Four strings of fury

As one of the most respected talents on an unassuming instrument, Jake Shimabukuro said impressing people with his lightning-fast ukulele performances isn’t as hard as it might seem.

“For me, the best part of playing the ukulele is that everyone has such low expectations of the music,” Shimabukuro said during a phone interview from his home in Hawaii.

“They’re really expecting to hear just Hawaiian music or very simple tunes, so when I play pieces that are very complex ... they’re completely blown away because they don’t expect that sound to come out of the instrument,” he added.

Shimabukuro started making a name for himself in the late ’90s in Hawaii with his band Pure Heart. After he swept the Hawaiian music scene, it wasn’t long before Shimabukuro’s fast fingers and fearless exploration of musical styles earned him a name on the mainland as well.

Far from the plunky, laid-back ukulele melodies popularized by Elvis Presley in movies like “Blue Hawaii,” Shimabukuro’s playing covers a wide range of styles from jazz to rock. It approaches the speed of rapid bluegrass mandolin breaks and the work of flamenco guitarists.

Thanks to his virtuosic skills, Shimabukuro has traveled all over the world and rubbed shoulders with acoustic music giants such as Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile at esteemed festivals in venues from coast to coast.

Thursday, Shimabukuro will take to the stage at Rhythm & Brews to put those skills on display for the first time since he performed with the Black Mozart Ensemble at Riverbend last year.

Despite a long list of accomplishments on an instrument with unexpected potential, Shimabukuro said he’s constantly struggling to improve his command over the ukulele.

“I think that the instrument’s limitations really lie in the player,” he said. “I still believe there’s so much you can do with it. Every day, I’m trying to figure out new things I can do.”

DID YOU KNOW

* Shimabukuro composed the soundtrack to the 2007 Japanese film “Hula Girl,” which won five Japan Academy Awards.

* He has been the official spokesperson for Hawaii Tourism’s Japan marketing campaign three times.

* In 1999, the self-titled debut by Shimabukuro’s band, Pure Heart, won four awards at the Na Hoku Hanohano, Hawaii’s equivalent of the Grammies.

DISCOGRAPHY

2007: “My Life” and “Hula Girls”

2006: “Gently Weeps”

2005: “Dragon”

2004: “Walking Down Rainhill”

2003: “Crosscurrent”

2002: “Sunday Morning

IF YOU GO

What: Jake Shimabukuro concert.

When: 9 p.m. Thursday.

Where: Rhythm & Brews, 221 Market St.

Admission:$15.

Phone: 267-4644.

Venue Web site: www.rhythm-brews.com.

UNLIKELY COVERS

* “In My Life” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” — originally by The Beatles

* “Thriller” — originally by Michael Jackson

* “Going to California” — originally by Led Zeppelin

Chattanooga Times Free Press music reporter Casey Phillips spoke with ukulele guru Jake Shimabukuro about his composing process, playing in Japan and why low expectations work in his favor.

CP: You live in Hawaii. Why would you ever want to leave?

JS: (Laughs.) Well, Hawaii is a very special place. I was born and raised here and love it here, but traveling and leaving Hawaii has helped me appreciate Hawaii a lot more. When you're raised here, you think everyone in the world has gorgeous beaches and weather like this all the time. Once I start traveling and visiting other parts of the world and seeing other cultures, I enjoy that immensely. Definitely, every place has its own beauty, but there's something very special about Hawaii. It's very unique. The millions of people who come here every year can't be wrong. Though I do tour and I leave Hawaii often, it's always nice to come back home in between tour legs.

CP: I understand home right now. That must be nice.

JS: Yeah, it's really nice. I came back for my nephew's birthday party. It was his first birthday, so I came back for that. I'm also doing some recording sessions while I'm back home.

CP: What are you working on?

JS: I'm actually working on a movie soundtrack. It's a Japanese film, so I'm doing the music for that. I've got about a week's worth of recording, and in a bit, I'll be taking off back to the mainland to continue my tour.

CP: Is the movie a follow up to “Hula Girl”?

JS: “Hulu Girl” was a project I did two years ago. That was my first movie score. This is my second. Though I have a little bit more experience with at least one project under my belt, it was still very difficult and challenging. This was with a completely different producer and director. Everyone has a different style for putting a movie together, so it was very interesting how the project went the last time compared to this one. They werew both wonderful experiences. This one has been really great. I've been learning a lot and getting to meet a lot of cool musicians through the process.

CP: Can you characterize the feel of the music you're working on?

JS: Not really. I'm not quite halfway done with it, so I'm still just kind of feeling things out. There's a lot less ukulele on this soundtrack. I've been writing more for other instruments and getting other people to come in and play. “The Hula Girl” movie was more about the ukulele, and every song revolved around the instrument because it was appropriate for the nature of the movie. For this one, it's a lot of full band - rhythm section and electric guitar stuff - so it's very different but still a lot of fun. Because I can't play those isntruemnts, it's fun to write for those instruments and have real players come in and do it. (Laughs.)

CP: Given how high profile you are as such a respected ukulele player, does it feel at all like you're the instrument's ambassador to the world at large?

JS: I don't know. Whenever I do interviews or when people introduce me or talk about me, they tend to use that word a lot, but for me, I just truly love the instrument. I'm a big fan of the ukulele. For me, it helps me express the things I hear and feel, musically. It's been the best form of therapy since I was kid to now. I really believe that music is healing and makes people feel good. It makes me feel good all the time. There's something special about the ukulele, in particular, in that as soon as you strum one chord, you just immediately smiles and it brightens up your day. I'm not sure if it's because of the associations of Hawaii and Hawaiian culture and the old Elvis Presley movies and the things the ukulele is tied to. All those old feelings hit you whenever you see one or hear one or talk about one. It's a very special instrument.

CP: Does the amount of variety you're able to get out of the instrument in terms of the types of music you play surprise people? Does the instrument's versatility catch people off guard?

JS: Yeah. For me, the best part of playing the ukulele is that everyone has such low expectations of the music. When I get up on the stage with a ukulele, if they've never heard me play before, they're really expecting to hear just Hawaiian music or very simple tunes, so when I play pieces that are very complex in nature or cover a tune they might not expect to hear like a Jimi Hendrix tune, they're completely blown away because they don't expect that sound to come out of the instrument.

I recently released my first live album, and the thing I love about it is that you can hear the audience and feel the reactions from people listening to the music. With some songs, if you just listen to the audience, you'd swear the audience was at a rock concert of a basketball game the way they're screaming. You don't think of that when you think of a ukulele concert. You think of it as being mellow and relaxing, not people reacting with that kind of energy.

That was always my vision of the instrument. I'd see videos of those old Eddie van Halen concerts and seeing everyone running around on stage and screaming into the mike and sweating on their instrument, and I thought it looked like so much fun. It was like, “I play the ukulele, but I want to have fun like that and be that expressive on stage.” I may not be able to do all those ripping Eddie Van Halen solos, but I can utilize that same energy and put it into the music.

CP: Would you consider Van Halen one of your influences? Who else ranks up there?

JS: Yeah, I just thought he was so cool. He and Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix - I thought they just had such a cool vibe about them. I wasn't into trying to copy what they did, but I loved the way they just had such a command over their instrument.

Musically, a lot of my influences come from listening to people that have a different take on their instrument. Bela Fleck was a huge inspiration for me. Chris Thile. Sam Bush. Edgar Meyer has always been one of my favorites.

I love that. I love the commitment and the dedication they have to their instrument. I really admire that. That's another thing. I love playing, the physical part of playing, but I really love the mental focus that is required. That's a huge challenge for me. Some of my heroes weren't musicians, but people like Bruce Lee. He was a huge inspiration for me. A lot of his philosophy toward martial arts I applied to music.

CP: You've taken the ukulele so far beyond what people have expected. Is there a limit to where it can go? How much further can it be taken? Is there a limit?

JS: No, I don't think so. I think that the instrument's limitations really lie in the player. That's why guys like Bela Fleck and Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer can take their instrument and push it beyond what people imagined. They had a vision and they said, “No, this is what I hear, this can be done and I'm going to find a way to do it.” That's all it takes - just a few people to realize that, “Hey, it's not the instrument holding me back. I'm holding me back.”

For me with the ukulele, I still believe there's so much you can do with it. Every day, I'm trying to figure out new things I can do. That's the thing with what I was touring with Bela Fleck. I learned so much from him because, as great as he is, I look at him and think “Gosh, what is this guy going to practice? What's his next project? What can he do because he's so good, he can do anything.” He's always over there practicing new things and techniques. Whenever anything exposes a weakness or that he struggles through, man, he's constantly working on it. That just shows you that, no matter how good you are, there's just so much more to learn.

CP: Sounds like maybe you've been asked that before. You've clearly given that a lot of thought.

JS: (Laughs.) Absolutely. I really believe that. The instrument is just the vehicle in which we can express the music from within. When you look at guys who are really connected with the instruments they're playing, it's amazing because you don't even notice the instrument, just what's coming out. The energy and the spirit and the love or whatever you want to call it is just resonating out of that person.

For me, when you talk about music and really excelling or bringing more meaning and power into your music, to me, you really have to look inside yourself and dig in deep and figure out what's going on inside you so you can open up and become connected and open your mind and know that anything is possible. That's really where all that stuff comes from.

CP: Walk me through your compositional process.

JS: A lot of times, I'll approach pieces in different ways. Sometimes, I'll sit at a piano and try to pick out some melodies or I'll grab a ukulele and play though things until I come across something that stands out to me. Sometimes I'll write out a lyrical phrase and try to sing that in my head over and over until I get a nice phrasing and lay music over that. Sometimes, when I'm feeling geeky, I'll take out some music paper and start really analyzing everything and checking out every chord and note I'm playing and try to write out something without ever playing a note so I can take a visual approach to what I'm playing.

You've got to find all these different ways of getting yourself inspired or putting yourself in a position where you can create something. A lot of times, I think artists and musicians say, “You never know when that inspiration is going to strike or the creative process is going to kick in.”

I think that professional writers are people that write all the time and produce tons of music on a daily basis. It's like, “Well how do they do it? How do they come up with all this music?” I think they came up with a way or a thing they can do to set themselves up for it. It takes a lot of discipline and dedication. That's something I'm really trying to work with, to find all these ways or these little things I can practice and engage in to find bring a little bit of that feeling of inspiration to me.

CP: Can you tell what the inspiration was for your song, “Me & Shirley T” on your album “Dragon”?

JS: (Laughs.) “Me & Shirley T” I wrote about Shirley Temple, but not Shirley Temple the person, Shirley Temple the drink. When I was a kid, that was my favorite drink. So growing up, I'd drink a lot of Shirley Temples, and those are full of sugar, so I would get really hyper when I drank too many.

The thing about that song was that I just wanted to write something that was playful and took me back to the excitement of being a kid and that feeling of excitement. I wanted it to be very uplifting and to have a very simple melody that had a bouncy feel to it. That was the inspiration for it.

When I wrote it, I didn't really have the melody. I just wrote out the chord progression, and I remember strumming the chords over and over and singing different things in my head to see what melody would go with it. I remember the chords I had written out and the feeling I had in the strumming and rhythm part, I knew that was the right feeling I wanted, but it just took a while to come up with a melody. That was the idea behind that one.

CP: Your songs have covered a really wide range of genres, from classical music to blues to rock covers. Is there a style that the ukulele that it just won't fit in?

JS: I think there's a place in every form of music or every style for the ukulele. There have been situations where I had a lot of difficulty trying to figure out how to make it work. Recently, I was in Japan, and I had to do a thing with a shamisen ensemble. There were four of them, and I played a ukulele. We played a couple of pieces together, and that was a real challenge, not so much in the technical part but just in trying to manipulate my tone to fit in with their sound. The shamisen has such a unique sound. The ukulele is very light and pretty and delicate, but the sound of the shamisen is very harsh and percussive.

That was a real challenge. We played and it was fine, but I know that for me, I'm working on things for the next time so if I get into another situation like that so I can find ways to change the way I'm playing to compliment them a little bit better.

I don't want it to just be, “Oh wow, it's a shamisen and an ukulele. OK, that's neat.” I don't want it to just be about the two instruments coming together, but on a musical level, if you close your eyes, it should just sound really cool. That's the feeling I didn't get through the experience.

It was neat and it had a different sound with a real contrast between the instruments, but there has to be a way for the instruments to really compliment each other. Maybe it has to do with the shamisen players manipulating a little bit of what they're doing to accommodate the ukulele. It could be a two-way thing. I'm always trying to think of stuff like that, like, “What can I do to make this better or enhance the music?”

CP: So situations like that are more stimulating than discouraging?

JS: Oh yeah. I swear, the greater the challenge, the more the fascination kicks in for me.

CP: What are you working on other than the movie soundtrack?

JS: As soon as I was done recording the live album, I started working on a Beatles' tribute album. Hopefully, I'll be able to get that released. I released a Beatles tribute album in Japan, but I'm looking to rearrange some tunes and do something for a US release.

CP: When would you like to get that out?

JS: Probably by the end of the year or early next year?