Right now I’m on the “Star Wars In Concert” Tour. We started in Anaheim, CA, right now are around the midway point in Salt Lake City, and we finish up in two weeks in Jacksonville, Florida. The music has been great, it’s a great hang with all the orchestra members, and it’s been great traveling to all these cities. There are a bunch of clips of this on youtube-
Star Wars In Concert
Written by admin on October 16th, 2009Two More Great Reviews
Written by admin on August 26th, 2009Great reviews for Waitiki 7’s new album, “Adventures in Paradise”, are continuing to surface. The latest two are from:
J. Simpson of Weirdomusic.com-
“…Waitiki 7 are transcending time and space, resurrecting spectres of vanished musical styles and making them dance on the rim of dormant volcanoes. This is vibrant and exciting music, full of dashing and daring-do, captured brilliantly by the folks at Q-Studios in Somerville, Mass…”
Cory Frye of Under The Radar magazine-
“… They melt into each other, complete each other’s thoughts, and maintain a compelling flow over the distant perpetual cool of Jim Benoit’s vibes, which, like Colon’s calls, dab the canvas with an extra splash of color (can’t imagine “Manila” without those drops) and smooth the edges of Zaccai Curtis’ often-chomping piano (”Left Arm of Buddha”). Benoit and Curtis collaborate to a different end on “Her Majesty’s Pearl,” painting wondrous landscapes over the hushed rush of foamy falls and a lovely interlude from violinist Helen Liu, whose subsequent slide between Benoit’s vibe dots and Wong’s bass jaunt sets up a most astonishing personal showcase on “L’ours Chinois,” where she memorably flaunts her stuff…”
To save blog space, I am creating a new page on my website that will contain all of the reviews in their entirety. I will announce news and reviews here, but to see them all, check that page out.
Nippertown! Review
Written by admin on August 22nd, 2009Greg Haymes posted a review of Adventures in Paradise today on Nippertown!, an arts/culture online magazine based in the greater Capital and Hudson Valley regions of New York and western Massachusetts. Haymes writes,
THE WAITIKI 7’s “Adventures in Paradise”
(Pass Out Records, 2009):
Slip into your grass skirt, drop a paper umbrella into your pineapple-coconut adult beverage and chill out with the tropical Pacific breeze.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Hawaii’s statehood, and if you’re searching for a soundtrack to your luau-inspired celebration, look no further than the debut disc from exotica revivalists the Waitiki 7.
“Exotica floats in the zone between soundscapes and an early world music hybrid,” explains the band’s bassist-music director Randy Wong, one of three Hawaiian-born members of the Waitiki 7.
Indeed, while elements of a more ambient style surface from time to time on this bakers’ dozen of instrumental tiki-lounge tunes, the major focus is on a more polished fusion of jazz, pop and tropical folk.
And while the W7, of course, pay tribute to such exotica pioneers as Martin Denny – “Manila” and “Left Arm of Buddha” are both Denny compositions – and Les Baxter – represented by the album’s opening track, “Coronation” – this is no mere tribute band.
In fact, seven of the album’s selections are original tunes, including such highlights as the lilting violin-driven “L’ours Chinois” and the zany, cartoon-soundtrack-like “Ned’s Redemption” (which features vibraphonist Jim Benoit switching over to xylophone).
The album is rounded out with a pair of jazz gems – Lee Morgan’s “Totem Pole” and Duke Ellington’s classic “Mood Indigo” – before wrapping up with the album’s title track – Lionel Newman’s theme song for the 1959 network TV series of the same name starring Gardner McKay. Whoa, now there’s a flashback…
Adventures in Paradise
Written by admin on August 19th, 2009The new Waitiki 7 Album “Adventures in Paradise” is now out, meaning everyone needs to go to Waitiki7.com and order a CD. Also, the east coast tour is soon approaching, meaning if you live in or close to NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, or Lake George you should check it out.
More reviews have been surfacing for the Album, including being named one of Alarm Magazine’s “Week’s Best Albums”:
“Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Hawaii’s statehood, the Waitiki 7 balances a thematic tribute to Martin Denny and musical stars of yore with piano-driven Latin sounds, modern jazz, lounge, and film motifs. Adventures in Paradise, as the name suggests, could double as the soundtrack for a cheery private-dick mystery flick, calling upon exotic vocal calls, flute, horns, and vibraphone to create just the right mood.”
Other things happening include write ups in Drumhead Magazine, campuscircle.com, and radio play on stations including DJ Speedy’s “Latin Jazz amp; Salsa” show on WMNF 88.5 Tampa, Nick Marrero’s “Mundo Jazz” show on WUMR 91.7 Memphis, Bill King’s show on eJazzRadio (internet radio), and WDNA 88.9 FM (Miami).
Mother Jones Review
Written by admin on August 14th, 2009In Mother Jones’ newest issue (September/October 2009), there is a review of The Waitiki 7’s debut album, Adventures in Paradise. We were all very excited to see this happen. It is the first of hopefully many positive plugs for the group.
For those who have never heard of Mother Jones:
“Mother Jones is a nonprofit news organization that specializes in investigative, political, and social justice reporting. We currently have two main “channels”: an award-winning bimonthly national magazine (circulation 240,000), and a website featuring new, original reporting 24-7. (In the past we’ve had a radio show and TV specials; theme parks are in the conceptual stage.)”
That was taken directly from their website: http://www.motherjones.com/about
You should really check out the review and entire Magazine itself, but here’s a taste:
Performing at Princeton University
Written by admin on August 2nd, 2009In my previous post I described some basic things about being part of The Golandky Institute’s Summer Symposium at Princeton. Two things specifically that were great (and that gave me a chance to perform) were performing with my Timpani Instructor, Mr. Sal Rabbio, in a class he gave in sound production and how it relates from Timpani to piano, and performing with piano virtuoso Ilya Itin in Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf.
Mr. Rabbio’s class was really excellent. He focused on how producing sound on Timpani was similar to process on Piano. There was a lot of relating Timpanist striking the head of the drum with a mallet to the piano having a hammer that hits a string, and how the differences in velocity in which you strike, along with how the touch you use effects the sound. It was also great because I was able to play a duet with Mr. Rabbio, and was also served as the “ginny pig” in his demonstrations.
Getting to play with Ilya Itin was great, and was a real lucky happening. Basically, he was performing Peter and the Wolf, a version with solo piano and a narrator. After rehearsing with the narrator, Ilya felt that towards the end (where there is a big snare drum part), not having any percussion would not suffice. Consequently, I showed up at the dress rehearsal, played the part, and got the gig. Ilya is an outstanding performer, and a great person, so getting to perform with him and spend some time with him was a real treat. Hopefully more of these opportunities will continue to present themselves…
10 days at Princeton…
Written by admin on August 2nd, 2009I recently was at Princeton University helping out with a piano festival. The group, the Golandsky Institute (or the “G I” as me and my brother call it), is a piano organization that focuses on using natural, fluid motion to produce beautiful sound out of the piano. It sounds very simple, but it is a very complex thing, and the group deals with how to move in a natural manner that will prevent injury.
What was I doing there you may ask? My mom, pianist Mary Moran, is one of the founding members, meaning I had the honor of working at the festival. The festival at Princeton was called the Summer Symposium, and consisted on a series of Concerts, Presentations, Lectures, and Master Classes. Many of the highlights for me were performances given by Stephen Beus (pianist) and Ilya Iten (pianist), and a master class given by my timpani instructor, Mr. Sal Rabbio.
Great Waitiki Gig on 6/27!
Written by admin on July 9th, 2009On June 27th (Saturday about two weeks ago), we played a Waitiki gig as a quartet in Somerville. Because Randy Wong (Bassist of Waitiki 7) was in Hawaii, and Abe Lagrimas Jr. (Drummer of Waitiki 7) was unavailable, we played with a quartet of Tim Mayer on Woodwinds, myself of vibes, Keala Kaumeheiwa on Bass, and Mark Walker on Drums. It was awesome!
Mark and Keala are both absolutely great musicians, and while they didn’t have the same experience playing Exotica music that Randy and Abe do (Abe and Randy grew up with the music in Hawaii), they really made the music their own and brought their own things to the table. Throughout the gig we played a lot of standard Waitiki tunes like Manilla and Flower Humming which were great, but some of the tunes that stuck out to me were others like Chief Mau-Mau and Plaming Flagoda. In both these tunes there was just a lot of incredible energy that was fun to be a part of. Tim just sent me a cleaned up version of the gig (I recorded it with my zoom), so I can’t wait to check it out.
Hey and Welcome!
Written by admin on June 24th, 2009Hey, and welcome to my website! A big thanks to my friend and colleague Randy Wong for his help in making this happen.
Currently, I am back in my home town (Niskayuna, NY), where I will reside for most of the summer until heading back to Boston in the fall. I’m playing solo vibraphone at a local restaurant, the Turf Tavern (www.turftavern.com), most Fridays and Sundays (6 to 9 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m., respectively) for anyone interested in good food and music. There are also some random gigs in Boston and NYC happening, some private and some public. I’m also doing some teaching here which is always fun.
This summer is also exciting as one group I’m a member of, The Waitiki 7, is preparing for the release of our first septet CD, titled “Adventures in Paradise” (for audio samples, more info on CD, and info on the recording process, check waitiki7.com). We’re expecting it to be released on August 18th. This is a link to the press release: (http://waitiki7.com/W7/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/the-waitiki-7-aip-press-release-final-2.pdf).
On a different note, this summer I’m attempting to become better accustomed to/more knowledgeable with the Waitiki Drink Menu (http://waitiki.com/drink-menu/), meaning I need practice making (and consuming) these drinks. If you are into that type of thing, give me a call…
Until next time.
Jim