By Staff Reports
(Honolulu)– For Blue Note Hawaii, the state’s premier venue for the world’s most celebrated artists, July is heating up with music legend David Crosby, ground-breaking fusion artist, Robert Glasper, chart-topping funk and R&B singer Jeffrey Osborne and multi-platinum vocalist Joan Osborne. Blue Note Hawaii also hosts a star-studded lineup of local talent including Jake Shimabukuro, another installment of Mike Lewis Presents, Willie K, Jeff Peterson’s Slack Key and Ukulele Night Featuring Benny Chong and Byron Yasui, young singer-songwriter Aidan James, Nesian NINE, Adagio, local favorite Kuana Torres Kahele and wrapping up with Keahi Conjugacion.
Additional outreach to locals is the 15% kama’aina discount available to residents for all shows at all price levels, with exception to David Crosby. This is available online with code MAHALO15, as well as in person at the box office. Parking is validated at the Ohana East Hotel for $6 for four hours.
The full July Blue Note Hawaii lineup includes:
Jake Shimabukuro
Dates: June 29 – July 1
Showtimes: 6:30pm & 9pm
Doors: 5pm & 8:30pm
Tickets: $55, $45, $35
Known for his energetic strumming on the ukulele, Jake’s performance incorporates elements of thoughtful, sophisticated arrangements to spontaneous, improvised passages. In addition to his original compositions, his repertoire includes Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Schubert’s “Ave Maria” and Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” In the years since the airing of the YouTube clip that launched his career, Jake has collaborated with an array of artists that include Yo-Yo Ma, Jimmy Buffett, Bette Midler, Cyndi Lauper, Jack Johnson, Ziggy Marley, Dave Koz, Michael McDonald, Bela Fleck and The Flecktones, Tommy Emmanuel, and Lyle Lovett – as well as orchestras around the world. He’s sold out world-class venues, played at Bonnaroo, SXSW, the Playboy Jazz Festival, Fuji Rock Festival, the influential TED conference, and even performed for Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Variety Performance in Blackpool, England.
David Crosby
Dates: July 2 & 3
Showtime: 8:00pm
Doors: 6pm
Tickets: $86
Legendary singer-songwriter and social justice activist David Crosby is a two time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, inducted as a member of both the iconic folk-rock band The Byrds – with whom he first rose to stardom –and the iconic Woodstock era-defining group Crosby, Stills & Nash. A native Californian—Crosby began his career as a folksinger, playing clubs and coffee houses nationwide. Back in L.A. in ‘63, Crosby formed The Byrds with Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman, Gene Clark and Michael Clarke, winning widespread recognition for his songwriting and charismatic presence. Driven by hits including “Eight Miles High,” “Turn! Turn!Turn!,” and a cover of Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” The Byrds’ signature electric folk-rock influenced countless musicians to come.
Mike Lewis Presents: The Best Of Hawaii’s High School Jazz Bands: Punahou And Castle High School Jazz Bands 4th Of July Celebration
Date: July 4
Showtime: 6:30pm & 9pm
Doors: 5pm & 8:30pm
Tickets: $35, $25, $15
This celebration of music will feature students from the Castle High School Jazz Band, the Punahou Eclectic Styles String Ensemble and the Punahou Jazz Big Band.
Willie K
Date: July 5
Showtimes: 6:30pm & 9pm
Doors: 5pm & 8:30pm
Tickets: $45, $35, $25
Raised on Maui, Willie Kahaiali`i (a.k.a. Willie K) has been entertaining audiences with his music since the age of 10. He has evolved into an eclectic and charismatic singer, songwriter, entertainer, and now actor. One of Hawaii’s most versatile talents, Willie performs a myriad of musical genres, including Hawaiian, Jazz, Blues, Reggae, Rock, Country Western, and even Opera.
Jeff Peterson’s Slack Key And Ukulele Night Featuring Benny Chong And Byron Yasui
Date: July 6
Showtimes: 6:30pm & 9pm
Doors: 5pm & 8:30pm
Tickets: $35, $25, $15
Recognized as one of Hawaii’s most versatile musicians, Jeff Peterson is at the heart of the Hawaiian music scene today. His passion for the guitar has allowed him to shine as a solo artist and has given him the opportunity to collaborate with a wide variety of artists from Hawaii, across the US, and abroad. His focus on Slack Key guitar, classical, and jazz music has allowed him to develop a unique and transcendent voice on the guitar while being deeply rooted in the traditions of his Hawaiian heritage. He has contributed to two GRAMMY® Award-winning recordings and has been honored with four Na Hoku Hanohano Awards in Hawaii. Jeff’s Blue Note Hawaii debut will feature local jazz giants Benny Chong, ukulele, Byron Yasui, bass and Noel Okimoto, drums.
Robert Glasper Experiment
Dates: July 7 – 10
Showtimes: 6:30pm & 9pm
Doors: 5pm & 8:30pm
Tickets: $45, $35, $25
Breakthrough success can often be a tough act to follow. But with a little help from some notable friends, Robert Glasper Experiment is set to up the ante with the follow-up to his successful GRAMMY® Award-winning album Black Radio. Flaunting a diverse array of featured guests including Common, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, Brandy, Jill Scott, Dwele, Marsha Ambrosius, Anthony Hamilton, Faith Evans, Norah Jones, Snoop Dogg, Lupe Fiasco, Luke James, Emeli Sandé, Lalah Hathaway, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Black Radio 2 is certain to surprise and delight critics and fans alike. With a unique fusion of R&B, jazz, and hip-hop that brazenly traverses the boundaries of all three genres, Black Radio 2 finds Glasper and his musical cohorts creating in a vibrant new chasm, brilliantly contrasting its predecessor in the process.
Aidan James
Dates: July 11
Showtimes: 6:30pm & 9pm
Doors: 5pm & 8:30pm
Tickets: $35, $25, $15
At just 8 years old, Aidan became a YouTube “sensation” when a video of him performing Train’s “Hey Soul Sister” quickly went viral and earned over 20 million views to date. Since appearing in an episode of “Hawaii Five-0” performing that very song, a friendship and mentorship blossomed with lead singer, Pat Monahan, resulting in Aidan’s cameo in “Mermaid,” and being featured as a guest on one of Pat’s podcasts, Patcast. Aidan has toured the US Mainland playing in legendary venues such as Whisky A Go Go, House of Blues, and Hard Rock Cafes across the country as well as performances in Japan and Tahiti. Aidan has shared the stage with the likes of Jack Johnson, Mick Fleetwood, Jake Shimabukuro, and GRAMMY® Award-winning group Train. Now 14 years old, Aidan debuted his first full-length album, “Echoes,” in December 2015. Commissioned by HBO to write an original song for their docu-series, “Saving My Tomorrow,” Aidan will be featured in an upcoming episode performing “Back To Where We Came From,” which is also on the album. Aidan recently returned from being a featured guest performer on Train’s “Sail Across the Sun” tour from Miami to Jamaica with Phillip Phillips, Michael Franti, Andy Grammer and Rachel Platten. Aidan now resides in California and continues to “live his dream.”
Nesian NINE
Dates: July 12
Showtimes: 6:30pm & 9pm
Doors: 5pm & 8:30pm
Tickets: $25 general admission
Nesian NINE is a musical group from the island of Oahu, HI. Nesian was utilized to encompass the band’s roots from the Polynesian, Micronesian, and Melanesian people. NINE is the acronym of Natives Inna New Era. The band consists of 10 members, whose musical influences and passion for music helped to develop their sound which we refer to as rhythm island blues: a soulful rhythm and blues with a reggae twist and a South Pacific appeal.
Adagio
Dates: July 13
Showtimes: 6:30pm & 9pm
Doors: 5pm & 8:30pm
Tickets: $35, $25, $15
Since 2012, Adagio has been bringing a unique brand of R&B/neo-soul influenced jazz to the Honolulu music scene. The band plays regularly at Jazz Minds where it has been performing since its inception. This year they have been selected to represent Hawaii jazz at the Red Clay Jazz Festival on Kauai in August. The group is formed by vocalist Riya Davis, bandleader and keyboardist Joshua Kaye, drummer and vocalist Bonny B. and bassist Mark Tanouye.
Jeffrey Osborne
Dates: July 14 – 17
July 14, 15 and 17 – Showtime: 8pm, Doors at 6pm
July 16 – Showtimes: 6:30pm and 9pm, Doors at 5pm & 8:30pm
Tickets: $75, $55, $45
Jeffrey Osborne, legendary funk and R&B musician, songwriter, lyricist, is the former lead singer of the band, L.T.D. He is the youngest of 12 children and is part of a musical family. Osborne’s father, Clarence “Legs” Osborne, was a popular trumpeter who played with Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington and died when Osborne was thirteen. Osborne started his music career in 1970 with a band called Love Men Ltd., who would later become known as L.T.D. The band recorded hit singles such as “(Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again,” “Concentrate on You,” “Love Ballad” and “Holding On (When Love Is Gone).” He left L.T.D. in early 1980 to start a solo career. His solo success includes five gold and platinum albums, including Stay with Me Tonight and Only Human. He also recorded an album of duets with popular singer James Ingram, and scored an international hit with “On the Wings of Love” in 1982. Osborne had two more gold albums, “Don’t Stop” and “Emotional,” the latter of which had his highest charting solo pop hit, “You Should Be Mine (The Woo Woo Song),” which peaked at #13 in 1986.
Kuana Torres Kahele
July 18, 2016
Showtimes: 6:30pm & 9pm
Doors: 5pm & 8:30pm
Ticket prices: $35, $25, $15
Kuana has been involved in the music and hula scene of Hilo since he was 6 years old. He trained as a kane dancer under legendary Hilo kumu hula Johnny Lum Ho until the age of 13. Once he was discovered to have exceptional musical abilities he was pulled from the hula line and added as a permanent halau musician. In 1995, at 17, he and fellow Hilo native and falsetto musician, Kehau Tamure, laid the foundation for what emerged as one of the most popular Hawaiian Music groups to date, NA PALAPALAI. Kuana currently maintains his own Hawaiian Music & Culture School in Japan. He teaches in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka with over 200 combined students. In 2014, Kuana Torres Kahele released the first in a 6 CD series entitled, Music for the Hawaiian Islands vol. 1 HAWAI’I KEAWE. Each CD pays tribute to an individual island with original music from Kuana, written specifically for hula. This year, Kuana will have completed this momentous project, contributing almost 100 new songs for Hula, in honor of Hawaii.
Joan Osborne
Date: July 19 – 24
Showtimes: 6:30pm & 9pm
Doors: 5pm & 8:30pm
Ticket prices: $55, $45, $35
Joan Osborne has rightfully earned a reputation as one of the great voices of her generation — both a commanding, passionate performer and a frank, emotionally evocative songwriter. Osborne is widely known for her beloved hit song,“(What If God Was) One of Us,” as well as her live performances of “What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted” and “Heat Wave” in the GRAMMY® Award-winning documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown. A multi-platinum selling recording artist and seven-time GRAMMY® Award nominee, the soulful vocalist and noted song interpreter is a highly sought-after collaborator and guest performer. Osborne is widely known for her live performances of “What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted” and “Heat Wave” in the GRAMMY® Award-winning documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown. She is firmly rooted in R&B and soul, as evidenced by the soul covers she has recorded on her albums How Sweet It Is and Breakfast In Bed, in addition to Bring It On Home, which garnered a Best Blues Album nomination at the 2013 GRAMMY® Awards. Those heartfelt performances are reflected in her Soul Revue concerts.
Osborne has released several acclaimed albums and continues to tour extensively with her own band and in various configurations and continues to enjoy a long and storied career that was jumpstarted with the great success of her major-label debut album, Relish, which wove together strands of American roots music, poetic lyrics and impassioned vocals, and produced the massive MTV and international radio smash, “One of Us.” The song occupied the number one spot on the U.S. singles chart for two weeks, Relish eventually racked up sales of over three million copies, and Osborne found a large and appreciative audience, particularly during touring as part of Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair tour.
Keahi Conjugacion
Date: July 25
Showtimes: 6:30pm & 9pm
Doors: 5pm & 8:30pm
Tickets: $35, $25, $15
Keahi is a Na Hoku Hanohano, Hawaii Music Award, GRAMMY® Award-nominated international jazz recording artist and a member of the well-known Conjugacion family (Tony C and Brother Noland). Growing up, her home was filled with music and dance, and at a young age Keahi fell in love with the sounds of Dinah Washington and other great jazz vocalists like Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, Etta James, and Phyllis Hyman. She started her singing career at the age of 17, singing with local Top 40 and R&B bands and recording as a background vocalist. In an effort to expand her musical horizons, she moved to Seattle, where she began appearing and recording as a jazz artist, as well as performing with some of the Northwest’s finest jazz musicians. In 2003 Keahi was asked to be a part of “Hawaii’s Legends” performing at Carnegie Hall in New York City. She has a distinct musical personality; a true jazz singer’s spontaneity and freedom mixed with a reverence for the music of Hawai’i and the bluesy stylings of the classing singers she loves so much. Keahi’s love for Hawaiian music can be heard in the way she sings a lyric and in her sensitivity to the nuances of the Hawaiian language.
About Blue Note Hawaii
Located in the former Society of Seven showroom inside Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort, Blue Note Hawaii will feature a year-round lineup of musical entertainment – from local talent to international sensations – for limited engagements. As a part of Outrigger’s ongoing commitment to the musical arts, the performance venue has undergone an extensive, multi-million-dollar revitalization, creating a brand new venue in the heart of Hawaii’s most famed beach resort destination. Blue Note Hawaii features completely new décor and a state-of-the-art sound and light system.
The 9,000 square-foot facility was designed by local architecture and interior design firm InForm Design, and seats over 300 patrons, showcasing two performances nightly in an intimate setting – seven days a week, 365 days a year. A contemporary gift shop is part of the plan, including a dedicated location for musical acts to hold autograph sessions following each show. Guest will have the opportunity to dine at the venue, where a full-service restaurant and bar will highlight the culinary talents of Chef Rodney Uyehara. Talent buying and programming will be handled out of Blue Note Entertainment Group’s New York office. Additionally, the venue will be available for private event bookings.
About Blue Note Entertainment Group
Blue Note Entertainment Group, founded in 1981 by Danny Bensusan, is a multi-faceted entertainment company that owns and operates New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club, B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, Highline Ballroom, Subrosa, and Lucille’s Grill; The Howard Theatre (Washington D.C.); and Blue Note Jazz Clubs Worldwide (Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan and Milan, Italy). The company also programs the Regattabar Jazz Club (Cambridge, MA). Blue Note Entertainment Group presents shows outside of its club network. The annual Blue Note Jazz Festival was established in 2011 and has since grown to become the largest jazz festival in New York City each June. Subsidiaries of Blue Note Entertainment Group include the GRAMMY®-nominated record label Half Note Records, whose catalogue includes over fifty titles recorded live at New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club, as well as Blue Note Travel, Management Group and Media Group.
About Outrigger Enterprises Group
Outrigger Enterprises Group is one of the largest and fastest growing privately held leisure lodging, retail and hospitality companies operating in the Asia Pacific, Oceania and Indian Ocean regions. As part of its unique hospitality offering, the values-based company extends exceptional hospitality and authentic cultural experiences, incorporating local traditions and customs into the guest experience at each of its properties worldwide. Guided by more than 68 years of family leadership, Outrigger runs a highly-successful, multi-branded portfolio of hotels, condominiums and vacation resort properties, including Outrigger® Resorts, OHANA® Hotels and Resorts, Hawaii Vacation Condos by Outrigger®, Embassy Suites®, Holiday Inn®, Best Western®, Wyndham Vacation Ownership® and Hilton Grand Vacations™. Currently, Outrigger operates and/or has under development 40 properties with approximately 9,000 rooms located in Hawaii (Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Hawaii Island); Guam; Fiji; Thailand; Mauritius; Maldives; Vietnam; and Hainan Island, China. For online information, log on at www.outriggerenterprisesgroup.com and www.outrigger.com. Join Outrigger’s social network to Find Out. Find Outrigger! Follow @OutriggerResort on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OutriggerResorts. For on-going news, visit http://news.outrigger.com.