Jim "Kimo" West and Ken Emerson......A Hawaiian Fandango

From May 08, 2016 7:00 pm until May 08, 2016 10:00 pm

Categories: Live Music/Concerts

Hits: 399

Rate:

JIM "KIMO" WEST and KEN EMERSON......A HAWAIIAN FANDANGO

Jim Kimo West and Ken Emerson are both living legends in the world of Hawaiian slack key and acoustic steel guitar. They strive for freshness and spontaneity in there duet shows, often performing without a set list or any idea of what comes next. Their diverse musical influences venture beyond the islands toward the land of blues, ragtime and even jazz and both have played on Grammy-winning records. Ken played on the first-ever winner in the Hawaiian category as well as Donald Fagen’s Grammy-winning “Morph The Cat”. His many other touring/ recording credits include Jackson Brown, Boz Scaggs, Todd Lundgren, Taj Mahal, Charlie Musselwhite and Elvin Bishop as well as Hawaiian slack key legends Gabby Pahinui, Moe Keale and Raymond Kane. Besides his solo slack key career, Kimo is long-time guitarist on CD’s and tours for the world’s most famous musical satirist, “Weird Al” Yankovic whose recent CD, “Mandatory Fun” debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts and won the Grammy for Best Comedy Recording.

Kenton Robert Lopaka Emerson is a San Francisco bay area born/ Hawaiian island bred guitarist who covers many musical genres. He has played his special blend of Blues/Jazz Hawaiian guitar for 40 years and running..His original compositions and performances on 'Slack Key Guitar Vol 2' (Palm Records) helped bring in the first ever 2005 GRAMMY award for Hawaiian music. 'KE' most recently played on Donald Fagen's 2007 GRAMMY winning "Morph the Cat" album.

Born into a musical family, Ken grew up with his fathers' extensive record collection of jazz, swing, Hawaiian and world music styles. In early 1968 Ken's family moved to Hawaii. Absorbing the Hawaiian culture, Ken and his brother Phil began studying Hawaiian language and music. They learned to emulate the players of the 1920's and ‘30s era by listening to vintage Hawaiian 78 rpm records, zeroing in on the jazz and blues styles of Sol Ho'opi'i and Sol K. Bright.

By the mid'70's Ken and Phil were playing alongside such legendary performers as Gabby Pahinui, Genoa Keawe, Raymond Kane, Auntie Alice Namakelua, Sol K. Bright and George Ka'ainapau, and recorded and toured with Moe Keale.

In between his love of traditional Hawaiian music, Ken has played and/or toured with many luminaries in the musical world beyond Hawaii including Todd Rundgren, Taj Mahal, Boz Scaggs, Jackson Browne, Donald Fagen, Dave Mason, Charlie Musselwhite, Elvin Bishop, Graham Nash, San Francisco's Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Bill Kreutzmann, Pablo Cruise Band and The Rowan Brothers.

Dividing his time between Kaua'i and San Francisco, Ken plays many local venues and festivals and is a frequent visitor to the east coast of the United States as well as Europe and Asia.
"Emerson writes pieces that update the classic sounds of Hawaiian Slack Key guitar. His unaccompanied songs have an open, relaxing quality to them, moving forward in a gentle rhythm.."
Jessy Terry Rolling Stone Magazine

Sunday, May 8. Show @ 7:00 P.M. Tickets: $20.

Call for Reservations