“Jake &Friends”
Jake Shimabukuro
(JS Records)
Jake Shimabukuro’s success in assembling high-profile collaborators for his new album of duets — Jimmy Buffett, Vince Gill and Amy Grant, Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Ziggy Marley, Bette Midler, Willie Nelson and Jesse Colin Young top the list in terms of national recognition — makes it an impressive career milestone for him.
Shimabukuro’s creative success as the arranger of this collection is another masterful accomplishment as well. The album — which comprises two originals and 14 remakes — is executed with refreshing imagination.
First and foremost is his collaboration with McDonald on “Go Now.” The song has been defined as an up-tempo rocker ever since the Moody Blues released their version of it during the British Invasion in 1964. Shimabukuro and McDonald slow the tempo, working with only two guitars and two ukulele, while McDonald sings with a mournful introspection that feels quite right for a situation where someone is telling the person who has broken their heart, “Go now, ’cause you don’t want to hear me cry.”
And who knew that McDonald could play the baritone ukulele?
There are several noteworthy examples of what artists can do when they revisit their own work. Midler takes a new look at “The Rose,” this time with Shimabukuro, a guitarist and three-piece string section. Young sounds appropriately older and wiser as he sings the Youngbloods’ 1967 “Flower Power” anthem, “Get Together.”
Buffett slips in a shoutout to Waikiki in his straightforward update of “Come Monday.”
Nelson recorded “Stardust” in 1978 as the title song of an album that sold more than 5 million copies. He sings it here with Shimabukuro as his sole accompanist.
Other songs may get another shot at pop success with the exposure they’re getting here. Loggins’ catchy “Why Not,” written for an album he recorded as a member of the Blue Sky Riders, is one of them. “Wrapping Paper,” done here with Ray Benson &Asleep at the Wheel but originally recorded by Cream in 1966, is another.
“Something,” with Gill and Grant
as guest vocalists, is ready-made for streaming and pop-radio play nationwide.
Two instrumental originals, “Sonny Days Ahead,” recorded with Sonny Landreth, and “Smokin’ Strings,” written and recorded with Billy Strings, provide a break from remakes and spotlight Shimabukuro’s talent as a composer. The extended interplay with another friend, Warren Haynes (guitar and vocals), heard in “On the Road to Freedom,” is another instrumental highlight.
And, there’s more. Jack Johnson and Paula Fuga, Moon Taxi members Trevor Terndrup and Spencer Thomson, and Nelson’s son Lukas Nelson make memorable contributions as well.
Taking the long view, the wide range of friends and musical genres Shimabukuro includes here reveals the impressive depth and breadth of what he finds interesting in contemporary music.
Bravo, Jake! Bravo!
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