I’m heading to see Jake Shimabukuro at Jazz Alley tonight. I’ve seen Jake play two other times, and this guy is just amazing. If you ever get a chance to hear this guy spin out some tunes, go listen. While the instrument he uses is a ukulele, you’d never know it from what you hear. I think of him very much like Bela Fleck on a banjo – the stuff that comes out is just beyond all the expectations of what you normally think of for the instrument.
Update: Truly incredible. I picked up a couple of his CD’s after the show and met him. He’s an incredibly self effacing guy, at least at a first impression. We got a great seat – maybe 5 feet from him against the stage and watching him play was amazing. Like I said before, if you ever get a chance to see this guy, go do it! Jazz Alley – Monday night – sold out. Just incredible.
Rhonabwy 
I think I remember this guy from Bumbershoot a few years ago. Unfortunately, I only caught the very end of his set – an amazing classical violin piece, followed by Freebird (after the tongue-in-cheek audience request). Didn’t expect to see either of those on the ukulele!
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Yep – that was Jake. He played some incredible pieces tonight including a cover off Led Zepplin and the Beatles.
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If you want to catch him live on the teevee, he said he’ll be a guest on Conan O’Brien on 2/19/08.
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Impressive. I’ve pulled him up on Rhapsody. This is a Uke?
Your comparison to Bela Fleck got my attention. Now I have to figure out where I’ve heard “Sand Channel” before. It’s bugging me. It was the theme to some movie in the 60’s, I think — but I don’t think that was the name of it.
Good stuff!
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