Jump for it
Hula Joe & the Hutjumpers capture
By John Berger
the basics of swing, then make their
own kind of music
Special to the Star-BulletinNOTHING is easier than following fads. During the "Urban Cowboy" boom, Waikiki was suddenly full of local musicians claiming they'd been undercover country music fans all along. When the Lambada had its brief moment of popularity here, some of those same guys were claiming to be longtime Latin-music aficionados. These days, the fad of choice is swing.
Hula Joe & The Hutjumpers aren't the only band in town playing swing music these days, but vocalist Ginai -- Gin Rummy to Hutjumper fans -- says there should be more to the local swing-band scene than playing remakes and copying national bands like the Cherry Poppin' Daddies and Royal Crown Revue.
"The goal of Hula Joe & The Hutjumpers is to bring light once again to the hapa-haole (swing) music of the past, and also to write original music that's along those same lines -- the catty lyrics and the suggestive overtones that they used so often. Hawaiian swing has such an identity for us that it's different from anywhere on the mainland," she said.
Saturday's Blue Hawaiian Moonlight concert will mark the Hutjumpers' first show at the Waikiki Shell, but a previous commitment in Japan means Ginai will miss the 15-minute set.
BLUE HAWAIIAN MOONLIGHT 1999
Also featuring: Frank Delima and Na Kolohe, Ku'uipo Kumukahi, Kalapana, Pauline Wilson, the Peter Moon Band, Hep Cat Swing Dancers
The Hutjumpers have already finished a debut album, "Live at the Pier Bar," scheduled for release next month. Three of the selections are swing arrangements of hapa-haole standards. The others are originals.
Performing covers was just a way to get the band started. "We're looking at doing something much more sophisticated," said Ginai's longtime musical partner, Zanuck Kapala Lindsey.
"Our vision and purpose has always been to take the '30s and '40s Hawaiian swing and revamp it for modern-day swing. That covers a lot of different bases. Swing is popular now, but we're giving a tip of the hat to all of the people who came before us. I think that era has gone overlooked.
"Some of the mainland neo-swing bands were ska bands or punk bands before they developed into what they are. It's great that swing is being given another chance, but there's more to it than we've been hearing. We're trying to tie it all together, but we're doing Hawaiian swing and reintroducing a new generation to our own (Hawaiian) musical history."
Lindsey and Ginai distinguished themselves opening for Lou Rawls with the Honolulu Symphony in April. Symphony Pops Conductor Matt Catingub, also a swing fan, prepared five full arrangements for the duo and the symphony, then joined them on piano for several more. Catingub opens a one-month engagement as Big Kahuna & The Copa Cat Pack at the long-dormant Tropics Showroom July 21.
"He's a wonderful arranger," Lindsey says. A Kamehameha Schools graduate ("kindergarten to senior, one of those 13-year guys"), he met Catingub while they were attending Cal State University at Northridge. Lindsey got a B.A. in music and performed on the mainland; he returned to Hawaii eight years ago when his mother became ill.Ginai, born in Chicago but raised in Waianae, has been a familiar face on the local club scene. The other Hutjumpers -- Rock Broadwell (trumpet), David Choy (tenor/alto sax), Rory Flores (drums), Glenn Goto (keyboards), Pat Hennesey (trombone), Greg Sardinha (steel guitar), "Diamond Dave" Townley (vocals), Randall Yamamoto (bass) and Todd Yukumoto (baritone/soprano sax) -- have similar credentials.
Ginai and Lindsey released a Christmas cassette-single, "Last Kiss at Christmas," as Kapala and Kapuanani in 1996, and Lindsey debuted as a soloist with an album of originals, "For Every Heart," last year. Ginai recently recorded an album in Japan.
Of their stage names, Ginai says: "I didn't think 'Ginai & Zanuck' sounded very swing, and there's nothing more fun than reinventing yourself. We have a whole new audience now." Lindsey is the titular Hula Joe; Ginai/Gin Rummy shares vocal duties with showman Townley.
The essence of the big-band neo-swing revival has emphasized the uptempo end of the musical spectrum and selective caricatures of American fashions of the '30s and '40s. Ginai acknowledges that the Hutjumpers are going in another direction.
"A lot of local swingers are more concerned with dance tempo than they are about song styles, so the good news is most of the Hawaiian swing is right in there with dance tempo, whereas the neo-stuff is frantic.
"It's really difficult to do your East Coast and West Coast and your Lindy Hop to that frantic pace. There are actually many different identities to this new swing thing."
Click for online
calendars and events.
