Acclaimed pianist Jeff Hellmer will present a Sunset Jazz show on July 6. Courtesy photo

As part of Jazz Fest 2025, Jazz Maui will host three concerts paying tribute to how Hawaii influenced popular music, beginning with acclaimed pianist Jeff Hellmer with a Sunset Jazz show at the Maui Ku’ia Estate Chocolate Factory on July 6.

The Jazz Maui Big Band featuring Chicago-based saxophonist Craig Roselieb will perform at Kihei Charter School’s Altitude Deck on July 12, and the Joel Katz Hawaiian Steel Guitar Jazz Quintet will focus on the influence of steel guitar at a Sunset Jazz show on July 13 at the Chocolate Factory.

“The theme of all the shows basically is how the music of Hawaii has had an influence on popular music,” said Jazz Maui founder Bryant Neal. “Craig (Roselieb) is coming in from Chicago and that show will basically have him going back to the 1920s, 1930s and big band music. Craig is working with Jeff Helmer to head up the whole thing. Jeff Helmer on the 6th will be doing it with more contemporary music. And then on the 13th, Joel Katz will have a quintet showing how the Hawaiian steel guitar had an influence on popular music.”

Jazz Maui also presents a free concert today (July 3) at The Shops at Wailea with the Chop Suey Jazz Orchestra and the NaAlli Big Band.

A prominent player in Chicago, saxophonist Roselieb performs with the Pete Ellman Big Band and Belford Hernandez Quartet in the city. He headed the 10-member Jazz Maui Little Big Band concert at the Lahaina Chocolate Factory on New Year’s Eve.

Twice named a finalist in the Great American Jazz Piano Competition, Hellmer was director of jazz studies at the University of Texas at Austin, where he led the UT Jazz Orchestra including performances at the North Sea and Montreux Jazz Festivals, as well as appearances with jazz virtuosos Joshua Redman and Kenny Garrett.

Since moving to the island, he has frequently played with Maui’s various jazz musicians.

“It’s been really nice to play with people here, but that wasn’t my primary purpose of moving here,” Hellmer explained. “I played jazz in Austin, Texas, for most of my career and taught at the University of Texas at Austin for 35 years. I reached retirement, and my wife has Hawaiian ties, so we decided to move to Maui to be closer to her family. Then I met Bryant Neal and some other people in the Maui jazz scene and started playing. I’ve always been playing and I continued it.”

For his July 6 show he will perform with Paul January on trumpet, Howie Rentzer on drums and Ashton Yarbrough on bass.

“My show is basically going to be some compositions of my own, and try to bring different elements of Hawaiian tunes into jazz or play some of the tunes that jazz musicians have recorded that have Hawaiian influences, either through the naming of the song or the lyrics like Duke Ellington’s ‘A Swing Time in Honolulu,'” Hellmer said. “There are some Louis Armstrong tunes that he recorded nod either lyrically or musically to Hawaiian styles, to the harmonies, to the melodies. The most popular one of that nature is ‘Hawaiian War Chant’ that Tommy Dorsey did and Ella Fitzgerald sang. Then also looking to adapt some Hawaiian songs into jazz ‘Aloha Tears,’ ‘Waikiki’ and ‘Lovely Hula Girl.'”

Born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1959, Helmer began piano lessons at age 5. Studying classical piano in elementary school, he later majored in music education while attending the University of Northern Iowa, which is known for its jazz program. After college, Hellmer went on to grad school at the Eastman School of Music, obtaining his master’s degree in jazz performance.

Reviewing his album, “Peak Moments,” All Music praised “Helmer’s playing is hard swinging and fiercely original, deviating between long, lushly creative phrases in the upper register and low, pumping melodic forays into the pockets laid down by Fremgen and Mannion, a rhythm team whose work here is eerily flawless.”

All About Jazz said, “the entire album is top-drawer; Hellmer, his trio and Margitza make a wonderful team and there are any number of Peak Moments to savor during their challenging discourse.” The Austin Chronicle noted, “His articulate and unpretentious playing has made him a favorite accompanist among Austin’s jazz singers.”

Hellmer is impressed with the caliber of Maui’s jazz musicians.

“There’s great people to collaborate with, and that’s really what the spirit of jazz is all about,” he said. “There’s some real high quality and I’m really grateful to Bryant Neal and Jazz Maui. I’m grateful to be working with him and to be able to help contribute to the jazz scene on Maui.”

The Jazz Maui Big Band will perform at Kihei Charter School’s Altitude Deck at 5 p.m. July 5. Tickets are $15. Pianist Jeff Hellmer will play at the Maui Ku’ia Estate Chocolate Factory at 5 p.m. July 6, and steel guitarist Joel Katz will play a Sunset Jazz show at 5 p.m. July 13 at the Chocolate Factory. Admission is $30 for each show.