“‘Ale‘a”
Sandy Essman
(Tin Idol Productions, TIP0016)
Musician/producer Gerald K. Gonsalves, vocalist Sandy “Storm” Essman and Tin Idol Productions have been major players in Hawaii’s metal rock music scene for several years. Their work includes metal rock tributes to “Jesus Christ Superstar” and the Osmonds, a metal rock treatment of the Greek story of Medusa, and the “Metal Kalikimaka” Christmas music series.
With “‘Ale‘a,” Gonsalves, Essman and Tin Idol have done a musical 180 and recorded Hawaiian and hapa-haole standards in traditional Hawaiian and hapa-haole style.
Hawaiian music veterans Ioane Burns (bass) and Bobby Ingano (steel guitar, guitar) join in as Essman’s backing band, recording island classics ranging from Clarence Kinney’s “Holoholo Ka‘a” to “Pua Lililehua.” It’s a successful stretch for Essman and Tin Idol, though it would have served the album well to include at least a brief English synopsis of the Hawaiian-language songs.
Visit reverbnation.com/label/tinidolproductions.
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“C’est Si Bon”
Mimi and L’Escargot
(Rendez-Vous Recording, RVR-73)
French-born, 38-year Hawaii resident Pierre Grill is a Hoku Award-winning record producer and full-time recording studio engineer who also enjoys playing music. From time to time he also steps forward as a recording artist.
Grill teamed up with vocalist Myriam “Mimi” Hafele and violinist/guitarist Duane Padilla two years ago to commemorate the birth centennial of French vocalist Edith Piaf (1915-1963), producing a 12-song CD. At that time the trio billed themselves as L’Escargot. Hafele gets prime billing with this recording, but the concept and presentation is the same. Anyone interested in the musical traditions of Grill’s homeland will enjoy this work.
Hafele is a native speaker; Grill and Padilla occasionally add backing vocals. Grill plays piano, accordion and bass; Padilla contributes violin and acoustic guitar parts, giving the Gypsy jazz ambience popularized by Franco-Romani jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt in Paris in the 1930s.
Visit pierregrill.com.
