An Evening with Jake Shimabukuro

An Evening with Jake Shimabukuro
35 Station St.
Chattanooga, TN 37408
Location:
Songbirds North Stage
Dates:
January 26, 2020
Time:
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Price:
$
Phone:
(423) 531-2473
Visit Website
Overview
Map
Doors: 6PM | All Ages | Tickets: $30
Often referred to as the Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Lee and Michael Jordan of his craft, Jake delivers performances around the world with an out-of-the-box blend of stunning virtuosity, deep musicality and a natural entertainer's flair.
What They Say: “Jake is taking the instrument to a place that I can’t see anybody else catching up with.” - Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam
“With Shimabukuro, the ukulele has found its Eric Clapton.” – San Jose Mercury News
"To say Shimabukuro plays the ukulele is like saying Tiger Woods plays a little golf."
- Nuvo Newsweekly
“Jake Shimabukuro is a force to reckoned with.” – National Geographic
“One of the hottest axmen of the past few years doesn’t actually play guitar.” – Rolling Stone
“Forget everything you know about the ukulele” – Time
“Shimabukuro showed himself to be the closest thing the ukulele world has to a rock god.” – Asbury Park Press
In 2005, Shimabukuro’s touring career really came to life with a video on YouTube. “I didn’t even know what YouTube was at the time, so I was totally surprised when people started telling me they’d seen a video of me playing ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps,’” he says. “Before I got a chance to check it out myself, the video had gone viral and a lot of music industry folks seemed to know about it. It was crazy!” Shimabukuro’s deeply beautiful and original take on George Harrison’s love ballad, one which captured colors and moods never associated with the ukulele before, opened the floodgates – now legions of new music lovers had to hear this instrumental marvel – and the 2006 release of Gently Weeps (produced by Mac McAnally), which mixed his own originals with equally adventurous versions of “Ave Maria” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” was an unqualified success.
Shimabukuro’s records have topped the Billboard World Music Charts on numerous occasions, and as a live performer he has become one of the hottest tickets around. He’s played with world-renowned orchestras and at prestigious venues such as the Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center and the Sydney Opera House, and has dazzled audiences at music festivals including Bonnaroo, SXSW, the Playboy Jazz Festival and Fuji Rock Festival. He even performed for that rarest of audiences: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Not too shabby for a humble young man from Hawaii and his trusty ukulele.
Even with the constant demands on his time – Shimabukuro tours roughly half the year and makes frequent appearances on media outlets such as The Today Show, Good Morning America, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, A Prairie Home Companion and NPR’s Morning Edition – Shimabukuro’s album output hasn’t slowed. In 2016, he recorded the all-original Nashville Sessions at Music City’s famed Ronnie’s Place studio with producer R.S. Field (Steve Earle, Webb Wilder) and the ace rhythm section of bassist Nolan Verner and drummer Evan Hutchings. And now he’s returned to the same city and studio – and with the same gang, too (augmented by guitarist Dave Preston) – for his newest record, The Greatest Day, which will be released on August 31, 2018.
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