Waitiki

Great 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.

Greg 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”

The 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).

In 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: 

On 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.