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‘Blues on a Ukulele’
Ohta-san featuring Ginai
(HO)
Multitalented musician-arranger-producer-studio engineer Pierre Grill is the third member of the de facto trio heard on this recently released album by Herb "Ohta-san" Ohta.
Ohta-san, as he has been known since the mid-1960s, is the most prolific ukulele virtuoso of the past half-century; his place in the pantheon of ukulele masters makes everything he records of interest, and this CD is no exception.
Six newly written instrumentals — duets with Grill playing piano and providing the orchestral backing — show that Ohta is as fleet-fingered as ever and display his command of the instrument in convincing style. Ohta’s ukulele shares the spotlight with Grill’s instrumentation but is never overshadowed by it.
Ohta-san is the star, and that’s as it should be, but Grill’s light fingers on the piano keys and his resourcefulness as a studio musician make him a worthy partner of the famed master.
The six songs that feature Ginai on vocals and percussion are almost inevitably more about her voice than the ukulele. However, wait patiently and Ohta’s ukulele gets some spotlight moments between the vocalizing on "Closer to the Light," "April Snow" and the title song.
"Blues on a Ukulele" is available at www.horecords.com.
"French Cafe"
