PERFORMING ARTS

It’s rare for a young musician to earn comparisons to the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis. It’s even harder to find an artist who has entirely redefined an instrument by his early thirties. But Jake Shimabukuro (she-ma-boo-koo-row) has already accomplished these feats, and more, in a little over a decade of playing and recording music on the ukulele.

In the hands of Shimabukuro, the traditional Hawai'ian instrument of four strings and two octaves is stretched and molded into a complex and bold new musical force. On his most recent album Peace Love Ukulele (which debuted at #1 on the Billboard World Album Chart), Jake and his “uke” effortlessly mix jazz, rock, classical, traditional Hawai'ian music, and folk, creating a sound that’s both technically masterful and emotionally powerful… and utterly unique in the music world.