Pushing into a jazz vernacular, “Spain” finds Shimabukuro stretching the imagination and boundaries of the ukulele.
It’s on Chick Corea’s “Spain” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” that Shimabukuro ends up doing what he does best, challenging conventional ideas about his chosen instrument. It’s easy to loose yourself in the depth of the piece, and if you can pull yourself out of the relaxed state Shimabukuro puts you in, you’ll be reaching for the liner notes to confirm that it really is just one man and a ukulele creating such a rich expression. The finger-picking is meticulous and layered on Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria”. In Shimabukuro’s hands, this Quiet Beatle composition takes on a properly soothing air. Taking his cue from the response to his solo shows, Shimabukuro offers up a very vulnerable side of himself.įirst, the covers: The disc opens with and takes its name from George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. The first 12 tracks of Gently Weeps offer an amazing illustration of how different the ukulele sounds when it stands alone.
The album proper was inspired by his recent tour, mixing original works with some well-known covers. Just a year later, Shimabukuro returns with his first solo ukulele contribution, Gently Weeps. In 2005, Jake Shimabukuro released Dragon, an up-tempo affair that captured the imagination with its colorful original songs and swirling ukulele playing.
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