Jake Shimabukuro
Brian Hook turned me on to Jake Shimabukuro, and I’ve now gotten all his CDs. Short form: imagine a ukelele player who makes it sound like a classical guitar. Or an electric guitar. Or occasionally, a bit like a mandolin. Really virtuosic stuff. Musically, he maybe drifts a bit too much into smooth jazz/Acoustic Alchemy territory, but when the focus is on his playing, he’s amazing.
Check out this video of him doing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
His CDs:
Outstanding. I backlined for a guy in Miami in the late 80’s who did amazing stuff on ukelele. Mostly straight ahead jazz/bop stuff which made it all the more interesting. I’m blanking on his name … I’ll update if I can find him.