James Hill - Voodoo Chile

Regular Got A Ukulele readers will know that I don't flood this site with videos, and really only tend to share them when they stand out to me. James Hill videos normally do that for me.

But I am sharing this for reasons other than the technical standard on display (which, for me, is rather wonderful).

You see, I like James because he pushes some boundaries with what the ukulele can do. Some may not like the music (I'm a Hendrix fan, so I like it just fine - even if James has mis-spelled the name of the track he is covering). Some will say 'you shouldn't play that on a ukulele... And that is really one of the main reasons I am sharing it. You see, I am a strong believer that no matter what the instrument, taking it out of the comfort zone of most people is a HEALTHY thing to do with it. It shows others that the instrument is not so limited, and that has to be a good thing.

The ukulele does, in my view, suffer from being typecast, of people assuming it is a one trick pony, of people assuming that it is 'only' for happy Hawaiian stuff. I say not. I say watch and listen to James Hill.

If you don't like the tune, admire the skill of his playing. If you don't think this should be played on a ukulele... well... it's a musical instrument - they don't come with rule books.

(And if you are interested, James is playing a Mya Moe ukulele)




© Barry Maz

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Ukulele Festival of Great Britain 2013 - Diary Day 2

Well, what a day - this was ukulele festival 'proper' as festivities moved to the beautiful Cheltenham Town Hall for a day of performances on the main stage - and what a variety we had!

Sam Brown and The Sonning Common club

Things kicked off with a performance by Sam Brown's International Ukulele Club of Sonning Common - a ukulele club in the traditional sense (music stands, silly hats!) led by Sam (yes, that Sam, daughter of Joe!). It was an all inclusive set with Sam keeping in moving but allowing other members to take lead on vocals or lead ukes. Nice electric guitar backing too from Sam's brother.

Then time to browse the other areas of the town hall, most notably the stalls area which seemed jam packed all day long  with people eager to grab a ukulele, and accessory, or just chew the fat with other players. Was very nice to catch up with Ken and Liz from Ohana, but also to meet people I 'knew' for the first time such as Paul and Rob from Southern Ukulele Store and Rob Collins from TinGuitar. And during the whole day scores of visitors had booked on to playing workshops led by the performers themselves such as James Hill, Phil Doleman and Sarah Maisel.

Paul Tucker of SUS

Liz busy on the Ohana stand

Rob Collins of Tinguitar

There were some other luthiers and traders there too, including Pete Howlett, and nice to meet both Ian Andrews of Ukulian and Mark Pugh of Stones Music too.

Pete Howlett stand

And as I said this was the opportunity to drop some cash on your dream uke at festival prices - and there certainly were some crackers.

Tony Casey with his new iUke piccolo

 Earlier in the morning the massing crowds had been entertained by 'Eek' the one man band (Martyn Cooper) - an imposing but thoroughly lovely bloke!

Eek the one man band

Jake Smithies with Sam Brown

Mid afternoon I headed back into the main stage area to catch what was my first highlight of the festival. Sarah Maisel's performance was a staggeringly beautiful mix of jazz and Hawaiian flavoured uke, beautiful voice - dream like. She was accompanied by a double bass player she had only known for about half an hour and delivered one of the best sets of the day (as borne out by the immediate standing ovation at the end, and encore). I was watching from the balcony, and a couple where waltzing up and down the landing as she played. I told Sarah that later and she was quite emotional!

(Sorry for picture quality from here on - mixture of a dark room, small camera etc etc...)

Sarah Maisel on stage at GB ukulele festival

After a break (who said that, of course I wasn't taking a breather to clear the ongoing hangover from the night before???) back in to the arena and a great laid back swingy set from Belgiums The Winin' Boys who went down very well indeed. Made me feel like I was on a colonial hotel verandah in the south sea islands.

Then next highlight for me - Danish folk duo Elof and Wamberg who delivered a quite stunning set of Nordic Folk music done in their style. It's a brave choice for any festival organiser to book something that may be seen as a little more 'left field' to the more traditional audience, and I suppose 'Nordic Folk' may fit that bill. But boy are we glad they did take the chance - these guys had such talent and had one of the best audience receptions of the day. Heck, you know you are doing something right when James Hill joins you on stage!

Elof and Wamberg with James Hill (picture credit - Simon Grove)

Then on to festival favourites Phil Doleman and Ian Emmerson in their first Cheltenham performance since (as Ian put it) sacking themselves from The Re-entrants. In this incarnation the guys are performing their own compositions and  they delivered them with typical good humour over the top of extremely tight technical playing. Loved it.

Phil Doleman and Ian Emmerson

Back to left field with the 'chap hop' stylings of Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer. I actually spent a good part of this set watching audience reaction, as it is fair to say that (how can I put this politely) Mr B's act of banjolele hip hop, rap, techno is perhaps not to the taste of some of the more senior banjolele fans in the audience. Initial reactions were one of slight bemusement, but by the time he was bringing his set to a close, watching said audience members raising and pumping their hands, rave style was hilarious. An extremely energetic set which must have taken such hard work to put together.

Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer

Back to the laid back with the much anticipated Ukulele Uff and Lonesome Dave from Liverpool who blew the crowd away with their mix of 20's and 30's standards played at blistering pace - another amazing reaction from the crowd for this one.

Ukulele Uff and Lonesome Dave

Then on to one of the most energetic sets of the night - multi instrumentalist Andy Eastwood. Readers of this blog will know I not the biggest fan of Formby style banjolele which Andy is famous for, but whilst he did that in the set (to a great reception) he really showed of his musical skills with violin, trad wooden uke, Chopin, Elvis, Beatles, you name it.

Andy Eastwood

Then on to the set we have all been waiting for - James Hill joined by his partner Anne Janelle. What can I say, just spellbinding. Before I talk ukulele, what about those voices. Sublime harmonies and vocals from both of them (and Anne herself delivered a beautiful piece she had written called 'waiting' which was wonderful). Their delivery of Hand Over My Heart was rocking, and the technicality James shows on the uke just blows everyone else away. Collective jaws were on the floor during his ukulele played with chopsticks and a comb (his 'ukulele of the future' section) which delivered a mixture of space rock, dance and techno on a humble uke. Quite incredible. And rightly so, the duo received the biggest ovation of the whole day.

James Hill and Anne Janelle (photo credit Simon Grove)

After James the organisers came back to the stage to announce a mass singalong, bringing the artists back on the stage to lead a mass sing of the spiritual 'Oh Mary Don't You Weep' which had the whole room dancing. A quite brilliant end to a great day.

Ian, Phil, Andy James in the finale

Crowd lapping it up

Then out in to the chilly night, a final beer or two and bed. A long tiring day, but one executed extremely well. Tony, Jude, Phil and Ally should be proud of themselves for what they created and deserve a lot of thanks.

I'm typing this on day 3, and preparing to head off to the open-mic session, then home. More soon!

CHECK OUT MY OTHER DIARY POSTS FROM CHELTENHAM HERE! 

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Ukulele Festival Of Great Britain 2013, Diary - Day1

Ohhhh my head.... Well, that is day one over at the ukulele festival of Great Britain, and it was late and merry night!

We arrived in Cheltenham mid afternoon to avoid a rush - very nice central hotel, then out for some afternoon drinks with some of The N'Ukes before heading off to the Exmouth Arms for the official festival opener / jam / get together.

The organisers did a grand job, with a large marquee area for fear of rain (thankfully, that rain did not come) which by 7pm was soon filling up and later was absolutely heaving. Such a number of uke fans, clubs, solo players and several well known names too. It was jam central - with groups playing their thing, but also joining in with others when a song started. I particularly liked the blues jam we started in the sunshine which saw loads of players stand up and join in as we worked through a medley of Eric Bibb, Jerry Lee-Lewis, Carl Perkins and Fleetwood Mac.

Had a very nice chat with festival performer Sarah Maisel who had only just arrived in the UK from the USA, tired, jet lagged, but utterly charming and ready to get into the spirit of the festival. She had with her one stunning ukukele made for her by Mike Da Silva.

Simon Grove (Bridgnorth and Halesowen), Sarah Maisel and N'Ukes Steve

And always good to meet other new faces who I've only thus far spoken to online together with the great James Hill with whom we had a very nice chat. Always good to see friend of Got A Ukulele and The N'Ukes Ken Middleton too.

Paul Mac and Clarice Wokes of Bradford Ukes with banjolele maestro Andy Eastwood

James Hill and friend of The N'Ukes, Ken Middleton

So we had sunshine and we had beer, and on this the longest day, the darkness fell, the alcohol levels increased and the jamming continued into the early hours.

I got to finally meet uke performers who I have written about on this blog many times such as Paul Redfern of The pUKEs and Phil Doleman and Ian Emmerson

pUKEs Paul Redfern and N'Ukes Amanda

Ian Emmerson with an 8 string

Phil Doleman (with his delightful Beltona Reso) and Sarah Maisel

Also had a great chat with the lovely Mary Agnes Krell about the upcoming Grand Northern Ukulele Festival, together with chewing the fat with Tim Smithies (Anything Goes Uke Orchestra and Dead Man's Uke) and his delightfully dapper son Jake (Bass and vocals in the same bands).

Tim Smithies (Anything Goes Uke Orchestra / Dead Mans Uke), Mary Agnes Krell and a  drunken fool.

And there was no stopping the playing as the night wore on (although in our case the playing certainly got rougher and rougher round the edges!)

Strumming into the night

But most of all it was an evening of big smiles - everywhere you looked were people laughing, grinning and just genuinely having a good time of it.

Sarah Maisel and James Hill

My sore head tells me everything I need to know, but just relaxing now for the morning before the festival proper kicks of at lunchtime. Couldn't photograph everyone, and I have probably forgotten to mention some. Thanks so much to Richard Gent and Jamie Wright for the kind words about the blog! Great also to meet the likes of Lesley Fowkes, John Caudrey etc for the first time and to catch up with Simon Grove, Paul Mac and Clarice Wokes again.

Off to the town hall soon to see the acts perform, and I'll be back on again tomorrow with an update on Day 2 of the fest.

Pass me the aspirin....

(CHECK OUT THE OTHER DIARY POSTINGS FOR THIS FESTIVAL HERE! )

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Uke choices of the professionals - pt1

As amateur players you probably beat yourself up enough over which ukulele to choose to play (or, like me, to play next!). I suppose it's the same for the pro's too, but have you wondered what ukuleles the professional players choose to play? Check out this first selection.

Jake Shimabukuro

Whilst Jake may have other ukes in his collection, he started playing ukulele as a child on a Kamaka uke and is said to have played them ever since. Today if you see him play he will most likely be performing on a beautiful custom built Tenor model, made specially for him.

James Hill

James is known to play many ukes, and chooses what he wants depending on the voice he needs for a particular track. If you have seen his online videos of him performing tracks like Billie Jean he is playing that on a custom uke from G String.

Eddie Vedder

I had to mention Eddie - whilst not most famous for being a ukulele player, he certainly hit the headlines and shook the uke world up last year with the release of his Ukulele Songs LP. Eddie has reported in interviews that he plays many types of uke, but on the record he is most famously associated with playing custom models from his friends at De Vine guitars.

Amanda Palmer

Another player who divides opinions, but Amanda has become completely linked to the ukulele, releasing EP's and other tracks played on it. She has been seen in city centres playing impromptu live jams on the ukulele on a range of cheap Mahalo type ukes, or playing the one above which was a gift from her father (it's a Hilo). Interestingly, whilst in her punk tradition she claims that quality and tuning don't matter too much, it would appear that Ms Palmer recognises that a bit of tuning and intonation are kinda important - playing live recently she has been spotted with a Pono model!

I hope to revisit this theme soon on Got A Ukulele with a roundup of some other famous players 'ukes of choice'.

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