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Island Mele John Berger |
Cecilio Rodriguez and Henry Kapono Kaaihue celebrated the 30th anniversary of their productive musical partnership with a three-nighter at Kapono's last June. A DVD documenting the occasion - the duo's first - will be released sometime next year. In the meantime this conventional live CD is a fine memento of the momentous event. "Lifetime Party - 30 Years of Friends"
Cecilio & Kapono
C&KThe duo in concert offer a healthy helping of both their popular originals, along with several, now-classic covers that helped launch them at the Rainbow Villa back in 1973. Live bonuses include Cee's concert patter and the duo's updated arrangements of their hit "About You" in a country vein, plus reggae and blues.
The fold-out cover contains a hodgepodge of interesting archival photos but unfortunately lacks any information on them.
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Friends
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It would be hard to overstate the importance of Leonard Kwan in helping lift ki ho'alu (slack key) from grass-roots obscurity and into the Hawaiian music mainstream. Kwan was not only one of slack key's most distinctive artists, but his 1960 "Slack Key" was the first full-length album of slack-key instrumentals. Also known as "the red album," it has long been revered as the most influential album in the genre ever. "The Legendary Leonard Kwan"
Leonard Kwan
HanaOlaThis reissue is pure perfection - an expanded version of a previous HanaOla anthology that is actually a "two-fer" album which also contains all the music of Kwan's 1975 follow-up masterpiece, "The Old Way." George Winston and J.W. Junker share credit for the detailed annotation, which demystifies arcane ki ho'alu lore and fully documents Kwan's importance as both an icon and inspiration for several generations of slack-key players.
www.cordinternational.com
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Noel Okimoto is widely recognized as Hawaii's foremost jazz drummer and one of Hawaii's resident world-class musical talents. He plays several instruments other than drums - vibes, most notably - and could have made his debut album an impressive one-man studio project. But the ohana (family) concept draws on his long-standing friendships with other musicians and adds their guitar, bass, reeds and horns to the mix. All songs are originals, demonstrating Okimoto's vision as a composer as well. "'Ohana"
Noel Okimoto
Roy Sakuma ProductionsInternationally acclaimed Makoto Ozone and Tiger Okoshi get top billing as guest members of the ohana, but island jazz fans will recognize other name artists, such as Gabe Baltazar, Bruce Hamada and Jim Howard. Former isle resident Allen Leong adds Hammond B3 organ to two tracks, and Vernon Sakata plays guitar on another.
Track-by-track performer credits and erudite liner notes add the final touches to this perfect debut album.
www.noelokimoto.com
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See the Columnists section 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.
