AYUMI NAKANISHI / ANAKANISHI@STARBULLETIN.COM Pablo Lee Warner, 11, has only been playing the saxophone for two years, but he's good enough to join some of Honolulu's finer jazz and blues musicians.

Jus’ jazzin’ along

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By Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com

If you're walking down Alakea Street on any given weekday afternoon, say around 1 p.m., you'll hear the sound of a saxophone above the traffic din and hubbub, echoing off nearby office buildings and parking garages.

But Pablo Warner isn't busking for spare change from passersby. He's just keeping his chops warmed up, ready to sit in at a moment's notice with some of Honolulu's finer jazz and blues musicians. Not bad for someone who's only 11 years old.

The energetic and precocious boy faithfully puts in an hour's worth of practice in the morning and afternoon in a small, gated garden area just outside his dad and mom's Italian restaurant, Cafe 8 1/2. One afternoon earlier this week, Warner studiously ran through tunes from his practice book, occasionally talking about his upcoming gig with blues-and-rock band Bob Jones & Hard Drive that happens tonight.

AYUMI NAKANISHI / ANAKANISHI@STARBULLETIN.COM

"I'm gonna do improv with the band," he said, "but I still gotta work on my rhythm, though!

"Sometimes, I wish I had a brother or a sister -- but no older sister! I hear they pick on younger brothers!" he said out of the blue before running through "Summertime."

His parents, Robert and Jali, are just as free-spirited as Pablo, although busy during the workweek to feed their regular downtown customers. He cooks, she waits on the customers and Pablo helps serve and clean.

"We decided to home-school Pablo," the elder Warner says after the bulk of the lunchtime crowd has come and gone. "Regular schools often don't look at the individual student, what would be best for him, and I didn't want him to just fit in with the crowd. I want him to find his own way in the world."

Pablo has his own regular and music teachers, plus "he learns how to deal with people by being a waiter and talking to the customers," his dad said. "He can practice his music when he isn't helping us set up the restaurant. His computer is here and he has friends here, playing with the kids of the surrounding shopkeepers."

But Pablo has surprised and impressed jazz musicians around town. Seeing a nattily attired boy playing an alto saxophone with others triple his age is a novelty, but once that fades, it is clear he can hold his own.

His dad bought him his own horn last year after he showed a proficiency for the instrument in a music program at his last private school. Robert Warner is from San Francisco, a former hairdresser, current hard-working cook and life philosopher. His wife, Jali, is a former folk dancer in a Taiwanese troupe. Pablo was born in Seattle before the family moved here to be closer to Jali's family. He grew up in a household (and restaurant) always filled with music selected by his father.

And while Pablo is like any other boy who likes his neighborhood friends, TV cartoons and computer games, by age 9, he said, "I liked John Coltrane and Charlie Parker, right before getting my rental sax at school. The sax is really cool and looks cool!"

Although Dad occasionally scolds his son to take care with his expensive instrument, Robert Warner hopes he doesn't turn into a "stage dad." He chooses his son's onstage wardrobe, complete with snappy chapeau. "I realize it is a show," he said, "but jazz music is honorable and special, so Pablo should look like a professional and should dress cool. I'm just helping bring out what he's good at -- like, I've never forced him into cooking!"

Pablo has a musical talent that could take him far. But in the meantime he admits that if he had his way, "I would rather watch TV and play!" Luckily, music is part of that "play."

Bob Jones & Hard Drive A benefit for the Missing Child Center -- Hawaii Trust, featuring Pablo Warner: Show time: 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. today Place: John Dominis, 43 Ahui St. Tickets: $15 advance, $20 at the door Call: 586-8197

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