Jake Shimabukuro next to a bronze statue of Buck Owens in Bakersfield, Calif.Handout
For many, the name Jake Shimabukuro is synonymous with the ukulele. The award-winning musician, who is known for showcasing the versatility of the small stringed instrument in genres that include funk, rock, pop, bluegrass, folk, and classical, began playing the ukulele when he was 4. He has worked with some of the top names in the music business â including duets with Willie Nelson, Bette Midler, Ziggy Marley, and Jimmy Buffett â on his 2021 album âJake & Friends.â But it is his latest collaboration with Mick Fleetwood (from Fleetwood Mac) that has the 47-year-old Honolulu native pinching himself. âThis is my first blues project, and doing it with Mick is a dream come true,â he said of the soon-to-be-released album âThe Jake Shimabukuro & Mick Fleetwood Blues Experience.â He said at least one of the songs from that album will make it into shows on his current tour, which includes stops at the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport on June 17, the Center for the Arts in Natick on June 21 and 22, and at Payomet Performing Arts Center in North Truro on June 23. Joining Shimabukuro on stage will be acclaimed bassist Jackson Waldhoff â âan incredible musician with such a big heart. ⦠I feel so grateful to be sharing the stage with him,â Shimabukuro said. âI think the bass guitar and the ukulele work really well because they both serve on opposite ends of the spectrum. If you think of a piano, the bass is like the middle left of the piano and the ukulele is from the middle right, so the two instruments kind of complement each other. I donât have any notes lower than a middle C, but the bass has everything lower than middle C.â Shimabukuro said that fans attending his shows can expect âeverything from Beatles to Queen to Japanese folk tunes to traditional Hawaiian songs. ⦠We try to mix it up.â We caught up with the musician, who lives in Honolulu with his wife, Kelly Yamasato, a physician who specializes in maternal and fetal medicine, their sons â Chase, 11, and Cole, 9 â and their 4- or 5-year-old rescue dog, Squeaks, to talk about all things travel.
If you could travel anywhere right now, where would you go? Portugal. Thatâs where the original inspiration for the ukulele came from. When Portuguese immigrants came to Hawaii, they brought the machete and the rajão [both small, stringed instrument] and started teaching Hawaiian people how to play. The ukulele was a fusion of the two â the tuning of the rajão and the size of the machete.
Do you prefer booking trips through a travel agent or on your own? If itâs business-related, I like to use an agent. If itâs for personal travel with family and friends, I prefer to do it myself.
Thoughts on an âunpluggedâ vacation? Does that mean I would just leave my amp at home? [laughs]. This summer, our whole family will be going to Fiji for the first time. Looking forward to it. Of course, Iâll be taking my ukulele because you never know when a spontaneous jam session will occur.
What has been your worst vacation experience? Once, about six or seven years ago when I was on a family trip on a neighboring Hawaiian island, I got a bad case of vertigo. I was really sick and spent the entire vacation in bed. That was a bummer â but I felt well-rested when I got back home.
What is your favorite childhood travel memory? My grandparents lived on Molokai [a Hawaiian island], and my brother and I used to fly there every summer to go fishing and freediving. I loved it.
Do you vacation to relax, to learn, or for the adventure of it all? I think a successful vacation experience should have all three of those elements.
What book do you plan on bringing with you to read on your next vacation? Currently, Iâm reading a book called, âMind Gym: An Athleteâs Guide to Inner Excellenceâ by sports psychology consultant Gary Mack. I started reading it because my kids are really into sports and one of their coaches recommended it. He said he usually recommends it to athletes when they are a little bit older, so I wanted to check it out first to make sure it is appropriate for their ages. Interestingly enough, there are a lot of similarities between athletic performance and stage performance ⦠a lot of crossover with what goes on in an athleteâs mind and in a musicianâs mind.
If you could travel with one famous person/celebrity, who would it be? Probably a famous chef so that we could enjoy some awesome dining experiences.
What is the best gift to give a traveler? Whenever I go to Japan, I buy these heated sleep masks to give away as gifts. They are great for the airplane and for effective power naps during the day.
What is your go-to snack for a flight or a road trip? Spam musubi.
What is the coolest souvenir youâve picked up on a vacation? A white Abbey Road coffee mug from when I was in London, in the studio, recording. It was about four years ago.
What is your favorite app/website for travel? Apple Maps and Google Maps.
What has travel taught you? To always keep an open mind.
What is your best travel tip? Pack as light as possible.
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Juliet Pennington can be reached at writeonjuliet@comcast.net.
