Christmas arrived early for everyone who attended Jake Shimabukuro’s show last week at the Granada. While most people in the audience were familiar with the virtuoso, there were a few uninitiated who had no idea what a treat they were in for. It was fun hearing their surprised excitement. The unconventional Christmas in Hawai’i show started off with Shimabukuro’s interpretation of “Ave Maria” by Franz Schubert, an arrangement filled with gorgeous harmonics. The fluidity and speed of his fingers mimicked other instruments, such as the harp and mandolin, giving the feeling that there was an entire orchestra played by two hands.
From single harmonic notes on “Silent Night” to the dizzying trance of his frenetic strums on Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” he mesmerized the audience with a sweeping cornucopia of songs, reimagining hits such as George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” to Christmas favorites such as “What Child Is This” and the more contemporary “This Christmas” by Donny Hathaway.
Shimabukuro’s sets included his favorite songs from unexpected genres such as rock, jazz, flamenco, and bluegrass, hitting heavy on The Beatles and Queen and offering a little help from his friends to play songs from his latest album, including Jackson Waldhoff, on electric bass, guitarist and singer-songwriter Justin Kawika Young, who shared some of his originals, as well as traditional Hawaiian songs. Herb Ohta, Jr. rounded out the friends who played songs from Jake & Friends, a collaborative album with his musical heroes, including Santa Barbara’s own Kenny Loggins.