Groove & Inspire – Reggae band changing the world, one song at a time

August 28, 2014

SOJA's lead singer, Jacob Hemphill, is on a mission. His band's latest album, "Amid the Noise and Haste," has just been released and he's eager to talk about the songs and offer some general prescriptions for the human race.Helmed by Grammy-winning Jamaican producer Supa Dups, who has worked with Bruno Mars, Eminem and Rihanna, SOJA's new album features collaborations with the likes of Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, Michael Franti, Collie Buddz and Maui's Anuhea.Known for fusing inspiring messages with stirring roots rhythms, SOJA is adept at uplifting with catchy melodies while addressing ...

Love & Music

August 21, 2014

Widely acclaimed for their stellar artistry, the husband-and-wife duo Tuck & Patti have performed together for around 35 years.Mesmerizing audiences with a sublime, refined stylistic approach to pop standards and originals, the magical interplay of Tuck Andress' elegant guitar and Patti Cathcart's sensual, soulful vocals prompted Grammy-wining vocalist Bobby McFerrin to hail them as "the best duo on the planet."Leading jazz critic Leonard Feather pronounced: "Not since Ella Fitzgerald met Joe Pass on stage has there been so felicitous a mating as Tuck and Patti." And a Los Angeles ...

Fusion Phenom

August 14, 2014

When Citizen Cope released his self-titled debut album in 2002, The Washington Post hailed him as the "city's most soulful export since Marvin Gaye."Declaring early on in his career his intention to fuse urban East-Coast R&B with his acoustic Southern singer-songwriter roots, Cope first drew acclaim for his intimate songwriting and unique sonic fusion, mixing blues, soul, folk and rock.Since his debut release, a number of musicians have recorded his songs including Carlos Santana, Dido and Richie Havens. Santana recorded "Sideways" on the hit album "Shaman." Some years later, Sheryl ...

Classically inspired

August 7, 2014

While visiting Vienna's historic Lichtental Church in the 1990s, Maui Chamber Orchestra conductor Robert Wills had an epiphany about the value of small classical groups."I did a concert tour of Europe with a church choir," Wills explains. "We were in Vienna and were scheduled to do a Schubert Mass at the church that Schubert wrote it at. If you go in the loft where it was written, you couldn't put 30 people in there. You can go to a concert hall now and hear it done with 120 singers and an orchestra of 60, and it's all wrong. It's supposed to be smaller and more intimate, and your tempos ...

Dreaming of Jazz

July 31, 2014

When virtuoso trumpet player Valery Ponomarev heard his first-ever jazz recording in 1961 as an 18-year-old student studying at the First Moscow Regional Music College, his life was forever changed.A musician friend had taped Clifford Brown's classic "The Blues Walk" from a Voice of America short-wave radio broadcast."I was blown off my feet," Ponomarev recalls. "When I first heard jazz, it was an unbelievable experience. It was a total revelation. That's what I wanted to do. The effect of it was I've been a jazz musician my whole life. I can't imagine not being a jazz musician."After ...

Mr. Boombastic headlines at MayJah RayJah music fest

July 24, 2014

Ever since he rocketed into the international spotlight in 1993 with his exuberant party hit, "Oh Carolina," Grammy-winning reggae star Shaggy has maintained his popularity with such irresistibly catchy songs as "Boombastic," "Luv Me, Luv Me," "Angel," "It Wasn't Me," and his remake of "In the Summertime."Shaggy will headline the Friday line-up of the two-day MayJah RayJah Music Festival at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center.The Jamaican-born singer who moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., at the age of 18, began pursuing a musical career while he was a member of the U.S. Marines. A Gulf War ...