Ukulele Phenom: Jake Shimabukuro

At work last Wednesday, I work at Amazon, a coworker and I wandered over to the main campus to hear Jake Shimabukuro. Let’s call her Julie, suggested that we get there early which turned out to be a very good thing. Many people didn’t get in and we got to sit in the front row.

This picture was taken with Julie’s iPhone. My pictures with the WinFone were horrible so I stole one of hers because they turned out so well.

Jake told us a number of stories which made the presentation even better. He has a cool low voice that gets your attention. He said that in Hawaii most students take ukulele in 4th grade.

His style is sometimes percussive, sometimes lamenting, and pretty much covers the spectrum for emotional music. He arranges and writes his own stuff. Some of this influences include flamingo guitar. Discovered on YouTube he is one of the new generation’s bright stars who will be drawing large crowds where ever he goes.

I’m listening to Jake’s newest CD and hoping that fame won’t do to him, what it did to Elvis and Michael Jackson. At nineteen, he has a great start on a life of music performance. I wish him many years of music creation and performance.