Maui’s Phil and Angela Benoit on their love of jazz
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Performing a mix of jazz standards, Brazilian bossa nova, Hawaiian swing and original music, the husband-and-wife duo of Phil and Angela Benoit have lately been putting a unique spin on some pop classics.
"We write songs together and we've been doing arrangements of pop tunes," Phil Benoit explained. "We do Bob Dylan's song 'Don't Think Twice,' in a really hip kind of bossa nova samba version, and we just started doing Donovan's 'Sunshine Superman' with a really interesting bass line that's kind of jazz blues. People love it. To take these wonderful songs and apply them to a more jazz format is exciting and fun."
The Maui-based duo, who call themselves Benoit Jazzworks, have released four albums and been nominated for Nā Hōkū Hanohano awards for best jazz album of the year for "Golden Sun" and "Watch What Happens."
The combination of Angela's lovely voice and Phil's warm guitar enriches their material. They craft engaging versions of whatever they interpret, like turning Stevie Wonder's hit "Another Star" into a regal ballad or transforming Leonard Cohen's "Dance Me to the End of Love" with a buoyant gypsy jazz arrangement featuring Willy Wainwright on violin.
"It's really a dirge," Phil said about Cohen's song. "Then we heard an arrangement from Madeleine Peyroux, and she did a really bouncy interpretation, and we based our arrangement on that. It's not quite so morose."
The duo will perform a Sunday brunch at Fabiani's Pizzeria and Bakery in Kihei on Sept. 20. They recently played the Maui Ku'ia Estate Chocolate factory and sometimes play the Pilina room at the Fairmont Kea Lani and the Maui Coffee Attic.
"What I love most is the connection you make with people," Angela Benoit said about their live gigs. "We've made so many good friends over the years through our music. So that, for me, is a good thing, and of course, doing a good performance. I love that."
Married for almost 40 years, it was only after Phil heard Angela sing lullabies to their kids that he realized they could create music together. "This was in the early '90s, and we started playing some family parties and a few coffee shops," he recalled.
They began performing at the old Sir Wilfred's in the Maui Mall and "we got paid with cigars and cheesecake," said Angela.
Raised in Paia, Angela recalled, "My mom was a fantastic singer. That's where I get my talent from. I sang in the church choir and the Maui High School chorus, but I never thought I would do this for a living."
Her husband sparked her interest in jazz. "It was more pop music and musicals and stuff like that. He turned me on to the jazz genre, and I'm so thankful."
Raised in Hermosa Beach, California, Phil was influenced by his famous brother, Grammy-nominated jazz artist David Benoit. "His music got me interested in jazz, along with my dad, who was a jazz guitar player. David opened a lot of doors for us."
As far as primary influences, he cited Wes Montgomery, "probably my first and still is my favorite love. I've also taken on nylon string guitar artists like Earl Klugh and, of course, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Tom Conway has been my teacher for many years and had a lot of influence on me."
The duo's most recent album, "All Caught Up In You," highlights their distinctive approach to music. It includes a swinging original instrumental "Kahala Blues," the Cohen cover, and the sultry "Barcelona Nights," by Phil's brother. "That was really fun," he said. "David did an album of vocal jazz, which is rare for him, and we stole that with his permission."
They included the Gershwin standard "Someone to Watch Over Me" with John Zangrando on sax and a jazzy take on "My Little Grass Shack." "We went down the Hawaiian music path of hapa swinging Hawaiian stuff," he noted.
While they have no new album plans, they have released some short videos on YouTube. "We call it Sunday Serenade, where we sit down and play a song, kind of raw, with no amplification, just the two of us," he said. We've got some nice responses from that."