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With the recent Lanai Slack Key Guitar Festival dedicated to the memory of revered Hawaiian musician Dennis Kamakahi, and the screening of “The Quietest Place on Earth” documentary presented as a tribute to legendary flutist Paul Horn, it’s an apt time to remember a few musicians like Kamakahi and Horn who left us this year and had, over the years, performed on Maui and graced this column with their thoughts.
Hailed by George Kahumoku as “probably Hawaii’s greatest songwriter since Queen Lili’uokalani,” Kamakahi was one of our most accomplished slack key guitarists and prolific composers. A multiple Grammy- and Na Hoku Hanohano Award-winner, this distinguished musician was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
Born in 1953, he began playing ukulele at 3, and slack-key guitar at 10, taught by his grandfather.
“He was a good mentor for me because he loved music,” Kamakahi recalled. “I was the oldest grandchild, so in the Hawaiian tradition, I was hanai-ed to my grandfather.”
Mesmerized hearing the Sons of Hawaii playing on the radio in the late 1950s, the young guitarist had a dream come true in 1974 when he was invited to join the group, replacing Hawaiian legend Gabby Pahinui.
“I was in total shock,” he recalled. “My first thing was I can’t be another Gabby. When you go into a legendary band like the Sons of Hawaii, where everybody knows exactly how the music is going to go just by Eddie’s rhythm, it’s a whole different experience. We never rehearsed, except for albums when we would spend a week in Hana. Hana was the magic place.”
Under Uncle Eddie Kamae’s tutelage, Kamakahi was encouraged to compose, producing many classics including “Pua Hone,” “Wahine ‘Ilikea,” “E Hihiwai,” “Koke’e,” and “Kou Aloha Mau A Mau.”
Acclaimed for his soothing guitar style, he talked about “the peace I get knowing that when I play, I’m not only playing for myself but for the teachers who came before me.”
As to how compositions came to him, he once revealed, “My creativity comes from being with people. We’ll be at dinner with friends, we’ll be talking and all of a sudden, I go blank, like into this trance, and then I start writing.”
Kamakahi most recently was included on the 2013 Hoku Award-winning compilation album, “Lanai Slack Key Festival.” In 2012, he won the Best Slack Key Album Na Hoku with Steven Inglis for their extraordinary, collaborative recording “Waimaka Helelei (Falling Teardrops).”
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Virtuoso flutist Horn, who died in late June at the age of 84, visited our island many times. The first time we chatted was in the early 1980s up in Kula. A frequent contributor to the soundtracks of documentaries by Maui filmmaker Tom Vendetti, Horn was known as the father of New Age music.
A successful jazz musician in the 1950s, he recorded with many leading artists including Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole, and earned his first Grammy Award for his album “Jazz Suite on Mass Texts.”
A trip to India in the late 1960s brought him to the Taj Mahal and the opportunity to record some flute improvisations inside the sacred shrine. The resulting album, “Inside the Taj Mahal,” changed the course of Horn’s life and led to his focus on music that fostered peace and harmony.
“It’s a great honor and gift to play music, because it’s healing and it bridges gaps,” Horn said. “When I’m on the stage, I just go inside and the music comes through. It’s like a meditation, so the music comes through in a spontaneous way.
“Pythagoras said it’s the mood of the music that’s healing and the mood is one of peace and quiet because that’s what I’m feeling. I try to get out of the way and let the music come through me, and I know it does have a beneficial effect.”
Horn was among the musicians who played on the new duet album by Bennett and Lady Gaga. Following the flutist’s death, Gaga tweeted: “Paul Horn was a new-age jazz pioneer. You will hear his genius in the flute solo of our rendition of ‘Nature Boy,’ a solo that will echo through the world today. And forever.”
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One of the greatest rock bassists of all time, Jack Bruce passed on in late October. He brought a jazz sensibility to his towering work with the legendary group Cream. Besides pioneering the hard rock trio concept with band mates Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker, Bruce went on to join guitar great John McLaughlin in the groundbreaking jazz fusion group Tony Williams Lifetime. He later worked with Robin Trower, Frank Zappa and Mountain’s Leslie West in West, Bruce and Laing.
The celebrated bassist performed at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center as part of a Beatles’ tribute “A Walk Down Abbey Road” tour.
“I was a friend of John Lennon’s, and George (Harrison) played on my first solo album, ‘Songs for a Tailor,’ ” Bruce recalled.
Speaking fondly about his time with Cream, Bruce explained: “The thing that made me proudest was to write those songs and to have them be successful, because I never saw myself as a commercial musician or a pop star. I started off a jazzer and then got into blues. When the band started, it was round about the time when the Beatles were doing some great things. We were all very influenced by their approach to writing incredibly interesting singles. So I thought I should have a bash at writing things like that.
“Obviously I’m not up there with the Beatles and Eric, but I’m very grateful for that as far as recognition. It means I can get on with my own quiet life and my own music, which has always been quite experimental. And I’ve been very lucky that I’ve gotten away with it for all these years without having the big hit, because that would have been my downfall. I was lucky it happened with Cream because it gave me the financial independence to do what I want.”
After Cream broke up, Bruce had planned to form a new group with Jimi Hendrix and jazz drummer Tony Williams. “We were going to form a trio, Tony, Jimi and myself,” he said. “Unfortunately, Jimi spoilt it by going and dying. I’m going to have to wait for a while to play with those guys, as Tony’s done the same thing. You have to watch those guys, they’re liable to slip back to their home planet.”
Bruce’s last solo album, “Silver Rails,” was released in March. It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and included help from Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera and Cindy Blackman Santana.
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Ever since breaking through in the late ’60s, Johnny Winter was acclaimed as one of the most blistering slide blues guitar players in history. His hit albums, in particular “Johnny Winter” and “Still Alive and Well,” gave him a reputation that he maintained for the rest of his life. He died in July, at the age of 70.
There’s a legendary story about a time in 1962 when Winter and his brother Edgar went to see B.B. King at a club in Beaumont, Texas. The 17-year-old aspiring musician was determined to play guitar with the blues legend.
“I irritated the hell out of him,” Winter recalled. “We were the only whites in an all black club, and he thought we were from the I.R.S. He’d been having tax problems, and so he was glad we weren’t. I hounded him so much he decided to let me play. I got a standing ovation.”
Growing up in Texas, he was lit up hearing the raw power of blues records. “I was about 12 when I first heard blues. Before that, I’d just heard rock ‘n’ roll,” he explained. “It was the sound, the guitar riffs of Muddy (Waters) and Robert Johnson, the list goes on and on, I loved it all.”
While he was known for enthralling audiences with scorching versions of “Highway 61 Revisited,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” and his most famous boogie song, “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo,” Winter’s true love remained the blues.
Hip surgery a few years back slowed him down, but Winter still amazed audiences. “My love of music keeps me playing, and I’ll be playing till I die,” he said.
Winter’s final album, “Step Back,” featured guest stars like Clapton, Billy Gibbons, Joe Perry and Dr. John.
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This year also saw the passing of Maui’s soul/blues man Bobby Ingram. Born in 1941 in Clarendon, Texas, Ingram fronted many bands over a four-decade career on our island.
“Bobby was just a master of everything he touched,” says Willie K. “He put his soul into it – that was the beauty of Bobby. The guy was incredible, and his heart was in the right place. I first performed with Bobby when I was learning how to play music when he came here. We kicked it up at the Ocean House restaurant (in Lahaina). Musicians like Bobby taught me everything, how to be a pro on stage and be an entertainer.”
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And finally, just as we were going to press, came the news that Joe Cocker had left us. One of Britain’s most soulful rockers, Cocker performed a brilliant concert on Maui in 2005. “I never thought I’d still be rocking,” he noted. “But the road becomes such a way of life, and I still love that couple of hours looking at the faces in the crowd and getting that feedback.”
All six musicians made their mark in the world in their own unique way and they will be greatly missed.