Jazz group Hiroshima has new voice

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

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Hiroshima Featured in three events this weekend Concert 7:30 tonight Hawai'i Theatre $29.50-$45 528-0506 A benefit for Hawai'i Centers for Independent Living "A Taste of California" Dinner concert 5:30 p.m. Saturday Hilton Hawaiian Village Sold out 522-5400 Hosted by Kristi Yamaguchi, Roy Yamaguchi and Alan Wong; a benefit for Hawai'i Centers for Independent Living and its new Youth Development Empowerment Program Concert 8:30 p.m. Sunday; doors open 7:30 p.m. Kamehameha Court, Hilton Waikoloa Village, Big Island $40, includes two drinks (808) 886-1234, ext. 54

"Let's just say there is a new element in Hiroshima and I'm happy to be part of the change and growth," said Steele, lead singer with Hiroshima who will perform with the group in a series of shows in Honolulu and on the Big Island this weekend.

Hiroshima, which also includes former Islander Kimo Cornwell on keyboards, has broadened its sound and diversified its musical repertoire in recent years. With Steele, a creative force in urban contemporary music, Hiroshima is redefining its territory and turf.

"I'm more or less flavored in rhythm 'n' blues pop than jazz; it's a fusion of what I do," said Steele, a veteran musician-composer who's written songs for others in the past two decades. This month, his first solo CD, "Day by Day," is being released on JTS Records.

"Kimo produced my CD and he's the one who brought me into Hiroshima," said Steele. "I've known him for 15 years; he interprets my music in a way never expressed before. I can hum a melody; Kimo can sit and play it, and it all comes to life."

Steele now is leading two musical lives — as a budding soloist and as a Hiroshima trouper.

"My solo CD speaks to life, taking life day by day, one step at a time," he said. "But it does not ignore my Hiroshima life. I tour with the band but also have time to do some things alone."

June Kuramoto, a member of Hiroshima, appears on a few tracks; Dan Kuramoto, group leader and saxophonist, also performs in the "day" interludes between songs. So Hiroshima is part of the new fabric of his musical quiltwork.

Steele initially was a composer, writing songs for the likes of Luther Vandross, who in 1989 recorded the title song of Steele's CD.

"I guess you can say I've come full circle," said Steele, about finally having the gumption to re-record a proven entity. "I knew I could not improve on it (the Vandross version) so I did mine a little differently," he said. "I put a new spin on it."

Vandross got the song, he said, via Dionne Warwick, who intervened on Steele's behalf. "She's my quasi-godmother," he said.

He has written music for Warwick, Patti LaBelle (who sings with him on a cover of The Stylistics' "You Are Everything") and for Diana Ross, he said of his diva links.

"I hear their voices while creating; but there have been times when I have a little special moment when it's totally all about me. In that case, it's hard to give away a song."

He recalled the nightmare of one of his compositions gone awry, given to an artist he can't name. "They murdered my song," he said. "I wanted to take it back, but couldn't."

But there has been some good, too. "It's always a joy when an artist adds something to your song and takes it to another level."

Steele said he had been patiently waiting "for a body of work I felt I could interpret very well," before doing a solo CD.

"I'm at a point in my life where these songs now mean a lot to me; they speak of my life — the lessons and joy and the pain I've experienced in the past 10 to 12 years."

The multicultural composition of Hiroshima has been evolving, said Steele, with the additions of Dean Cortez, the bassist, who is Puerto Rican, and part-Hawaiian Cornwell.

"I think I eat more sushi and sashimi than the veterans do," Steele said of his appetite for Japanese food. "Really, this has become my soul food. I love wasabi, too, and when I was in the studio working on the CD in Marina Del Ray, I would stop by Top Cloud, a restaurant, nearly every day to buy sushi to keep me going."