Island Mele
John Berger
Kutmaster Spaz is back to showcase a new group of guest rappers, singers, musicians and scratch- mixers. Spaz is one of the few survivors of the early local hip-hop scene, and as a performer still represents the "old skool" sound, but he and his guests present some worthy original ideas. "React for Him"
Kutmaster Spaz
Vaihi Entertainment"Many Rivers" rolls on an interesting blend of sounds that includes funky undercurrents possibly inspired by Parliament/Funkadelic. "Have You Ever?" poses provocative questions over scratch-mixing and guitar riffs. "Shining Star" uses an Earth Wind & Fire hook to drive Spaz's musical autobiography. Most of Spaz's guests deserve recognition, but producer Aaron Kaonohi provides no information on them.
The one dud, "Rumors (Stop Telling Lies)," lacks imagination -- there's nothing creative in imitating Shaggy or ripping off "No Woman, No Cry."
www.kutmasterspaz.com
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Many Rivers to Cross
HanaOla Records boss Michael Cord struck gold when a copy of "Hawaiian Nisei Songs" was inadvertently reviewed in 2000. He hadn't expected Americans to care about old recordings of Japanese-language songs, but the response was so overwhelming that he released an upgraded version several months later. More titles followed, and this is the seventh overall and the second on the Hawaii Shochiku Orchestra. "Honor Bound"
Hawaii Shochiku Orchestra
HanaOlaProducer Billy Rose does Hoku Award-worthy work in documenting the history of the orchestra and its impact on Japanese music in Hawaii. He notes that it was the only "Japanese" orchestra that included Okinawan music in its repertoire, recorded a song inspired by the communal bias against marrying a non-Japanese, and introduced others that became hits in Japan as well as among ethnic Japanese in Hawaii. Anyone who remembers this era in local history will love "Honor Bound."
www.cordinternational.com
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This Ohta-san album is a group project with a Hawaiian theme. All but one of the songs is either Hawaiian or hapa-haole. The exception, "Stranger on the Shore," was an instrumental hit for English clarinetist Acker Bilk, but the title fits the theme, and Ohta-san's jazz arrangement is so impressive that the song should be the title track (producer Michiko Urata provides no background information on the other songs but notes that "Stranger" is dedicated to a deceased friend). "Manuela Boy"
Ohta-san
M&H HawaiiMost of the arrangements are jazzy and feature bassist Bruce Hamada as Ohta-san's main sideman. Artists of comparable talent sit in on various tracks. The ensemble work establishes, as a second theme, Ohta-san's understated brilliance, whether he's playing lead or adding embellishments behind the work of others. It will be a hit with ukulele fans everywhere.
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See Record Reviews for some past reviews.
John Berger, who has covered the local
entertainment scene since 1972, writes reviews of recordings
produced by Hawaii artists. See the Star-Bulletin's Today
section on Fridays for the latest reviews. Contact John Berger at jberger@starbulletin.com.
