Beach Boys’ Al Jardine arrives for Blue Note Hawaii debut

Al Jardine has played in Hawaii many times with the Beach Boys. His first visit with the then-teen idols was in 1963.

Blaisdell Arena, Waikiki, Aloha Stadium, he’s played ‘em all.

Still, his shows tomorrow and Sunday at Blue Note Hawaii will be something very special for Hawaii — his first solo appearances here and Hawaii’s first opportunity to hear him perform songs from his milestone solo album, “A Postcard From California.”

Jardine calls “Postcard” “a story of my experiences and (my wife) Mary Ann’s experiences.”

Calling from his home “on the outskirts of nowhere” in Big Sur, Calif., Jardine said the songs are a musical journey along the California coast, from Pismo Beach north to Big Sur. The lyrics share Jardine’s thoughts on California’s history, its natural beauty and contemporary environmental issues such as the problems caused by rising sea levels.

“Just today or yesterday we had waves that were so huge coming in here that our beach was basically washed away,” he said. “That’s happening a lot. Beaches are eroding away much faster.”

The album is a story still in progress. Two years after its initial release in 2010, the album was reissued with bonus tracks. Last November it was reissued as a 1,000-copy audiophile limited edition, in translucent blue vinyl and with a gatefold cover.

A new “deluxe edition” CD is scheduled for release in April, with additional outtakes from the original recording sessions and bonus tracks Jardine recorded during a concert.

“It’ll be a special edition,” Jardine said. “I can tell you that.”

THIS WEEKEND at the Blue Note, Jardine’s set list will include Beach Boys classics and other personal favorites, a special medley for Hawaii, and songs from the album. He’ll also be sharing favorite stories about his years as one of the Beach Boys.

Jardine has a lot of stories to share.

He was born in Ohio but grew up in Hawthorne, Calif., a city in southeastern Los Angeles County that was also home to the Wilson brothers — Brian, Dennis and Carl — and David Marks, who lived across the street from them.

Jardine met Brian Wilson when they were students at Hawthorne High. A shared interest in vocal harmonies, and the desire to form a band, brought them together several years later. With Marks, Dennis and Carl Wilson, and Mike Love, the Wilson brothers’ cousin, they put together the group that would become the Beach Boys.

Marks was in school the day the Beach Boys made their first professional recording — “Surfin’,” for Candix Records in 1961 — so they recorded as a quintet. The song was a hit on the West Coast but stalled at No. 75 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Jardine then left the group to go to dental school and so Marks was the fifth member of the Beach Boys when they were signed by Capital in 1962. A string of hits followed — “Surfin’ Safari,” “Surfing U.S.A.,” “Surfer Girl” and “Little Deuce Coupe” were four of the earliest.

Jardine was welcomed back to the group in the summer of 1963 and for several months the Beach Boys had three guitarists — Carl Wilson, Marks and Jardine. Then Marks got fed up with the Beach Boys’ manager — the Wilsons’ father, Murry Wilson — and quit (Brian famously fired his father in the middle of a recording session a few months later).

Jardine was the Beach Boys’ rhythm guitarist and sang middle-range harmony from the end of 1963 until long past their peak as contemporary hit makers. He joined the other surviving members of the group — Dennis Wilson died in 1983, and Carl Wilson in 1998 — in 2012 for a 50th-anniversary reunion tour and to record a new studio album, “That’s Why God Made the Radio.”

Jardine also joined Brian Wilson for the Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary Tour, which included a 2017 stop in Hawaii.

In short, Jardine has lots of memories to share and lots of stories to tell. For instance, there’s the day he was picked to sing lead on a song titled, “Help Me, Ronda.”

“We were all singing leads by then,” he recalled. “Brian wasn’t touring, and every day we were working on something.

“‘Ronda’ was just another project that needed to be done, but it was kind of a big deal. I was standing out there trying to sing the lead and I was getting all kinds of mixed messages from Brian and his dad,” Jardine recalled. “It was quite challenging!”

The song was initially just another album track. Then the group recorded another version — a tighter arrangement with a slightly faster tempo and a catchy electric guitar solo added to the bridge.

Renamed “Help me Rhonda,” the second version was released as a single early in 1965. It become only the second Beach Boys single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“That didn’t mean anything to me (in 1965),” Jardine said. “What means a lot to me was the incredible singing we did on other things. All the other stuff we were doing was far more gratifying than a hit single. You need that to push the other stuff — and, to answer all the questions, there was no one named ‘Ronda.’ I even asked Brian that recently to confirm that. It was just a figment of his imagination.”

JARDINE HAS a great story for every song on his solo album, too. He says he had to ask other musicians to help him out with it.

“I didn’t have any choice,” he said. “I lost my Beach Boys voices. Mike was out (on the road) working. Brian was doing his own thing, although he did take time out from touring to come up and put his stamp of approval on it, and so I was very fortunate in that respect.”

Glen Campbell, who worked with the Beach Boys as a studio musician in the early days and then went on the road with them after Brian stopped touring, joined Jardine on the title track.

Steve Miller and Flea were Jardine’s guests on a new version of “Help Me, Rhonda.”

“I wanted to turn it into an R&B song rather than a pop song, so I thought of Steve Miller,” he said. “Steve was so gracious, it was just amazing. He had his take on it and I let him do it his way, but it didn’t knock me out like I thought it would until Flea came in offered to play on it, and then I really liked it.”

One of the most complicated projects was “Don’t Fight the Sea.” Jardine wrote it in 1978 for what was going to be a solo album. Carl Wilson and Bruce Johnston recorded backing vocals for it, but then the whole thing was shelved while other Beach Boys projects were underway. Brian recorded a vocal track for it in 1988, and Love “phoned in” the baritone part in 2009.

“That was the oldest track on the album, but I kept it alive somehow,” Jardine says. “It’s very important to me; I even changed the last verse to reflect the plight of the polar bear. Mike appeared by telephone, actually — he literally ‘phoned it in.’ You can do that, but I didn’t get the vocal bite I needed on that. I should have done it myself. That’s my only regret.”

A parade of hitmakers worked with Jardine on the project, including David Crosby and Stephen Stills, who joined Neil Young and Jardine on one track.

“David Crosby was amazing. He gave body and soul to the project, as Neil did,” Jardine said. “They both spent an entire day on it and that’s a lot of time when you’re as active as we are.”

“America — Dewey (Bunnell) and Gerry (Beckley) — sing the heck out of ‘San Simeon.’ I just love that song.”