Jazz scene hangs tough with venues offering world-class and local musicians

Talk with anyone who appreciates jazz and has lived in Honolulu for a few decades and they’ll talk about the great jazz scenes of years past. There was Keone’s on Lewers Street. Rene Paulo’s nightclub, Opus One, at the Ilikai. The Cavalier in the Pan Am building. Bagwell’s 2424 with Rich Crandall and Anna Lea at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki. Trappers, where Jimmy Borges and Betty Loo Taylor were headliners for almost a decade and top jazz acts played weeklong engagements — Stan Getz, Wynton Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard and Herbie Mann, to name four.

There was Rich Crandall again, two decades later, presenting Studio 6 as a weekly event at the musicians union on Kapiolani Boulevard.

There are also a few people old enough to remember when downtown was the center of Honolulu’s entertainment scene and artists like Louis Armstrong came to town to perform in places like the Brown Derby, Two Jacks and the Swing Club.

It’s easy to forget that we live today in what will be the “good old days” of the future. In years to come people will recall the jazz scene of 2016.

James Tennant, spokesman for The Dragon Upstairs at 1038 Nuuanu Ave., says the Honolulu jazz scene overall is “vibrant” and that Chinatown is one place to experience it.

Guitarist Robert Shinoda presents different combinations of musicians each Wednesday at Gordon Biersch, in the Aloha Tower Marketplace.

At the elegant Lewers Lounge inside the Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki, bassist Dean Taba partners with pianist Maggie Herron on Fridays and Saturdays. Pianist Tommy James appears on Sundays and Mondays, and pianist Dan Del Negro and versatile reed man Rocky Holmes are there on Tuesdays. Holmes and Herron share the stage Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Bruce Hamada and Jim Howard, who were the full-time headliners at Lewers Lounge for years, are at 53 by the Sea on Saturdays.

Shari Lynn, known across Hawaii as a vocalist and as the founder-leader of the original Jive Sisters, agrees that at the moment things are looking up for jazz.

“Jazz, like Broadway, has always been ‘the fabulous invalid,’” she says. “I think that right now the millennials and those under 40 think it’s hip to listen to live jazz, so it’s definitely better than it was a few years ago.”

Jazz got a big push in Waikiki with the December opening of the Blue Note Hawaii inside the Outrigger Waikiki. With an official capacity of about 300, it is a relatively intimate showroom experience for artists of various genres — Maxi Priest, Chaka Khan and David Crosby as well as Kenny G, Bobby Caldwell, Chick Corea and Hiroshima.

“We try to be as eclectic as possible and appeal to as many audiences as possible,” said Steven Bensusan, president of the Blue Note Entertainment Group.

The Blue Note Hawaii strategy is not to focus exclusively on jazz, Bensusan said, with classic rock, R&B and pop artists on the schedule as well.

And so the Blue Note also presents a wide variety of Hawaii artists. Melveen Leed has done entire evenings of jazz standards and island standards done with jazz nuances. The ever-growing list of hometowners to play there includes Jake Shimabukuro, Kalapana, Willie K, Aidan James and Kuana Torres Kahele.

“There really isn’t a room in Hawaii like what we’ve created at the Blue Note,” Bensusan said. “It’s a great room to see a show. We might as well give the opportunity to all different types of musicians in Hawaii to play the room. It’s a small market, and we want everybody to feel we’re inclusive.”

A mile or so away from the Blue Note, new owners Mayumi Niwa and Ralph Carr III are building Jazz Minds Honolulu, formerly known as Jazz Minds, into a six-nights-a-week jazz venue the town can be proud to claim. The club has incorporated a sushi bar and opened up the room while continuing to spotlight live music.

“It’s all about re-branding,” Carr said. “We’ve renamed it Jazz Minds Honolulu. Once people experience it they’ll have a new feeling about what it is.”

On Saturday, Hoku Award winner Maryanne Ito and band Lucent Moon were the night’s featured entertainment, playing soul, jazz and funk. Business was so brisk that Carr was helping the staff take orders and clear tables.

“Showcasing jazz is something I’ve always had a passion to do,” he said. Carr grew up in Seattle playing the oboe in a youth symphony and listening to jazz. He came to Honolulu four years ago and decided to stay.

“This is a special opportunity to really showcase not only jazz, the music and the community, but also the environment,” he said. “Once we get people here, we make sure they feel at home.”

A change across the local club scene in recent decades is that artists don’t headline rooms like they used to, staying at one location for weeks at a time. Even A-list acts like the Honolulu Jazz Quartet play one or two nights here, another night there.

“We try to keep a certain standard of playing, to keep audiences interested and anticipating our performances,” said John Kolivas, founder and leader of the Honolulu Jazz Quartet. “We all have the same goal of playing great improvisational music, so it’s not hard to keep things going.”

Big-name local jazz acts are a weekend thing at Medici’s in the Manoa Marketplace, where Tim and Carolyn Stanton operate the club as an adjunct to their Manoa School of Art & Music. Veteran guitarist-producer Jimmy Funai was there with his quartet July 9. Vibra Cubana! with Gerard Valez played July 15.

Medici’s celebrated its second anniversary in May. Stanton said he and his wife have invested in the club, with the goal of creating “a down-home place for local musicians to perform and the audience to feel comfortable.”

The Manoa club is an offshoot of the Stantons’ music school, which was started three years ago, and when there is money left over — if there is money left over, after paying the musicians and staff, and operating costs, Stanton said — it goes toward scholarships.

“We don’t want to compete with Waikiki,” Stanton said. “We wanted to incorporate more of a community approach for the people in Manoa, but obviously it’s grown all over the island.”