Customer Reviews

From Honolulu To Hollywood: Jazz, Blues & Popular Specialties Performed Hawaiian Style

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-it's an absolute delight from beginning to end. Hawaiian musicians enjoyed immense popularity around the world in the early 20th century, and this collection shows why. Here are 24 tracks by some of the most accomplished practitioners of the genre, combining jazz, pop, and native music, all performed with superb instrumental dexterity. You'll hear the richly textured vocals of Kalama's quartet, the steel guitar improvisations of Sam Ku West, the artful jazz stylings of Andy Aiona, and much, much more. The sound quality is excellent, and detailed notes by Allan Dodge offer a fascinating introduction to this music. Gets my vote for most entertaining album of 1999- 5 stars!

An outstanding collection of Hawaiian and Hawaiianized Tin Pan Alley oldies, complied by Allan Dodge, a founding member of the Cheap Suit Serenaders... and an expert in the field if ever there was one! This collection sticks to a curiously doleful tone -- slower, more bluesy than many classic Hawaiian guitar tunes, although it's all eminently listenable. There are also plenty of oddball cultural collisions, such as the mix of flashy steel guitar picking and cornball Scottish dialect on Sol K. Bright's version of Harry Lauder's music hall oldie, "A Wee Doech an' Doris", which closes the album out. Despite the modest packaging, the sound quality on this disc is quite nice -- better, in fact, than on many of the larger labels which also specialize in vintage Hawaiian music. HIGHLY recommended!

After purchasing Sol Hopii Vol 1 & 2, I had to buy this CD. Sol Hoopii performs some of the songs on it along with other Hawaiian guitarists and singers of that time. It makes you think of old Hollywood, the William Randolph Hearst Holywood and it makes you wish you had the album on record instead of on CD so that you could play it faster or slower depending on your taste (the same holds true for Sol Hoopii Vol 1 & 2). It's fun and very nostalgic to listen to.

.........with a little tin pan alley thrown in. This is a great CD, with a lot of hard to find songs by some of the great artists of vintage Hawaiian music from way back when.

this is a beautiful compilation with many of the era's great players present ...Sol Hoopii ,Sam Ku ,Nawahi ,Eddie Bush , Mike Hanapi ,Bob Pauole(Jim & Bob) ...lots of uncommon sides too .Cover art and notes are great too