Festival will salute jazz legends of Hawai'i's past
| • | Jazz-Festival Events |
| • | A Swingtime Hawai'i Time line |
By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
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| Illustration by Martha P. Hernandez • The Honolulu Advertiser
Hawaii International Jazz Festival On O'ahu Friday, Saturday at Hawai'i Theatre Center On Maui Aug. 6-7 at Maui Arts & Cultural Center More info: Call 941-9974, e-mail aew jazz1@aol.com, or visit hawaiijazz.com. Jazz-Festival facts Founded: 1994, by musician Abe Weinstein Total number of Jazz Fest musicians since 1994: More than 200 Guest musicians have included: Buddy Guy, Doc Severinsen and the Tonight Show Orchestra, Cleo Laine, Lalo Schifrin, Taj Mahal, James Ingram, Martin Denny, Herbie Mann Hawai'i musicians have included: Gabe Baltazar, Jimmy Borges, Jake Shimabukuro, Moe Keale, Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom, Betty Loo Taylor, Willie K, Michael Paulo, Keahi Conjugacion, Loyal Garner, Azure McCall, Brother Noland, Noel Okimoto, Tony Conjugacion Most appearances by a local musician: Gabe Baltazar (10) Most appearances by a non-local musician: Tiger Okoshi (6) Dollar amount of Jazz Fest scholarships offered to student musicians since 1994: More than $1 million |
"During the war days, every night was like Saturday night," said Hawai'i saxophone legend Gabe Baltazar, 74, recalling dance-hall days and nights in downtown Honolulu.
That's right. Downtown Honolulu. At night.
"Hotel Street. Pauahi Street. Nu'uanu Avenue, Smith Street. Maunakea Street. There were up to nine dance halls open at the same time, many of them catering to the plantation workers."
Then barely a teenager, Baltazar would grab his shine box and head downtown from his house at Kalakaua Homes to make some quick coin. The federal housing project on King Street at Kalakaua Avenue where he lived was just a couple of miles from Chinatown. But downtown was worlds apart from his quiet block of homes.
"I used to shine shoes on Hotel Street," recalled Baltazar. "There were a few houses of prostitution there. I remember seeing long lines of servicemen and thinking, 'What are they all lining up for?' "
Baltazar laughed out loud.
"That was day. But at night? Oh, man, there was a lot of music goin' on!"
This year's Hawaii International Jazz Festival will offer props to the era of Lindy, boogie woogie and shag by dedicating one evening apiece on O'ahu and Maui to the theme "Swingtime In Hawaii." The festival's Friday program at the Hawai'i Theatre Center and Aug. 7 program at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center will feature a 17-piece Territorial Big Band playing the best of the kings of swing.
Musicians performing with the band will include Baltazar, Melveen Leed, Jimmy Borges, Keahi Conjugacion, Ginai, Andrea Young, Ira Nepus and Owana Salazar. Former Benny Goodman Band clarinetist Ken Peplowski lends some moon glow to the Hawai'i Theatre show; Martin Denny, a bit of exotica.
Jazz Fest organizer/co-founder/musician Abe Weinstein promised hula girls in period cellophane skirts, swing dancers, and maybe even a mini-dance floor in the Hawai'i Theatre. Perhaps a few musicians will also share backstage tales of playing with the legends.
'Swinging everywhere'
"The pop music of the day in the 1940s was swing music and jazz. It was ubiquitous," said
Weinstein, explaining the "Swingtime" theme. "People were swinging everywhere. They were dancing in the clubs, in the streets, in their homes. It unified everybody. And that's still one of the most wonderful things about the music today."
Said Weinstein of the success enjoyed by current artists dabbling in jazz and swing standards, such as Diana Krall and Harry Connick Jr.: "The elegance of the music ... is bringing it into the foreground of young people today that are embracing it as part of their pop culture. We're seeing a renaissance of it today that I think will continue to grow."
The popularity of live swing jazz reached its apex here in the years immediately before and after World War II, but the music's true roots go back just a bit further.
"Jazz was already here in the 1920s. Ragtime jazz," said Harry B. Soria Jr., longtime host of KINE-FM's "Territorial Airwaves" show. "(Hawai'i-born) Johnny Noble had one of the first big jazz bands at the Moana Hotel."
Soria is a third-generation radio jock whose "Territorial Airwaves" takes listeners back to Hawai'i's pre-statehood days with historical recordings and stories from early-20th century life here. His father, Harry Sr., was known as the "Voice of Hawai'i" between the 1930s and 1950. Grandfather Harry G., known as the "Dean of Hawaiian Radio," was a fixture on radio's earliest Hawai'i days. Both were on station KGU-AM.
Harry Soria Jr., 55, said the popularity of ragtime in the 1920s, hapa-haole in the 1930s, then big-band swing jazz in the 1940s, wasn't limited to Waikiki and downtown clubs.
"There were always nice things going on downtown, but not everybody went there," he said. "Big jazz events and dances happened in the armories, gyms and community halls on the plantations, too. Every community — no matter how small — had jazz bands playing."
Soria ticked off an old schedule of community big bands playing throughout the state on a single night in November 1934: Alvin Kaleolani Isaacs & the Kalihi Mutual Men's Serenaders at Palama Gym. Billy Montiero & the Blue Harmony Boys at Honolulu Armory. Gene & his Boyfriends at Kalihi Valley Gym. Chu Lum & the Dragons in 'Ewa. The Cazimero Orchestra of Kohala in Waimea on the Big Island. Kini Ka Orchestra (with brothers Joe and Eddie) in Kailua, Kona. The list goes on.
Honolulu boasted so many clubs and dance halls in the years just before World War II that radio announcers covering the scene just about needed the track-and-field stamina of Jesse Owens.
"My father was the first announcer to do all of these dances, whether they were at Lau Yee Chai's, the Casino Ballroom or the Royal Hawaiian," Soria said. "He had 15 minutes to move from one (gig) to the next with a guy from Mutual Telephone. They would jerry-rig the whole thing themselves, put on a 15-minute program, jump in the car, go to the next one, hook up and do the whole thing again."
Together, they'd move from Ted Dawson and His Orchestra at Kewalo Inn to Don McDiarmid and His Orchestra in Waikiki to Ray Andrade and band downtown. The senior Soria's dedication to his job was total.
"Once in 1938 or 1939, it was nighttime and Dad was doing his 'Going To Town With Harry Soria' (radio) show. And an earthquake — one of the bigger earthquakes of the time — hit Honolulu," the younger Soria said. "It was so bad that the needle jumped off of the record."
The senior Soria did what any quick-thinking disc jockey would do.
"Dad quickly grabbed a record and put it on. It was 'This Joint Is Jumpin,'" Soria, laughing. "The man knew his swing!"
Musical heroes
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| The Army Jungleers, made up of troops from Schofield Barracks, and the Navy Hell Cats perform.
United States Army Museum Hawaii |
"Tony Soares was a fine drummer who was like the Gene Krupa or Buddy Rich of Hawai'i," Baltazar said. "Peter Kane, a great saxophonist with the Royal Hawaiian Band, also lived around where I did."
The outbreak of World War II brought more military people to Pearl Harbor, many of them musicians eager to start swing bands. Among these were big jazz-world names like Ray Anthony, Claude Thornhill, Sam Donahue and even clarinetist extraordinaire Artie Shaw.
"Artie Shaw was stationed at Pearl Harbor and had a Navy band. He played at a place called The Breakers at the old Queen's Surf," remembered Baltazar, who was then 12. "Waikiki (beach) in 1942 was lined with barbed wire, so I had to crawl under it to listen to the band, which was really exciting for me.
"Later, when the Royal Hawaiian Hotel became a Navy recreation center, he'd play there, too."
Other jazz legends coming into Honolulu for gigs with military swing bands were Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. They played riotous clubs downtown — the Blue Note, the Brown Derby, Two Jacks, the famous Roof-Top Garden — and classier gigs in Waikiki — The Moana and The Royal Hawaiian — often with Honolulu players. The interaction couldn't help but influence local musicians.
"Fort DeRussy had a beautiful Army band called The Jungleers, made up of Schofield guys," Baltazar said. "I think some of the guys in the band had been with the Count Basie Band. They were good players. They played in fatigues (and) camouflage clothes."
Singer Mihana Souza fondly recalled the many memories of the era painted in the songs and stories of her late mother, legendary Hawaiian songwriter/musician Irmgard Farden Aluli. The prolific composer of more than 300 songs in her lifetime including the hapa-haole classic "The Boy From Laupahoehoe," Aluli in the 1930s was a member of the Annie Kerr Trio, with sister Diane Farden.
"Hawai'i was the hot spot of the world at the time in terms of elegance, paradise and romance," Souza said. "That was the era when my mother was also singing in bands, so she remembered the elegance of dressing up ... in beautiful gowns and gloves.
"Everybody dressed like that. Then you went to the Roof-Top Garden and heard Auntie Napua (Stevens) singing 'What Are The Wild Waves Saying?' Just beautiful music. And it was all downtown."
Baltazar would sneak into the second-floor Casino Ballroom at Nu'uanu Avenue and Beretania Street to listen to his father play and pick up playing tips. When Gabe Jr. was 13, his father finally brought him inside to play.
"Nowadays, there are schools with jazz programs, but back then we had to learn in the streets," Baltazar said. "There were about 500 tunes they played (that) I had to learn, including hapa-haole songs and all of the old standards ... 'Stardust,' '(I Can't Give You) Anything But Love.' We played 'em all, nightly. That's how I learned all 500 tunes, by just playing 'em."
Clubs shuttered
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| Clarinetist Artie Shaw was stationed at Pearl Harbor and had a Navy band. Locals remember him playing at The Breakers at Queen's Surf.
Bernadine Gandrud |
Jazz fans and musicians these days get their fix from a handful of fellow jazz-loving promoters like Weinstein and Jackie Ward ("The Great Hawaiian Jazz Blowout") who keep things swinging with homegrown festivals throughout the year. You'll find Baltazar blowing his sax at many of them ... as exquisitely skilled at swinging as always.
"Swing is the basis of jazz," said Baltazar, sagely. "If you can feel a beat, snap your fingers and make another guy who doesn't know anything do the same, you've got it going. ... It's a feeling. It's a pulsation.
"And like Duke Ellington wrote, 'It ain't got a thing if it ain't got that swing.' "
Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.
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On O'ahu:
Friday, July 30 at Hawai'i Theatre Center
- 10 a.m.-1 p.m.: Jazz education classes with trombonist Ira Nepus, clarinetist/saxophonist Ken Peplowski and saxophonist David Choy. Free.
- 7 p.m.: "Swingtime in Hawaii," featuring 17-piece Territorial Big Band with Gabe Baltazar, Melveen Leed, Jimmy Borges, Keahi Conjugacion, Ginai, Andrea Young and Owana Salazar. Special guest artists: Clarinetist Ken Peplowski and Martin Denny.
Saturday, July 31 at Hawai'i Theatre Center
- 10 a.m.-1 p.m.: Jazz education class with clarinetist Ken Peplowski and saxophonist David Choy. Free.
- 7 p.m.: "International Jazz," featuring Mihana Souza, Gypsy Pacific, David Choy, Doug MacDonald, Gabe Baltazar and the Honolulu Jazz Quartet. Special guest artist: Grammy winning pianist-composer Lalo Schifrin.
On Maui:
Friday, Aug. 6 at Maui Arts & Cultural Center
- 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m.: Morning concert with Henry Allen, David Choy, Sam Ahia, Marcus Johnson, Kelly Covington, Owana Salazar, Michael Buono, Doug MacDonald and Gene Angel. Free.
- 7 p.m.: "International Jazz," featuring Eric Marienthal, Gypsy Pacific, Keahi Conjugacion, Gabe Baltazar, David Choy, Doug McDonald, Abe Lagrimas and the Honolulu Jazz Quartet.
Saturday, Aug. 7 at Maui Arts & Cultural Center
- 10 a.m.-1 p.m.: Master classes mentoring session. Free.
- 7 p.m.: "Swingtime in Hawaii," featuring 17-piece Territorial Big Band with Melveen Leed, Jimmy Borges, Gabe Baltazar, Mihana Souza, Keahi Conjugacion, Ginai, Andrea Young, Owana Salazar, Henry Allen and David Choy.
Tickets: O'ahu tickets are available at the Hawai'i Theatre Center Box Office, by phone at 528-0506, or online at www.hawaiitheatre.com. A $2 Hawai'i Theatre restoration fee will be charged on all tickets.
Maui, tickets are available at the MACC Box Office, or by phone at (808) 242-7469. A $2 facility fee will be charged on all tickets.
Ticket prices for both the O'ahu and Maui events are $20, $35 and $45.
More info: For the Hawaii International Jazz Festival call 941-9974, e-mail aewjazz1@aol.com, or visit www.hawaiijazz.com.
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1920s: Ragtime jazz arrives. "King of Hawaiian Swing" Johnny Noble leads the Moana Orchestra, one of the O'ahu's first large jazz bands.
Early 1930s: Hapa-haole music adds a swing-heavy groove to local jazz. A number of dance halls and clubs open downtown.
Mid 1930s: Live jazz played by dozens of homegrown bands can be enjoyed nightly at armories, dance halls, clubs, gyms and community centers statewide.
Late 1930s: KGU-AM announcer Harry B. Soria Sr. begins doing live mobile remotes at Honolulu dance halls and clubs. "Hawaii Calls" live broadcasts from the Moana Hotel bring Hawai'i music to the Mainland. Swing jazz rises in popularity.
Early 1940s: Military and plantation swing bands and orchestras flourish in Honolulu and outlying districts. Mainland jazz musicians such as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong perform with O'ahu military bands. Big-band stars in the military — including Artie Shaw, Ray Anthony and Claude Thornhill — are stationed in Honolulu.
Late 1940s through 1950s: Stand-alone jazz clubs reach their peak numbers in downtown Honolulu and Waikiki. As tourism booms, the jazz-club scene moves to Waikiki.
1960s: Stand-alone jazz clubs begin to close. The music moves into hotel clubs and showrooms.
