Customer Reviews

Dragon

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This album will surprise you if you've never heard of Jake Shimabukuro before. I still have a hard time believing that he is actually playing a Ukulele. It sounds more like an acoustic guitar. The tone is so pure and crisp... a bit reminiscent of Ottmar Liebert's work at times.

Another surprising fact is how he can play it so fast. There's only a few songs on this album where he plays fast, but it's really amazing. The only thing that I would've liked more of is fast songs... but most of these songs are "upbeat" if not "fast". I'm thoroughly impressed with this album and artist and will probably buy some older albums of his. If you like acoustic music in general, this one is a must-have. He truly is a Uke Master.

I think if you like Earl Klugh and Stanley Jordon you will like Jake Shimabukuro. In Jake's hands the ukulele sounds like a guitar. I heard "Floaters" on the radio so I bought this CD.

I thought the entire album was going to be acoustic ukulele music. I was very surprised when I heard the other tracks. There are a lot of background instruments. The music is very upbeat but at times the arrangements seem to overwhelm the ukulele.

The CD was not what I expected. However, it is a terrific CD.

I will spend may enjoyable hours listening to it. I look forward to buying more of his CD's.

Mr. Shimabukuro's skill and musical sense is inspiring. He takes an instrument that was dragged through the mud by the Tiny Tims of this old world and transforms it.

Reconsidering that -- I'm not sure if he does transform the uke -- I think he transforms our thinking about it. On this cd, it stands equally and unapologetically with the other instruments, with authority and presence.

I can only imagine what sort of person he is. Definite strong and positive sense of life, definite generosity of spirit, judging by his interplay with the other musicians. Frets Magazine did a spotlight interview with him, and he sounded like someone you'd want to hold a conversation with, introduce to your daughters...

I'll need to alert Amazon that I'll be ordering a half dozen or so to give away for Christmas. Making the list now....

Highly recommended.

I find it ironic that many guitar soloists have been building instruments with one or more extra bass strings for fuller harmonies. Here we have an instrument with -no- bass strings that sounds as complete as one could ever want. If anything, concentrating on the higher-pitched ukelele gives Shimabukuro a delicate focus of intention that is diluted when a player tries to cover too much range. Superb.

heard this kid on the way to maui and was impressed with his unique sound and abilities, latin style jazz to new age jazz. His backup musicians are impressive as well and I'm not disappointed at all... doesn't sound like your typical ukulele music go to his website and listen to his clips I think you will be surprised.

More on the side of Ottmar than Al Dimeola and has the potential to being a great performer.

In this CD, ukulele genius Jake Shimabukuro wraps his pleasant, if not entirely original, compositions with fully orchestrated arrangements. The end result is listenable enough, but does not do justice to his amazing talent. Best cuts are the title cut, "Me and Shirley T" (the drink, not the actress) and "Touch". A cover version of "En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor" falls flat.

Try to catch Jake live. There is nothing quite like it. I'm looking forward to his next project, which is presumably an all solo instrumental disc.

I got this after seeing Jake Shimabukuro perform live. He is amazing and loved the complexity of his music, he plays with such ease and spirit. But I have to agree with some other comments that I wish that there was more of just Jake playing. I kind of miss the purity of that. It may also be that some of the arrangements aren't as strong at the musicians. Still I would buy this again in a minute. And I would definitely go see him play again!

He is wonderful! It is a very cool cd that I highly recommend. Jake is an amazing musician. I saw him one night on Conan and was hooked after that. I was blown away when I went to a Jimmy Buffett and saw him as part of the band.

So you think the ukulele is some cheap toy instrument that tourists buy when they go to Hawaii? Better get ready to have your mind blown by Jake S. when he starts to play because he can hold his own with any guitar god when he starts to kick ass on this instrument. Forget about "Tiny Grass Shack" and check out what this kid can do on four strings. He is a serious, hardcore musician. Don't believe me? Check it out. You've got to see this guy play live. Amazing!

As always, Jake's performance on the uke is amazing. Unfortunately, on this album there is so much else going on, that the pure sound and quality of his solos are drowned out by the rest of the ensemble. If you are a big fan of gently weeps, at least sample some of this album before you buy, because it has a whole different feeling. It is much less acoustic and more dramatic. One of the positive aspect of this album though is that it was recorded on tape instead of on digital equipment, so the subtle imperfections of the musician and the instrument are not erased. This adds to the realness of the recording and confesses to Jake's performance as a master musician.