Jake Shimabukuro Unplugged Interview is featured on The Paul Leslie Hour!
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If you like music, this episode is more than an interview, it’s also got some fantastic unplugged musical performances. This show from our archives with Jake Shimabukuro is going to be a treat! This was originally broadcast on the radio, and is now available on YouTube, Spotify, iHeartRadio and all platforms.
This interview with musical performances was recorded in celebration of the release of Jake Shimabukuro’s album entitled “LIVE: Jake Shimabukuro.” Who is Jake? He’s a ukulele virtuoso. He’s too humble to admit it, but Jake Shimabukuro is perhaps one of the most talented ukulele players in the world. His albums have sold in the hundreds of thousands and his style shows an influence ranging from jazz to flamenco.
Jake Shimabukuro began playing the ukulele at four years old and has gone on to be one of Hawaii’s most respected musicians. He’s performed in front of multitudes of music fans in Japan, Hawaii, across the United States and the Caribbean. He’s toured with Béla Fleck and the Flecktones and is a frequent guest of Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band.
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Ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro discusses his recent achievements, musical influences, and audience connection. He performs “Let’s Dance” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” encouraging support for live music and inviting listeners to visit Hawaii.
The Official Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Please be patient as it is edited and revised.
Jake Shimabukuro welcomes to the show
[2:23] Don’t like that Okay, it’s a pleasure for the second time to welcome ukulele virtuoso. Mr. Jake Shimabukuro to our show, Thank you very much for talking with us. Oh, no. Thanks for your time. It’s great to see you again, But also playing a few songs for the listeners at home, All right. Well, yeah, I like to start off with this tune. It’s a it’s an original piece that was inspired by by listening to a lot of flamenco and Spanish guitar music.
It’s a piece entitled Let’s Dance.
It goes something like this.
I
[3:11] Music.
[5:23] Wow, that was nice. Thank you. I’ve been listening to a lot of flamenco music lately, so that was really a treat to hear. Oh, thanks. A lot has been going on since the last time we talked a few years ago. I was wondering, what do you attribute your success to? Well, you know, I’ve been very fortunate, you know, very lucky to… Recently, I’ve had a lot of great opportunities. Recently I’ve been touring with Jimmy Buffet. That’s been incredible.
Recent Success and Touring with Jimmy Buffet
[5:59] There’s a little video clip of me playing on YouTube that’s been getting a lot of downloads and hits. That’s been just wonderful. It’s allowed me to tour and to travel to places and play in cities that I’d never been to before. So that’s been exposing what I do to a lot of people. So I’m very thankful and grateful for that.
Also along the way, being able to perform and collaborate with musicians like Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. They’ve been heroes of mine for a long, long time. It’s just a lot.
[6:50] Of these opportunities that have been coming up through people supporting what we do. I I really acknowledge, I really want to give all the credit to my management and the record label, our record label, Sony Music, and our booking agent, APA, all of them.
They’ve been working so hard. They believe a lot in, they believe in what I do and they continue to promote my music and things like that.
And it’s been a real blessing to have wonderful people to work with that believe in music.
And so I’m very blessed for that.
[7:44] I wanted to ask you who your musical influences are. Oh man, there’s pretty much pretty much everyone, you know, and anything that I’ve, Everything that I listened to, you know growing up.
Publicist Michael Bloom Introduces Jake to New Albums
[8:01] You know, especially people that like friends and musicians that I that I perform with of course, But You know and and and they’re constantly turning me on to CDs You know my publicist Michael bloom. You know he’s constantly, Sharing different albums with me and saying oh Jake you got to listen to this Oh, you got to check this guy out. You know where I was talking about music, and so that’s that’s really great, It’s great to have people.
Appreciating the Joy of Sharing Music with Others
[8:34] Around you that are just as excited about music as you are and And so I pretty much draw inspiration from everything.
Whatever I hear on the radio, if it’s live music. I love live music, of course.
But it doesn’t even have to be music. It could be just athletes.
Certain athletes are very inspiring and you observe their commitment and the discipline that they have, their focus, all of that can be applied to playing an instrument. Bruce Lee was one of my heroes for a long time.
Just his philosophy, the way that he went about approaching martial arts, I applied a lot of his philosophy to my instrument and just my approach to the ukulele.
[9:43] Some people sometimes think of the ukulele as a novelty and I said the word wrong throughout the first time we did an interview with you but it’s actually pronounced ukulele, right?
[9:58] Yeah, it’s actually ukulele.
Ukulele. Yeah.
So, okay, I’ll try to remember now. But you’ve shown what an amazing instrument it is. What is it that you’re trying to accomplish with the uke as a musician?
I’m not really trying to accomplish anything. I mean, I’m a big fan of music and the ukulele was the instrument that we had. Well, it was the only instrument that I had growing up.
Exploring the limited range and transposing melodies.
[10:33] I would turn on the radio and it didn’t matter what was playing. It could be a rock tune or a pop tune or a classical piece or whatever it was, I would just listen and I’d sit there with my uke and try to pluck out the melody.
And I realized at a pretty early age that even with the ukulele, you have a very limited range.
You basically have four strings, but your lowest string is actually your third string.
So your range is like a three-stringed instrument almost. My lowest note is middle C, like middle C on the piano, and I have one C above that and another C above that, so I’m basically working with two octaves, which is the equivalent to like a little toy piano, you know, for a kid.
And.
[11:22] It’s very challenging, but you realize that you have all the same notes as the guitar or the piano, not the same kind of range, but you have the exact same notes.
So if you’re playing a melody or a tune, of course, a lot of times you have to transpose it into a key that works for your instrument, or you have to take certain lines and play it down an octave or take certain lines and play it up an octave, but you can.
[11:55] Get the right notes in there where if you play it, the melody will be familiar, it’ll be recognizable to the listener.
So if I’m taking like a classical theme or a jazz theme or even playing like a little rock lick, like a Jimi Hendrix thing, but you just just pick out those right notes. People recognize it as that song or, oh, that’s a Led Zeppelin tune or, oh, that’s a classical, like a piano sonata or whatever it is. So you just play a little bit of it and then people automatically associate those notes with a certain song or a certain genre of music. And then that’s when people start thinking like, wow, that’s an ukulele I didn’t know the ukulele could play that kind of music or could play this or whatever but you know all it is is just a series of notes that you’re putting together, and that’s what makes it fun.
Showing the versatility and possibilities of the ukulele.
[12:58] You’re really showing though that you can do an amazing thing with the ukulele.
[13:04] I know I didn’t say it right that time either, but I’ll call it a uke from now on.
Thanks to the internet and television shows like Conan O’Brien and then musicians like Jimmy Buffet who you’ve been playing with and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, you’ve, gotten a lot of good publicity and no doubt you’ve gained a lot of new fans.
What have you found a typical fan of yours to be like?
[13:33] I don’t know. I mean, I, you know, whenever I do shows, whenever I have a concert, I just try to have fun. I try to make it fun for myself and make it fun for the audience. You.
[13:53] Know, I want, I always want people to walk away from a show smiling or feeling good because Because I believe that music is healing and music brings people together.
So that’s all I try to do whenever I’m performing is I just try to communicate, I try to reach out to whoever wants to listen. And it’s that constant communication between the artist and the audience. And I found that in live performance, the audience plays such a huge role in the in the performance. You know it’s almost like like even though I I perform solo, as a soloist.
[14:53] I don’t really feel like I’m playing solo because I feel like the audiences, they’re part of the music, they’re part of the band.
So if I’m playing in a 150-seater or a 2,000-seat concert hall, that’s how large the orchestra is for me.
Every single person in the audience plays a vital role in that performance and the creation of the music.
Audience’s energy and involvement shape the music experience.
[15:34] So their energy, their reaction to the music, how they interact, how involved they choose to be. It’s just like playing in a band. You could have ten musicians on stage and.
[15:58] Each one of them has a choice to make. They can choose how involved they want to be in the music and the creation of the art or whatever’s happening. Sometimes you’ll get players that all play together and they’re so in tune with each other and they’re feeding off of each other’s energy and reacting to what the other person’s playing and so forth.
And then you can have musicians, a band that’s together but maybe the guitar player might kind of be thinking about something else.
So he might be playing the right chords and stuff but just his mind is completely elsewhere.
So it’s the same thing. It’s the same thing for the audience.
Each person in the audience has a choice to make. They can be fully involved and committed to this one and a half hour or two hour music performance, or they can just be sitting there and then thinking about something else.
You can feel it as a performer or as a whole with the audience.
You can feel the entire performance as if everybody in the room was totally there with you or if there were a couple of people kind of doing their own thing. I mean, you try.
[17:15] To make yourself as sensitive and aware of that as possible.
A lot of people are calling you the greatest ukulele player. And in fact, if you go on Google.com and you put in greatest ukulele player in quote marks, the first few pages go to you.
So, I was wondering…
[17:41] Who do you believe out there are truly the greats in youth playing?
Oh, I mean, there are so many. I mean, my favorite ukulele player is Eddie Kamai.
Eddie Kamae’s influence on Hawaiian music.
[17:57] He was to me, well, he’s recognized as the first ukulele virtual. So, he, He, back in the 50s, he formed a band called the Sons of Hawaii.
The Sons of Hawaii band was, I mean, they totally reinvented Hawaiian music.
Hawaiian music as we know it today, I mean, it was because of Eddie Kamae and Gabby Pahinui these guys that formed the Sons of Hawaii. He was just an amazing musician. When he played the ukulele, it was, I mean, there’s no doubt that that was who he is. That was his instrument.
I think of Eddie Kamae, I think of artists like Carlos Santana or B.B. King or Miles.
[19:20] Davis and not that he plays that kind of music or he plays like them.
[19:29] You know, but his spirit was in the same place, you know. Like when you listen to players like that, you know, it doesn’t matter like really what notes they’re playing or, you know, or what licks they’re playing or how they, um, you know, or how cool that sounds or the way they reharmonize certain things or whatever, you know, all that stuff doesn’t matter. It’s sincere. It’s pure. They play who they are, who they really are. They’re not trying to be like anyone else or not trying to sound like anyone else. And it’s totally from the heart, from the soul. And Eddie Kamai was that kind of musician. Until this day, he plays Eddie Kamai. And I think after hearing him and growing up with his music, and then listening to other musicians like that, guys like Bela Fleck, guys like Pat Metheny. You.
[20:50] Get so inspired or even, it doesn’t even have to be musicians. Again, I was talking about Bruce Lee earlier. Bruce Lee is so true to himself. Another one of my favorites was Bill Cosby. Bill Cosby was another hero of mine. When they’re up on stage and they’re doing their thing, you know.
[21:12] They’re not trying to be like anyone else, they’re just themselves and they’re so comfortable with it, they’re so accepting of it.
And everything they do becomes very honest, very sincere, truthful.
And you feel that in the music, that’s what inspires people, it inspires me and that’s, always what I strive for.
The Song that Defines the Artist
[21:40] I was hoping you could tell us, every artist has a song that they are known for.
So what would you say is your song?
Well, recently the song that people have been requesting or, you know, like whenever I do shows or the song that I think, you know, people get really excited about is the song that was that I played on a YouTube video clip. It was George Harrison’s While My Guitar Gently Weeps and that’s my all-time favorite song to play on the ukulele. You know and George Harrison was was one of my heroes. I mean you know he’s another another musician who was just very real and very you know true to, to who he was. I mean, I’ve never met him, but just from the stories that I’ve heard from people. And I did get to meet Olivia Harrison and talk with her a bit. And just from her stories and things that I’ve read about him. And also just, of course, by listening to his music, you know, the songs that he wrote and the way that he played them.
[23:04] You know, you really feel that, wow, yeah, he’s a very down to earth, sincere, very real person, you know, who’s true to himself, you know, very balanced. So naturally I enjoyed covering a lot of his tunes because he was an ukulele player, you know, he was a real ukulele enthusiast. He He loved the instrument and I’d always work on arrangements of his songs, tunes like Something or Here Comes the Sun, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, it’s just one of my favorites of all time, that and Something.
[23:47] So yeah, it was playing that song. It was actually for an ukulele show called Ukulele Disco.
And after it appeared on that TV show, I guess a clip of me playing, you know, that in Central Plain, we recorded it in New York in Central Park.
Positive Feedback on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” Arrangement
[24:10] And so that clip of me playing while my guitar gently weeps somehow got on YouTube.
There were quite a few people who I guess got excited about that arrangement and I got a bunch of emails and comments from people saying how much they enjoyed that arrangement.
So yeah, it felt good to get such nice, positive remarks from people and comments.
[24:55] Music.
Introduction to “The Curious” song
[25:32] Okay. So I’m going to play you the song, it’s called The Curious.
[25:33] Music.
Introduction: Birthplace and Heritage
[29:00] Wow. You played that beautifully. Thank you very much. I feel very fortunate to be getting.
[29:11] This little private concert. So I was hoping you could tell us where you were born and a little bit about your heritage. I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Wonderful place. Oh yeah.
Is very, very beautiful. And I’m a fifth generation, you know, Japanese American. I don’t know.
Not very interesting. I have a, well let’s see, I have a younger brother. You know, his name is Bruce and I named him after Bruce Lee. He’s also a musician. You know, he plays he’s an incredible ukulele player and he also plays guitar. He has a school actually in Hawaii where he teaches a bunch of people ukulele.
He really enjoys working with kids and things like that. So yeah for me I’ve always been more the type to kind of travel and perform and things like that. And we do things together on occasion. We actually tour together in Japan a lot. We do a lot of shows there. So that’s always fun.
Sharing Japanese heritage and love for Japan
[30:33] You know, my brother is quite a character. He’s a real comedian in the family. So, we have a great time. But, gosh, other than that, I don’t know what else to tell you.
My last name, Shimabukuro, is, you know, it’s actually, well, of course, it’s a Japanese last name more specifically. It’s an Okinawan last name. I’m a quarter Okinawan. And on my father’s side and on my mom’s side, they’re from a city called Fukushima in Japan. It’s very, very country, countryside of Japan. Very different from Tokyo. But yeah, I go to Japan maybe, about four or five times a year. I go there to do concerts. I love it because I appreciate the culture. I love the food. I’m a big fan of sushi and all sorts of Japanese food. Every.
[31:45] Time I go to Japan, I always end up going shopping because their whole electronics thing is just unbelievable. Their digital cameras, things like that. But I don’t know, these digital cameras now, they’re getting so tiny. I lose them all the time. So every time I go back to Japan, I feel like I’m buying a new camera or something. But yeah, it’s great.
But I really enjoy spending time there. It’s a wonderful place. So we spent about maybe three months out of the year in Japan and then another maybe four to five months you know here in the States. I’m just touring and then and then we’ll we’ll also do like a string of dates in in Australia. We do a few festivals in Canada and then you know and then I’ve had some opportunities touring with Jimmy Buffett to play in places like Singapore and the Caribbean, places like that. It’s wonderful. I mean, the experiences, just the experience of just to travel, I think it’s been such a wonderful educational experience for me.
[33:13] Do you have a favorite place that you have visited? I don’t know. I kind of like…
There’s…
[33:26] Mean I always have a good time, you know, wherever wherever we’re touring but you know, unfortunately, even though I’m I’m, Traveling and touring to all these different places, you know, most of the time I Just see the the airport the concert venue and the hotel, right?
And that’s it, you know because we’re just like flying in and flying out and and we’re always you know I mean every night, you know, you’re sleeping in a different bed you know, in a different hotel. You’re in a new city. And it’s really, it’s strange you know because I mean I sometimes you see commercials you know you’ll watch like commercials about this like where the band gets up on stage and they’re like you know hello San Francisco and then the guy’s like oh we’re not in San Francisco. But and it’s just funny you know but that.
[34:19] Actually happens. I mean I I used to think like how can you not know where you are right? But sometimes you know you you’ll get up in the morning and you just be like wait now okay wait what time zone am I in or wait what what city am I in? I can’t remember you know it’s it’s a strange feeling and and sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night you know and it’s and it’s dark in your room and then you just you have absolutely no idea where you are like you can’t even visualize where the where the entrance to the room is or where the where the restroom is and and you kind of have to just you know you kind of just have to I don’t know just sit there and and try to rethink you know where you are or turn on the lights or something you be like oh yeah okay now I know where I am but it’s a it’s a strange feeling I mean I’m I’m getting used to it and I have a very supportive family.
Supportive family and educational experiences from touring
[35:22] My parents are very supportive, my brother. They’re all very proud of what I do.
[35:35] So that helps a lot. You’ve been performing with Jim B. Buffett quite a bit lately and I’m sure you’ve had some amazing experiences there.
And I was hoping you could maybe share one that sticks out in your mind.
[36:01] I mean, I was just, I mean, still today, I’ve been touring with him for about two and a half years now, and I still, I get so nervous running out on stage with him because, you, know, his audiences are huge.
He has like 30, 40, 50,000 people out there, you know, screaming and yelling and just having a great time.
And for me, that’s crazy being in front of that many people.
[36:38] But gosh, let’s see. Trying to recall the – I mean, there are so many great moments.
There was one – the first year I toured with him, he would have me open up the show playing the national anthem.
And you know, that was so scary. I mean, of course, just being in front of that many people is scary.
And then playing the national anthem in front of that many people on an ukulele is very intimidating, very intense.
But he knew that, you know, because I – well, everyone knew, the whole – you know, all the Coral Reefer Band, and I kept telling them, oh my gosh, I’m so nervous, I can’t go out there.
I mean, my knees would actually be shaking. I’d be so nervous backstage.
And I remember going out there, the first few shows, there were about 20, 30,000 people in the audience, and Jimmy would come up to me and he’d say, say Jake, don’t worry, just go out there and just play, Just ignore the audience, you know, just ignore the audience, you don’t have to worry, you.
[37:56] Know, and just look straight at those guys and play to them, right?
I’d be like, okay, all right, you know, so I’d go out there and I’d play.
But then we did this one show, it was in Pittsburgh, it was a pirate stadium.
And I think there were like 45,000 people in the audience and that was just insane.
That was the biggest show that I had done, you know, with them so far because this was like maybe the fourth or fifth show into the tour and I remember right before I was about to go out and do the national anthem Jimmy Buffett came to my room and and I mean what he he came by and he was like you know Jake I don’t advise you you know looking out into the audience today and yeah that was that was kind of a yeah it was scary man as soon as I stepped foot on that stage man he was I mean you just so many people and the and the roar from the audience is so intense You know you you know we have these in-ear monitors that we play it that you know kind of it, Basically it it’s custom. It’s custom fitted, you know for your ear canal so it blocks out all the all the sound and then you and then you can hear you can control the level of.
Overwhelming experience performing in front of a huge crowd
[39:09] Music and you can adjust your own mix of all the players in a band so you can hear what you’re playing and what everyone Else is playing but you know, the roar from the audience is so intense that it resonates in your chest You know once they start cheering It starts resonating in your chest and there are moments where even though you have the in-ear monitors The roar from the audience is so loud that that you can that it almost, buries the music, You know, so you really have to so then you start cracking up your in-ear monitors, but it’s a that is an experience man. I.
[39:46] It’s such a rush. I can only imagine Since you started performing with Jimmy Buffett, we’ll wrap it up.
Oh no, no, no. I just wanted to make sure because he has a… Since you started performing with Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefers band, is there any of the Coral Reefers who you have learned the most from as a musician?
Oh, I mean all of them. They’re all so great.
Know of course Mac McAnally you know just amazing songwriter just a amazing musician, you know, everything he does is so great and we, you know, we have, And that’s that’s one of the things that I enjoy most is Being able being able to just hang out with all these, Musicians, you know McNally, you know Peter Mayer Wonderful guitar player, you know, I’m always asking him about you know, his guitar techniques and things like that.
[40:53] You know Ralph, you know Ralph MzcDonald, you know, I’ve been a huge fan of for many many years a Jim Mayer I mean, everybody, every single person in that band is so great at what they do.
Robert Greenidge, he’s an amazing, man, that guy, it’s incredible what he creates with the steel drums.
I’ve never heard any music like that come out of those instruments, come out of that instrument before.
[41:27] But it’s not just the band. course I learned so much from them. I’m always asking them questions about different rhythms and playing certain changes or how they go about, how they voice certain chords in the song.
They’re always so open to just sharing ideas with me.
[41:53] But also the crew, talking with the guitar techs and the tour managers, all the production guys, they are all the best at what they do and you learn so much from them.
Just hearing the stories of people that they’ve worked with in the past and just their experiences.
I learned so much from them and I think that’s something that I truly value, being out on the road with Jimmy Buffett.
Course I love the music and the shows and all that but it’s really the opportunity to to spend time with these people who who are just you know monsters in the music industry, you know, and to be able to actually…
Cherishing Friendship and Love for Music
[43:00] Sit there and eat with them or rehearse with them or just have the opportunity to ask them questions or even to look at them as a friend, to be in that kind of, to have that kind of friendship with them where you actually bond and you’re doing something that you love together.
That is, I cherish that more than anything else.
It really is an amazing band both as people but musically. Oh, yeah, amazing. Oh, yeah, On the last two albums the EP my life, It’s six. Well, I think very well picked out covers and it’s kind of like your other album gently weeps in that For the most part, it’s just solo uke.
[43:51] Was that a conscious decision to go in that direction with your music?
Well, actually, the Gently Weeps album was produced by Mac McAnally and while I was touring with Jimmy Buffett, Mac was the one who really pushed me and said, Jake, you got to do a solo ukulele album.
And at the time, I was so afraid to do that because that was a huge step for me because Sometimes when you’re playing a song and it’s just you and no one else, it’s pretty scary.
It’s a scary thing when you don’t have a rhythm section with you or you don’t have other musicians up there filling up the gaps or the holes in the music.
But he said that he really thought I should do that because it’ll give people a better idea of what I’m actually doing on my instrument if I did a solo ukulele album.
So I thought, okay, he convinced me to do it and I told him, well, if I do it, can I work with you? Can you produce a album?
[45:20] And he was like, oh yeah, sure, I’d love to do it. just the opportunity to work with back in the studio.
[45:31] That was, you know, that whole experience. I mean, it was the best experience that I’ve.
[45:38] Had in the recording studio, you know, was with him. I felt so relaxed and so comfortable and just, you know, having him there, you know, guiding me and, you know, sharing with me. His ideas and his recording techniques was just unbelievable. But that experience and then, which led to the next, the EP, which was the My Life EP. That one, because of my experience with the Gently Weeps album, the EP that I did after that, I kind of did more solo ukulele arrangements, you know, just because I was getting a little bit more comfortable.
Finding Comfort in Solo Performances and Collaborations
[46:26] Do you have a preference? Because, like, on the soundtrack, you bring back the full band kind of sound.
Yeah, you know, it depends. It really depends. I like doing both. I like performing solo.
[46:45] But then I also love playing with the rhythm section and love collaborating with other musicians. So I think the important thing is for me is just having a good balance, you know, and, you know, that’s why it’s great, you know, I get to do these shows with Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band, but then at the same time, you know, in between you know some of those shows I get to do my own solo shows.
[47:14] And then I get to jump on tours with other bands as well. Or sometimes I’ll do these music festivals and then I get to sit in with other bands, or do my own thing or do these little workshops.
That’s what makes it fun. I like the variety. And then recently I’ve been collaborating with a lot of doing things with orchestra, with full orchestra.
That’s a whole different kind of experience.
So my final question, this broadcast is going out all over the world.
What would you like to say to all the folks listening in?
I guess I just want to say, you know, keep supporting live music and come to Hawaii.
Well, sir, I really appreciate the time and the thoroughness in which you answered all these questions.
I really appreciate you making the time to talk to me. Oh, no.
Thank you. Thank you for your time.
[48:25] My pleasure. time to send us on our way with the classic from the Beatles, In My Life.
This is off my latest EP that we were talking about.
[49:19] Music.
Expressing Gratitude to Jake
[50:47] Thank you so much, Jake. Thank you.
