takes on an aching quality. And in another vein entirely, “Purple Haze” is a launchpad for a rousingly steely instrumental adventure with Jerry Douglas on Dobro.

On the other hand, the duet of “Song And Dance Man” with Ricky Scaggs, and “Looking Forward To The Past” with Rodney Crowell, are country songs with the kind of cloyingly maudlin lyrics that do the genre no favors, though at least the latter musters some chugging energy. Meanwhile if you like gypsy jazz then “Djangology” and a hornless version of Duke Ellington’s “C-Jam Blues”, may well float your boat. But they leave me cold, as does the sleepy duet with Mark Knopfler on “You Don’t Want To Get You One Of Those,” whose lyric about a beat-up automobile appears to be a shoddy metaphor for a woman past her best.

The balance of the 16 tracks are satisfying enough to differing degrees, including an affectionate cover of “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” with Simo on vocals, and a rendition of “Watson’s Blues” that puts me pleasantly in mind of Samantha Fish’s take on “Jim Lee Blues Part 1”. And the musicianship is top notch throughout of course, so if you’re an acoustic roots aficionado, Accomplice One is probably right up your street. But to a wider audience it’s likely to be a pick’n’mix affair." ~Iain Cameron

Accomplice One mc
Accomplice One zippy

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Jake Shimabukuro - Dragon

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:15
Size: 104,2 MB
Art: Front

(2:59)  1. Shake It Up!
(4:06)  2. Dragon
(3:15)  3. Circle Of Friends
(3:39)  4. Me And Shirley T.
(2:21)  5. Floaters
(5:09)  6. 3rd Stream
(3:34)  7. Touch
(5:03)  8. En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor (feat. DJ QBert)
(3:35)  9. Toastmanland
(2:24) 10. Making A Perfect Yesterday
(5:19) 11. Looking Back
(3:45) 12. With U Always

The humble ukulele needed a man like Jake Shimabukuro, the 28-year-old string virtuoso determined to turn all your “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” preconceptions on their ear. Shimabukuro’s unconventional approach to the instrument produces a sound and a complexity more akin to a mandolin or a lead guitar than what you might recognize as a uke. Revered in Japan and in his native home of Hawaii, Shimabukuro has enjoyed little fame elsewhere, but with Dragon, his fourth LP (and the first to be aggressively marketed in the continental U.S.), that seems likely to change. Dragon finds Shimabukuro in an adventurous, expansive state; there’s considerably less novelty and bravado than in his previous, folksier releases. Instead, the focus of the album rests on Shimabukuro’s songwriting, and the results are generally positive: “Toastmanland” and “Me & Shirley T” are light and sweet, “Shake It Up” and “Circle of Friends” are rousing anthemic power ballads, and “El Aranjuez Con Tu Amor” (an unconventional take on Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez,” featuring a drum loop from superstar turntablist DJ Q-Bert) is, if not triumphant, at least always interesting. The album’s greatest fault is its sentimentality; much of the CD is drenched with treacly orchestration that threatens to obscure Shimabukuro. While I would have preferred a more stripped-down set, Dragon is an impressive effort and a thoroughly enjoyable listen. ~ John Seroff https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/jake-shimabukuro-dragon/ 
 
Personnel: Jake Shimabukuro (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, ukulele, piano, keyboards, programming); Jake Shimabukuro (guitar); Ignace Jang, Claire Hazzard, Hung Wu, Judy Barrett (violin); Sandra Wong, Anna Womack (viola); Karen Fujimoto, Karen Bechtel (cello); Daniel Pardo, Dean Taba (bass instrument); Noel Okimoto (drums).

Dragon

Friday, October 23, 2015

Earl Klugh - HandPicked

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:08
Size: 126.2 MB
Styles: Jazz guitar
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[2:31] 1. Alfie
[2:26] 2. Lullaby Of Birdland
[6:09] 3. Blue Moon
[4:05] 4. In Six
[3:12] 5. Cast Your Fate To The Wind
[8:02] 6. Hotel California
[3:37] 7. More And More Amor
[2:29] 8. 'round Midnight
[1:45] 9. But Beautiful
[3:43] 10. All I Have To Do Is Dream
[3:36] 11. Going Out Of My Head
[1:57] 12. If I Fell
[2:01] 13. Where The Wind Takes Me
[3:14] 14. Morning Rain
[2:19] 15. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing
[3:55] 16. This Time

In a recording career of over three decades, master guitarist Earl Klugh has been lauded as a prodigy and a groundbreaker of contemporary jazz. Klugh's highly-anticipated Concord debut, HandPicked, is a self-produced solo album with guest guitarists Bill Frisell, Vince Gill, Jake Shimabukuro and others.

HandPicked

Friday, September 11, 2015

Jake Shimabukuro - Peace Love Ukulele

Styles: Oceanic Traditions
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:45
Size: 113,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:26)  1. 143 (Kelly's Song) 2011
(5:54)  2. Bohemian Rhapsody
(3:50)  3. Bring Your Adz
(3:20)  4. Boy Meets Girl
(4:07)  5. Go For Broke
(2:57)  6. Trapped 2010
(4:13)  7. Variation On A Dance 2010
(2:51)  8. Pianoforte 2010
(3:29)  9. Five Dollars Unleaded 2010
(3:03) 10. Ukulele Bros.
(4:24) 11. Hallelujah
(6:06) 12. Bohemian Rhapsody - Live Version (Bonus Track)

The popularity and respect accorded to different musical instruments changes over time with, for example, the saxophone having been considered a novelty until jazz musicians discovered it and began finding ways to express themselves with it. The ukulele has also been considered a novelty for a long time, having only four strings and a range of only two octaves, such that it has mostly been played by children. Hawaii native Jake Shimabukuro was four years old when he started playing one, and he has continued to ever since, apparently taking its limitations as a challenge. Shimabukuro gained recognition when his version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" went viral on Youtube (an appropriate choice, since songwriter George Harrison was a big ukulele fan), but as he shows on much of Peace, Love, Ukulele (released by Hitchhike Records with distribution by Jimmy Buffett's Mailboat Records), he is more interested in his own original compositions.

The ear-catching cover here is Shimabukuro's nearly unaccompanied version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" (there's also a take of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"), which is a cute idea, since it seems like such an ambitious piece even if it does break down into a few sections, each with its own tune. But actually more ambitious are Shimabukuro's own numbers, starting with "143 (Kelly's Song) 2011," on which he is accompanied by a string quartet. He shows off just how fast his fingering can be on "Bring Your Adz," but turns slow and mournful on "Go for Broke," featuring Noel Okimoto's martial drums. "Trapped 2010" is a duet with Iggy Jang's violin, a tune "inspired by Ralph MacDonald." It's hard to say how much improvisation is involved in this playing (it sounds composed most of the time), but the musical style for the most part probably should be deemed "contemporary jazz," if only for lack of a better description. Actually, the music also has pop/rock aspects, especially in "Ukulele Bros.," written by Bruce Shimabukuro, who pairs with his brother on a sort of dueling ukulele tour de force. Whatever the style is, Jake Shimabukuro bids to make the ukulele a respectable instrument on this album, as he has on its predecessors. ~ William Ruhlmann http://www.allmusic.com/album/peace-love-ukulele-mw0002069792

Peace Love Ukulele