June 14, 2009|By Tim Smith | Tim Smith,tim.smith@baltsun.com
Outside of Hawaii, the ukulele was once most associated with things like college kids strumming fox trots in the 1920s. Or radio/TV personality Arthur Godfrey doing his folksy thing in the 1940s and 1950s. And then, of course, Tiny Tim in the 1960s, accompanying himself on that diminutive instrument while warbling stratospherically to "Tiptoe Through the Tulips."
Today, the ukulele means something much cooler and infinitely more versatile, thanks to the startling virtuosity, musical inquisitiveness and sheer charm of Jake Shimabukuro.
"The ukulele has a certain magic," he says. "It has such a unique sound. It can disarm people and make them feel at ease."
The Honolulu-born Shimabukuro, who performs at Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis this afternoon, has in recent years elevated the ukulele's profile and status to an unprecedented degree.
He has been a popular guest on late-night TV chat shows and National Public Radio, has toured extensively and recorded strong-selling albums. He has collaborated with such artists as Jimmy Buffett and Yo-Yo Ma.
Another indication of Shimabukuro's appeal: More than 3 million views on YouTube of him playing his vivid arrangement of George Harrison's "My Guitar Gently Weeps," filmed in Central Park.
Shimabukuro, 32, started playing the ukulele at a tender age.
"My mother placed it in my hands when I was 4 years old. The size was perfect for me," he says with a laugh. "She taught me a few chords, and I was hooked."
Initially, Shimabukuro focused on traditional music of Hawaii, where the ukulele was introduced around 1880 by Portuguese immigrants from Madeira (they called it a machete da braca).
"Then I discovered that you could play all different styles of music on it," Shimabukuro says. "You just had to be creative and open-minded. One of the best things about the instrument is that you can go from a piece by Bach to the Beatles or Jimi Hendrix. It's really amazing."
Shimabukuro's approach didn't necessarily strike every ukulele aficionado in Hawaii as appropriate.
"When I first started doing crazy things - rock, jazz standards, classical - some traditionalists would ask me, 'Why don't you play the guitar instead?' " he says. "But once they got a sense of what I was trying to accomplish and what my vision was, they were OK with it."
That vision called for significantly stretching the presumed boundaries of an instrument with four strings, rather than a guitar's six, and only a two-octave span, rather than a guitar's four. "I like the fact that, because [the ukulele] has such a limited range, you have to rely on other aspects," he says. "You rely a lot on yourself, your hands, your fingers, your creativity."
Given the old associations of the ukulele with lighthearted fare, Shimabukuro carefully considers how he plays it.
"I want to make music in a way that is not corny. I don't want it to come off as a novelty," he says, "I'm trying to create music with this instrument, to make sure that it's something very serious, so people forget about the instrument and hear only the music."
Not that Shimabukuro is advocating stuffiness. Far from it.
"I want my music to be fun at the same time," he says. "The ukulele brings immediate joy into your life. Think of the ukulele in Tiny Tim's 'Tiptoe Through the Tulips' or 'Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head' [from the soundtrack of the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid]. You can't create that with any other instrument."
Shimabukuro's ability to communicate engagingly and artfully is what prompted Baltimore documentary filmmaker Michael Lawrence to invite him to be in a film about the inspirational power of Bach's music (the project is in postproduction).
"Jake is the sweetest guy and a wonderful musician," Lawrence says. "I follow him on Google Alert, and I can tell you he's hot as a firecracker."
Lawrence discovered Shimabukuro by seeing the "My Guitar Gently Weeps" YouTube video. "I asked his manager if, by any chance, Jake plays Bach. I thought, what a weird instrument to have in my film," Lawrence says.
Shimabukuro was more than willing to learn, especially when he found out that some of his favorite musicians, such as banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck and stellar bassist Edgar Meyer, were in the film. (Shimabukuro has toured and recorded with Fleck and the Flecktones.)
"I had dabbled in transcriptions [of classical music] before," Shimabukuro says. "I did one of the Paganini Caprices, [Beethoven's] Moonlight Sonata and Fur Elise. And [Gounod's] Ave Maria - that was always one of my favorites."
Shimabukuro decided to focus on one of Bach's great works for keyboard.
"I had a thing for his Two-Part Inventions," he says. "That's some of the most beautiful music ever written. And No. 4 [in D minor] was always one of my favorites. It took a long time to transcribe; trying to learn to play the transcription took even longer," he says. "It was one of the most difficult things I've ever done. It's a very short piece, not even a minute long, but very intense."
He kept that bit of Bach in his repertoire after shooting the Lawrence film. "I play it at concerts just to freak people out," he says with another laugh.
It's probably only a matter of time before a composer writes a concerto for Shimabukuro. "I'd be totally down with it," he says. "Hopefully, I'll get a call someday."
Meanwhile, he has plenty of other music to focus on, including his own compositions, as he continues to bring the unassuming ukulele into the limelight.
"I just want to have a good time and connect with the people there," he says of his Annapolis gig. "I've always believed that music should make you happy. I hope everyone will walk away smiling."
That seems guaranteed.
If you go
Jake Shimabukuro performs at 3 p.m. today at Rams Head Tavern, 33 West St., Annapolis. Tickets are $27.50. Call 410-268-4545 or go to ramsheadonstage.com
