Blue Note Hawaii
Jake Shimabukuro & Sonny Landreth

    Jake Shimabukuro & Friends Sessions
    With Special Guest Sonny Landreth

    Ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro returns with acclaimed guitarist Sonny Landreth.

    Over the past two decades, Jake has proved that there isn’t a style of music that he can’t play. While versatility for any musician is impressive, what’s remarkable about Jake’s transcendent skills is how he explores his seemingly limitless vocabulary – whether it’s jazz, rock, blues, bluegrass, folk or even classical – on perhaps the unlikeliest of instruments: the ‘ukulele. Responding to the urgent calls of his fervent imagination, Jake has taken the ‘ukulele to points previously thought impossible, and in the process he’s reinvented the applications for this tiny, heretofore underappreciated four - string instrument, causing many to call him “the Jimi Hendrix of the ‘ukulele.”

    Tickets $45-$55

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    CLUB POLICIES

    • Seating is First Come, First Served
    • $10 Food or Beverage Minimum Per Person 
    • Full Bar & Full Dinner Menu Available
    • No refunds or exchange. Please make sure you purchase tickets for the correct date and time. Mahalo!

    Click here to view seating chart full screen.

    • Jake Shimabukuro

      Consider the humble ukulele. It’s an adaptation of a stringed instrument that traveled with Portuguese immigrants who came to work in the sugar cane fields of Hawaii. Islanders made the “machete” their own, mixing external influences of classical European music and Spanish guitar with Hawaiian songs. Native Hawaiians renamed the little machete the ukulele and it’s become synonymous with Hawaiian music and Hawaiian culture.

      Jake Shimabukuro comes from that same process of mixing both island and outside influences, both modern and historical. He’s combined the qualities of a long line of virtuoso ukulele players with modern rock musicians to create a sound that’s uniquely his own but still firmly grounded in Hawaiian tradition.
      Growing up in Hawaii, Jake’s influences include legendary ukulele players like Eddie Kamae, Ohta-San and Peter Moon. Jake also credits icons like Bruce Lee and Michael Jordan as a source of inspiration.

      Known for his energetic strumming on the ukulele, Jake’s performance incorporates elements of thoughtful, sophisticated arrangements to spontaneous, improvised passages. In addition to his original compositions, his repertoire includes Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, Schubert’s Ave Maria and Cohen’s Hallelujah.
      Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Jake’s life has always centered on the ukulele. He started playing at the age of four, urged by his mother who also played.

      Jake began his music career in the mid-90’s, performing at local coffee shops as a sideman with his first band, Pure Heart. But Jake’s solo career began in 2002 when he signed with Epic Records, becoming the first ukulele player to sign with Sony Music. While his well-received solo releases positioned Jake as an established musician in Hawaii and Japan, his career skyrocketed when a cover of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” went viral on YouTube with more than 13 million views, opening the rest of the world’s eyes to Jake and his unique playing style.

      In the years since the YouTube clip aired, Jake has collaborated with an array of artists that include Yo-Yo Ma, Jimmy Buffett, Bette Midler, Cyndi Lauper, Jack Johnson, Ziggy Marley, Dave Koz, Michael McDonald, Bela Fleck and The Flecktones, Tommy Emmanuel, and Lyle Lovett – as well as orchestras around the world. He’s sold out world-class venues, played at Bonnaroo, SXSW, the Playboy Jazz Festival, Fuji Rock Festival, the influential TED conference, and even performed for Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Variety Performance in Blackpool, England.

      He has topped Billboard’s World Music Chart numerous times, been declared a musical “hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine, which also stated: “one of the hottest axemen of the past few years doesn’t actually play guitar.” He has also won accolades from the disparate likes of Eddie Vedder who states: “Jake is taking the instrument to a place that I can’t see anybody else catching up with;” been talked about by Perez Hilton and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, wowed audiences on national TV with appearances on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “Good Morning America,” and “The Today Show,” and along the way has earned comparisons to musical innovators such as Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis. Jake has been the subject of an award winning documentary “Jake Shimabukuro: Life On Four Strings,” currently on Netflix.

      Jake also travels to schools around the world and spreads positive messages to young people, encouraging them to find their passion and live drug-free.

      Although he is constantly touring, playing 140 shows a year, Jake and his family continue to make Hawaii their home.

    • Sonny Landreth

      Virtuoso slide guitarist Sonny Landreth is back in London hot on the heels of his "Recorded Live in Lafayette" 16-song new album, his first live album in over 12 years.

      Sonny Landreth has collaborated with the very top names in guitar over the years: Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Eric Johnson, Derek Trucks – the list goes on. The noted slideman cut his musical teeth in The Red Hot Louisiana Band of zydeco king Clifton Chenier, and Landreth has since recorded and toured with artists ranging from John Mayall to John Hiatt.

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