JAKE SHIMABUKURO

JAKE SHIMABUKURO
LIVE (2009)
192-320 KBPS

Jake Shimaburo may be one of the best instrumentalists in the "string picker" world that you've heard of but can't remember his name. Well it doesn't exactly roll off your tongue. But if I say the words "ukulele" and "When My Guitar Gently Weeps", you know right then whom I'm talking about. The YouTube of his 2004 performance in Central Park has had millions of viewers. But Jake's not with a major label. (His label, Hitchhike Records, is owned by Sony's Japan division) and most folks learn about Jake through word of mouth. Among top musicians he's well known (Yo-Yo Ma featured him on his CD/DVD last year) but he's still the best kept secret out there. When he plays a folk or music festival - He wowed them at both the Philadelphia Folk Festival and the Newport Jazz Festival last year - he sells out of the CDs he brings. Once you hear him, you can't get enough.
This latest effort for the young 30 year-old Hawaiian captures him in performance at various venues around the world (New York, Chicago, Japan and his home state of Hawaii) and yet is sequenced so that you'd never know this was not one 70-minute set. All the audience response is just as enthusiastic. Consider it a "greatest hits" package as most of the tracks are numbers he has recorded on his many studio-recorded albums. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is here of course along with "Let's Dance" in which Jake's fingers move faster than your ears can hear. The one new track is a tribute to the 25th Anniversary of Michael Jackson's "Thriller", which Jake makes his own.
If you've not heard Jake play before - other than the You Tube video - this album is a good place to start and will lead you back to others he has released. If you have his previous albums, this one will add a few new tracks for you. Since the distribution of his CDs in the US is so small, Amazon is a great source to find his CDs. And, if you are lucky enough to have a chance to see him "live", don't miss the opportunity. You won't soon forget it.

1. Trapped
2. Piano-Forte
3. Bach Two-Part Invention No 4 In D Minor
4. Me & Shirley
5. Spain
6. Five Dollars Unleaded
7. Let's Dance-Prelude
8. Let's Dance
9. Talk Story I "Michael Jackson On Ukulele?"
10. Thriller
11. Orange World
12. Wes On Four
13. Talk Story II "Thirteen-String Japanese Koto?"
14. Sakura Sakura
15. Dragon
16. Yeah
17. Talk Story III "From Ukulele Disco To Youtube?"
18. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
19. 3rd Stream
20. Blue Roses Falling (Hanahour)