WELLS FARGO JAZZ JAKE SHIMABUKURO | REBIRTH BRASS BAND
JAKE SHIMABUKURO
College of Charleston Cistern Yard June 1 and 2 at 9:00pm
PRESENTED BY WELLS FARGO
JAKE SHIMABUKURO (ukulele) is on a mission to take the ukulele places it’s never been. Armed with lightning- fast fingers and revolutionary playing techniques, his repertoire spans jazz, blues, funk, classical, bluegrass, folk, flamenco, and rock—turning the ukulele, as he sees it, into an “untapped source of music with unlimited potential.” The New York Times recently noted that “the innovation in his style stems from an embrace of restrictions: the ukulele has only four strings and a limited range. He compensates with an adaptable combination of rhythmic strumming, classical-style finger-picking and fretboard tapping.” Two of his two biggest influences weren’t musicians. He credits Bruce Lee and Bill Cosby for creating the foundation of his art. “Bruce Lee’s philosophy on martial arts was that it was simply a form of human expression,” he says. “And he didn’t believe in sticking to one ‘style.’ And Bill Cosby brought joy to millions with his stories. He connects with an audience like no other.” Shimabukuro began his music career in earnest performing at local Honolulu venues and coffee shops. Although a few well-received album releases helped him earn some fame in Hawaii, his career skyrocketed when a YouTube clip of him performing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in Central Park went viral—over eight million views and counting. He has gone on to perform with Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Bette Midler, Yo-Yo Ma, Cyndi Lauper, Ziggy Marley, Levon Helm, and Jimmy Buffett. Peace, Love, Ukulele is his most recent album. He gave his first performance at Spoleto Festival USA in 2009.
CBS News journalist Martha Teichner hosts a “Conversation With Jake Shimabukuro” at 3:00pm on June 2 in the Simons Center Recital Hall at College of Charleston.
REBIRTH BRASS BRAND
College of Charleston Cistern Yard June 8 and 9 at 9:00pm
PRESENTED BY WELLS FARGO
REBIRTH BRASS BAND, hailed by The New York Times as “a New Orleans institution,” has been at the forefront of the brass band revival that they helped kick off nearly 30 years ago. The group was founded in 1983 by tuba and Sousaphone player Phil Frazier, his brother and bass drummer Keith Frazier, and trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, along with other marching band members from Joseph S. Clark Senior High School in New Orleans’ Tremé neighborhood. Their performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival led to their first recording in 1984; and 13 more have followed, including their newest, Rebirth of New Orleans, winner of a 2012 Grammy for Best Regional Roots Album. Rebirth embraces the jazz-anchored traditions of the quintessential street bands—those teams of muscle-cheeked blowers who could transform a funeral procession into a dancing, celebrating second line weaving through the poorest streets of New Orleans. They inject their own brand of funk into that tradition, creating a calamitous carnival that both harkens back to a golden age and builds a robust new funky sound. “Rebirth can be precise whenever it wants to,” notes The New York Times, “but it’s more like a party than a machine. It’s a working model of the New Orleans musical ethos: as long as everybody knows what they’re doing, anyone can cut loose.” The producers of HBO’s Treme tapped the skills of the band for the show’s first episode. The end of a street parade brings the band to a neighborhood bar owned by a character in the series; and the series, in turn, has brought the band to a growing audience worldwide.
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