Jake Shimabukuro teams with Mick Fleetwood for new album and annual Maui ‘Ukulele Festival’
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By JON WOODHOUSE
For The Maui News
Headlining the free 17th annual Maui 'Ukulele Festival on Oct. 27 at the MACC, Jake Shimabukuro is about to release his latest groundbreaking album, "Blues Experience," which finds the ukulele virtuoso teaming with Fleetwood's Mac's co-founder Mick Fleetwood for a memorable recording interpreting a bunch of classic songs.
The nine instrumental tracks range from Procul Harem's "Whiter Shade of Pale" and Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World" to Albert King's "I Wanna Get Funky" and "Need Your Love So Bad," immortalized by Fleetwood Mac and Peter Green in 1968.
"Everything was recorded live in the studio, just a few takes of each song," explains Shimabukuro. "Mick let us gather in his studio and we got a few songs together and played. It's so surreal because the whole time Jackson Waldhoff, who's playing bass, and Michael Grande, who's playing keys, we're just looking at each other like I can't believe we're right now in the studio with Mick Fleetwood. It was amazing. It was just so much the energy that he brings. He just brings the fire."
Fleetwood enthused in a recent Maui News interview, "It was a thrill to put out a blues based selection of instrumental versions of some famous old classics played as only he can do. Creating fresh magic in every title, and as we all know, one brilliant player."
The two musicians had initially connected backstage at a Fleetwood Mac reunion concert in Nashville. "Then about a year after that, we were doing a show at the MACC and Mick brought his family down," Shimabukuro recalls. "We got to talk and thought, let's just get into the studio and see what happens. We didn't know what it would be like."
The result is brilliant, a triumph for both the master drummer and virtuoso wizard. A Living Blues review praised: "every track is a shining gem that reveals new facets of songs that Shimabukuro and Fleetwood re-vision," while the British music magazine Mojo hailed it as "extraordinary stuff."
Besides bassist Waldhoff and keyboardist Grande, other musicians contributing include Maui's keyboard player and Fleetwood Blues Band member, Mark Johnstone, and slide guitar legend Sonny Landreth on Stevie Wonder's "Cause We've Ended As Lovers," which was composed for Jeff Beck.
Among the many highlights, they deliver a ferocious version of the blues standard "Rollin' and Tumblin'," which Muddy Waters first recorded in 1950 and Eric Clapton and Cream made famous on their debut album.
"I did something that I'd never done before, this really long circular delay thing, kind of repeated over each other to create this rolling effect," he says. "Like rolling and tumbling effect. We had a lot of a lot of fun with that one."
Mick Fleetwood had suggested they interpret the Procul Harem classic.
"He said he's always wanted to record that song," says Shimabukuro. "It's always been one of his favorites. We were talking about our recent tour in the U.K. and he asked me if I play that tune. I've never played it, but I've always loved it. And he said, 'the next time you play in the U.K. you should end your concert with that song. That's like such an anthem, everybody will be singing'."
Adapting "Need Your Love So Bad," on ukulele was a little daunting for him. "I was scared to do it," he says. "But Mick, he's so encouraging. He was like, 'I think you can put your own feeling, your own heart on this tune.' He really encouraged me to go for it. This is all new territory for me. I've kind of dabbled with a little bit of this kind of music, but not like that. I mean, like Need Your Love So Bad. That's deep. When you listen to Peter Green's version, just the opening guitar riff he plays, those first four notes, it just rips your heart out."
The ukulele virtuoso reports, "there are a lot of songs on this album that I would never have tried to cover or attempt them, if we didn't have Mick Fleetwood with us. When he's on your team, it's like you have Michael Jordan on your team, you can do anything. He just elevates everyone around him when he plays. Like Gary Moore's 'You Still Got the Blues,' and Jeff Beck's 'Cause We've Ended As Lovers,' even guitar players usually wouldn't touch."
The one original on the album, "Kula Blues," composed by Shimabukuro, was inspired by Sonny Landreth. "He's one of my favorite musicians," he says. "Sonny Landreth and I actually performed 'Cause We've Ended As Lovers' a few times before we even got in the studio with Mick Fleetwood. We were talking about Jeff Beck and how much we loved his playing."
"Blues Experience" closes with a sublime version of Christine McVie's epic "Songbird."
"We did the tribute to Christine, and that was really special," he says. "That one still gives me chicken skin when I think about it. When we recorded that, Mick said that he felt Christine's presence in the studio with us. He felt she came, and he got to say his goodbye. It was a really special moment."
Returning to the MACC to play the annual ukulele festival after many years, Shimabukuro is especially grateful for the opportunity to play on Maui, where he will perform with Jackson Waldhoff, and special guest Mick Fleetwood.
"It's just such a magical event," he says. "Maui's just so awesome. These kinds of things for me are so meaningful. It's not just another music festival. These kinds of moments are so special when the community can come together like this and support each other and just feel what it's like to be together, because that unifies us and just makes us all stronger. I'm so glad because Roy Sakuma is coming. I know it's very special to him as well that the Maui Ukulele Festival is still going strong."
We can expect the festival musicians will collaborate for an epic finale. "I talked to Andrew Molina and Vince Esquire, suggesting we need to get everybody together at the end where we all play something, close it out with some kind of jam session. It'll be a lot of fun."
The free 17th annual Maui 'Ukulele Festival will be held on Oct. 27 at the MACC starting at 2 p.m. The lineup features Jake Shimabukuro, Paula Fuga, Kanekoa, Derick Sebastian, Kala'e and Rama Camarillo, the Hula Honeys, Benny Uyetake, Arlie Asiu, Andrew Molina, Anthony Pfluke, Kumu Hula Uluwehi Guerrero and Hālau Hula Kauluokalā, and the Kalama Intermediate 'Ukulele Band. A free ukulele workshop with Roy Sakuma will be held on Oct. 26 at 2 p.m. with registration at 1:30 at the MACC's Morgado Hall.