compared to what

It’s the year of the uke!

Last May, in the midst of yet another Saturday errand excursion, I happened to be driving by my favorite local music store and decided it was time to act on an urge that I’d been surpressing for a few months. It was time to buy a ukulele.

I’d actually had a uke as a kid. Technically, it was my father’s, but, since I found it way back in my closet, I felt full ownership rights to play it. (When asking my mom what it was and why it was in my closet, her reply was matter-of-fact: “It’s a ukulele, and it’s your fathers”. But the hushed tone and furtive glances made it clear that this was “a topic not to be mentioned”.) Being a rather intuitive kid, I made sure I only played it while either (a)he was at work, or (b) Mom wasn’t around to hear us conniving over it.

Anyway, I’d totally forgotten about ukuleles (no clue where that old one ended up), but over the last 6 months or so, they seemed to be forcing themselves into my presence. (curiously, that’s also true of toy pianos, but so far, I’ve not much urge in that direction) Mostly, it seemed that every hipster string band I ran across was including ukulele in the mix. I thought it would be fun to mess with, so in I went.

Usually, I take forever to buy an instrument. Research, try out, sleep on it, ask everyone I know, google it, thrash. But a uke’s practically a toy, isn’t it? Daunted only momentarilly (right now as I type this, I’m hearing Uke on a Lasik commercial in the background) by the fact that ukuleles come in different voices, I did something I never do, I just grabbed the one that looked good. The guy behind the counter was thrilled. He tuned it up, played some licks, said he couldn’t figure it out, but they’d been selling at least one ukulele a week for the last few months “it’s the year of the ukulele” he says. He and the other person there got into a slight argument over tuning and transposing, but after making sure that “my dog has fleas” still works, I didn’t care about the rest. I took my little blue uke and left.

But his comment about the uke surge drove me to some youtube surfing. The hipster string band thing was definitely in evidence. But also, two other major uke tubers: Jason Castro making fine but traditional use of it in an AI performance. And Jake Shimabukuro playing it as if no one ever told him it was a toy.

So I was glad to get a chance to hear him live last week. It was mid week, and the ~1500 seat venue was sold out. The Chautauqua Auditoreum has an unusual accommodation for that: the 120 year old building has not climate control of any sort, but it has large barn doors all around and these are left open everywhere except behind the stage. Built on a hill in a park, this makes for natural outdoor seating. Lots of people go to this venue planning on sitting outdoors to hear the show, regardless of ticket sales.

I’d say most of the people there knew what they were there for, and it was a very interesting and enjoyable vibe: part rock, part classical concert. Cheering loudly between songs, but absolute, dead silence while he played. It was unusual to be at a pop concert and have the entire audience be on the same page.

Quiet was necessary, because, even amplified, the instrument’s voice never dominates. And his arrangments and original compositions are subtle, often complex, and worth hearing closely. But I find that I’m not totally sold on the uke. Shimabukuro got more from the instrument than I would have thought possible, but it also often felt that he was asking more of it than it could deliver. There was an almost lute-like sound on some songs, like the Ave Maria, where the quick decay of the notes helped reveal individual layers that would have been buried on a guitar. But the tone lacked the richness of a lute, and eventually, I missed that.

On other songs, Shimabukuro went the other direction and beat out chords with rock and rhythm. It was again interesting to hear what could be done (and usually, musically interesting as well). But it often felt that once he had maxed out what even his amped-up concert uke could give back, he was still asking for more, and the instrument had no more to give. We were carried to that next level, if at all, by our joint understanding that that’s where the music was headed, and joint desire to go there.

So it’s not too surprising, that the most successful pieces were the ones that seemed to understand the uke’s own nature, his originals “Blue Leaves Falling” and “Dragon”, the traditional Japanese “Sakura” and even the cover he’s best known for, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. The uke has a characteristic voice and range that is unmistakeable and interesting and lovely. This comes out in every hackneyed Hawaiian folk song we’ve ever heard. But it also is capable of far more interesting musical conversation than we’ve usually heard. It’s great to have music that recognizes both. This might just be the year of the uke, afterall.

Shimabukuru has several albums out, but I’d encourage people to go to iTunes and sample for yourselves: tastes in orchestration are just too varied for me to hazzard a recommendation. Here’s some things from a taping of his Bonnaroo ‘08 set. You can download the whole thing here (The photo of Jake above is from the same taper. Thanks!) The taper had some mic issues, which is unfortunate. Still a very nice tape, but this instrument, more than most, really benefits from a good hall and careful micing.

Ave Maria (Franz Shubert), Bonnaroo ‘08

Blue Leaves Falling, Bonnaroo ‘08

And, for a look at the concert experience, here he is performing his Bruce Lee inspired original, Dragon:

categories: live, music
tags: Chautauqua, Jake Shimabukuro, ukulele