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Judy Collins

‘Ageless wild angel of pop’ to play Castle Theater Friday with Ari Hest

Judy Collins; photo courtesy MACC

Nominated in December for a Best Folk Album Grammy Award for “Silver Skies Blue,” Judy Collins’ latest recording features a collaboration with Bronx-born singer-songwriter Ari Hest, who will perform with her on Maui this week.

Released last summer, the acclaimed album showcases their inspired vocal duets on a collection of mostly original material they crafted together.

“Ari and I started doing some singing together about four years ago,” Collins explains. “We continued to tour and we started thinking about writing and recording songs together. He’s 20 years younger than I am, and the songs combine a sense of generation and a new twist on it. I’ve done duets in my career with Joan Baez and Leonard Cohen, but I’ve never found anybody who could sing like this. It’s totally wonderful.”

Collins previously chose one of Hest’s songs as the title track on her 2015 album “Strangers Again,” which featured duets with stellar friends like Willie Nelson, Michael McDonald, Jackson Browne, Don McLean and Jeff Bridges. “It was thrilling to work with all of them,” she says.

One of the album’s highlights, “When I Go,” by Dave Carter, is a moving Native American homage enhanced by the blending of Nelson’s and Collins’ voices. “What a great song,” she notes. “The minute I played it for him he said, ‘I know Dave Carter, we’ll have to do that one.’ “

Samoan operatic trio Sol3 Mio • Sunday; photo provided by MACC.

Performing for more than five decades, Collins can still enchant audiences with her amazing voice that sounds as ethereal and emotive as ever.

“It’s almost unheard of for a pop soprano in her 70s to surpass her younger self in stamina, precision of intonation and vocal command,” noted a New York Times review.

Raised in Denver, Colo., Collins began performing in local clubs before she became a fixture in the Greenwich Village folk scene. Her major breakthrough came in 1967 with Joni Mitchell’s song “Both Sides Now,” which earned her a Grammy.

Over the years, her repertoire has expanded to range from Broadway standards and the Beatles’ classics to country music and rocking Bob Dylan covers.

“I just did a big Sondheim production for PBS and I’ve recorded with orchestras, so I’m very eclectic,” says Collins. “But the moniker of folk singer, which comes from my early days, means a lot. It means social consciousness and having worked for causes like peace and justice and the unions.”

Proclaimed “the ageless wild angel of pop” by the New York Times, this 77-year-old musician, suggests that if there is any secret to her longevity, “I have good genes and I take good care of myself. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke and I don’t scream. And I take all the vitamins I’m supposed to do. I’m happy, I love what I do and I’m compelled to keep searching.”

* Judy Collins and Ari Hest will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Castle Theater at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center in Kahului. Tickets are $35, $45, $55 and $65 and are available at the box office, by calling 242-7469 or online at www.mauiarts.org.

*****

Hugely popular in the islands, the Young Rascals broke attendance records when they played Oahu’s Honolulu International Center in the late 1960s.

A 1967 tour program declared: “The Young Rascals are the hottest group in Hawaii, hotter than the Beatles.” Hawaii inspired songs such as “Island of Love,” and of course “My Hawaii,” helped maintain their star profile.

“We had the good fortune of being famous there,” recalls band founder Felix Cavaliere. “They really took to our music because of the R&B flavor. It was the best place on earth to be famous.”

Touring these days as Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals, the original Young Rascals band was formed in 1965. Buoyed by Cavaliere’s signature blue-eyed soul voice, the singer/keyboardist told an interviewer that the band’s music concept was “Marvin Gaye’s voice, Ray Charles’ piano, Jimmy Smith’s organ, Phil Spector’s production and the Beatles’ writing — put them all together and you’ve got what I wanted to do.”

The Young Rascals hit stardom with their first success, the exuberant “Good Lovin,’ “ which still ignites audiences today.

“The moment we played it before an audience, people jumped out of their seats and danced,” he says. “It’s still like it. I close shows with it and people get up and dance.”

The band went on to achieve seven U.S. Top 30 hits before becoming the Rascals in 1968. Their string of soulful hits included “I’ve Been Lonely Too Long,” “Groovin,'” “How Can I Be Sure,” “A Girl Like You,” “A Beautiful Morning” and “People Got to Be Free” (another No. 1 in 1968).

Interestingly with “Groovin'” the band’s label balked at releasing it.

“There was no drum in it, just a conga with a Latin feeling,” says Cavaliere. “They considered us a pop group and you (don’t) pull the drum out. They were wrong.”

The song hit No. 1 in 1967.

Fearing it was too political, Atlantic Records was also reluctant to release the band’s inspiring “People Got to Be Free,” which was composed by Cavaliere after the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy.

“The record company did not feel it was a hit,” he notes. The song topped the charts for five weeks. “We were trying to change the world. It didn’t work, but we did our best.”

When the Rascals disbanded in 1972, Cavaliere began pursuing a solo career with albums like “Castles in the Air,” which produced the Top 40 hit “Only a Heart Sees,” and “Dreams in Motion.” In 2008, he collaborated with Stax guitar legend Steve Crooper on the Grammy-nominated “Nudge it Up a Notch,” and again in 2010 with “Midnight Flyer.”

Over the years, Cavaliere’s songs have been recorded by Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, George Benson, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen, Pat Benatar and Maui’s Marty Dread. “We’ve had some goodies with Aretha doing ‘Groovin’ and Pat Benatar doing ‘You Better Run,’ “ he says. “I love it when people do your songs.”

Playing the MACC on Saturday, Cavaliere remembers the time decades back when the group toured the islands playing fairs.

“In some cases, we were the first group,” he recalls. “We worked on all the islands. They would close the pineapple factory and have a break at the schools. It was wonderful.”

* Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Castle Theater at the MACC. Tickets are $45, $65 and $85, with a limited number of premium $125 seats available (plus applicable fees), and are available at the box office, by calling 242-7469 or online at www.mauiarts.org.

*****

A former member of the Hawaiian group ‘Ale’a, Chad Takatsugi was a multiple Na Hoku award winner in 2016 for his debut solo album, “Ahuwale.” He won Haku Mele, Hawaiian Album of the Year and Hawaiian Language Performance.

The album included Hawaiian standards by Helen Desha Beamer, Mary Kawena Pukui and Dennis Kamakahi. Friends joining him on “Ahuwale” included former ‘Ale’a members Kale Hanaz and Ryan Gonzalez, along with Kuana Torres Kahele, Ikaika Blackburn and Imua Garza.

An accomplished composer and musician, Takatsugi first discovered his passion for hulu and mele his freshman year at Kamehameha Schools. He formed ‘Ale’a (meaning “sweet-voiced”) with fellow classmates. The band’s acclaimed debut album, “Take Me Home,” won Na Hoku Hanohano Awards for Island Contemporary Album of the Year, Group of the Year, Most Promising Artist of the Year and Haku Mele in 2001. They had earlier won the 1998 Ka Himeni Ana competition. In 2005, ‘Ale’a’s “Kaulupono” won Contemporary Hawaiian Album of the Year.

* Chad Takatsugi will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in McCoy Studio Theater at the MACC. Tickets are $30 (plus applicable fees). For more information, visit www.mauiarts.org.

*****

Making its Maui debut Sunday, Sol3 Mio is a Samoan operatic trio from New Zealand, consisting of tenors Pene and Amitai Pati, and baritone Moses Mackay.

Their self-titled debut album, mixing traditional and popular songs, was the biggest-selling album in New Zealand for three years running from its release in 2013. Their follow-up album, “On Another Note,” was that nation’s biggest-selling album of 2016.

In 2015, Pene Pati won the audience and second-place awards in Placido Domingo’s prestigious Operalia opera competition.

An NZ Stuff Sol3 Mio concert review raved: “They delighted more than 2,000 fans with more than two hours of music — encompassing everything from well-known arias such as ‘Nessun Dorma’ to songs made famous by the likes of Dean Martin, Sir Tom Jones and even Coldplay.”

* Sol3 Mio will perform at 3 p.m. Sunday in Castle Theater at the MACC. Tickets are $35, $50 and $65 (plus applicable fees). For more information, visit www.mauiarts.org.

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