Jake Shimabukuro
Sunday, October 5, 2025 at 5pm
This performance will include a 15-minute intermission.
Jackson Waldhoff: Bass
Since gaining prominence in the early 2000’s, ukulele marvel Jake Shimabukuro has mesmerized audiences with his innovative and dynamic style, taking the instrument to dizzying new heights. Over a dozen solo albums, Shimabukuro has shown a knack for moving effortlessly between genres, sometimes in the same song.
After being taught the instrument by his mother at age four, Jake became a local phenom, performing on his own and in a local group, Pure Heart. Early in his solo career he became a YouTube sensation when his cover of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” went viral. Since then, Jake has gone on to play the world’s most venerable venues —from the Hollywood Bowl and Lincoln Center to the Sydney Opera House and the New Orleans Jazz Fest—and collaborated with some of the world’s greatest musicians, including Yo-Yo Ma, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Jimmy Buffett, Jack Johnson, Bette Midler, Ziggy Marley, Sonny Landreth, Billy Strings, Lukas & Willie Nelson and Warren Haynes. Shimabukuro has also won his share of awards and, just a few years ago, was even nominated by former President Joe Biden to serve on the National Council on the Arts.
One strong thread that runs through much of Shimabukuro’s work is that of collaboration. From the Trio album to Jake & Friends to Grateful and beyond, Shimabukuro thrives in the ability to feed off and inspire his fellow musicians.
For his latest project, Shimabukuro teams up with his friend Mick Fleetwood—drumming legend and founding member of Fleetwood Mac—to craft a bold new take on the blues. “I’ve always wanted to make a blues album, and when Mick and I started talking about collaborating, I thought, who better to work with than Mick Fleetwood?” The result is exhilarating and one-of-a-kind, as these two masters reimagine classic songs by some of their favorite songwriters through a vibrant blues lens.
This partnership traces back to the late 1990s, when a young Shimabukuro first met and performed with Fleetwood at the Hawaiian Music Awards alongside singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins. Years later, a mutual friend reintroduced them at a Fleetwood Mac reunion concert in Nashville, where Fleetwood floated the idea of collaborating. Soon after, the two joined forces with Jake’s touring bassist, Jackson Waldhoff, and keyboardist Michael Grande to begin recording a new studio album in Maui. Mark Johnstone of The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band also contributes keys on two tracks, “Need Your Love So Bad” and “Rockin’ in the Free World.”
Over two intensive three-day sessions, the band recorded nine songs live in the studio. The only exception was Sonny Landreth’s masterful slide guitar on the Jeff Beck/Stevie Wonder classic “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers,” which was tracked separately. With its soaring dynamics and dramatic highs and lows, this stunning piece proved to be a powerful way to launch the album.
The interplay between Landreth and Shimabukuro is so seamless, you’d never guess they weren’t in the same room while recording. Their chemistry stems in part from performing the song together on a recent tour, as well as their history of sharing the stage when Sonny frequently sat in with Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band during Jake’s tenure with the group.
Up next is a strikingly original take on the blues classic “Rollin’ N Tumblin.’” The track opens with a swirling, delay-soaked psychedelic ukulele layered over Fleetwood’s tribal drum groove—an introduction that reinforces why Jake is often called the “Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele.” Then, with a sudden shift, he pivots to the song’s main theme, mirrored beautifully by the Hammond organ. Jake’s performance is daring and otherworldly, at times soaring into a visceral fusion of psychedelic jazz and rock.
“Mick’s energy when he plays is so infectious. He’s such an intense musician. He pushes everyone around him, and it’s so inspiring to see his facial expressions and watch his movements and the way he hits the drums,” says Shimabukuro exuberantly.
About “Kula Blues,” Jake explains, “I’d never written anything that sounded this bluesy or a shuffle, so I wanted to take a stab at it and have a song where any musician could sit in without needing a chart.” Again, Jake credits Mick Fleetwood with bringing the track to life. “He just got behind the drums and without even counting it off came charging in. You either jump on the train or get outta the way!”
A couple of other standouts on the album are “Whiter Shade of Pale” and “Rockin’ in the Free World.” Of the former, Shimabukuro recalls “I was so in the moment, I remember just closing my eyes and really forgetting my pedal board and everything and just reacting to Mick and the band.”
Fortuitously, The Bridge School Benefit, founded by Neil Young, had asked Jake if he would do a cover of “Rockin’ in the Free World" the same week he and Mick were in the studio. The track has an explosive energy that builds to an incendiary psychedelic guitar; the ukulele solo is spurred on by Fleetwood’s thunderous drums.
One of the most striking things Jake shares about this record is the sense of “spirits in the air” during the sessions. This is especially evident in their rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “Songbird,” recorded shortly after Christine McVie’s passing. The band captured it in a single take, and the emotion is palpable. “I remember Mick taking a moment of silence after the song ended—you could feel Christine’s presence,” Jake recalls. Fleetwood’s steady tom-tom groove forms a heartbeat beneath Shimabukuro’s airy, ethereal ukulele, as he flows seamlessly between rapid strums and gentle melodic lines. “I felt so fortunate to witness that with Mick. It was incredibly powerful to see its effect on him.”
Another “ghost in the machine” or happy accident was the sound of the drums leaking into the ukulele’s electric pickup. Because the musicians were so close together, you can hear all the drums on the ukulele track. When the effects kick in on the ukulele, you get this cool subtle layer of the drum ambience in the mix, contributing to the overall vibe and cohesion of the record.
Not long after the completion of the record, Maui was devastated by historic wildfires. At the benefit concert in Honolulu, Fleetwood once again joined Shimabukuro and the band to perform the songs on Blues Experience for the first time. Before the performance, Fleetwood gave a powerful and inspirational speech to the community. Shimabukuro expands on this, “Mick’s like the point guard on a basketball team making everyone around him play better. It’s really incredible. He has such a huge presence, charisma and energy. It was such an honor to do this project together.
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