Brendan Maclean, Selja Sini: UkeTube

5 Comments

1. Ron Hale March 4th, 2013 12:23 am
   

   Love Paul both solo and with his Uketet, Al.
   I’m sure he and his bandmates get gigs in New York but I’m wondering just how seriously the jazz world in general takes uke jazzers.

   You know it’s not “ukulele jazz” it’s just jazz. Sure there are lots of videos of jazz being made on the ukulele (plenty coming from Japan) and ukers make much of the pioneering efforts of Lyle Ritz (and rightly so), but still…

   I listen to the SF Bay Area’s jazz station every day and I’ve never heard any ukulele recordings. Not one single second of Lyle, Paul, or anyone else.

   Jake plays jazz festivals and others do as well but the instrument hasn’t sunk into the consciousness of jazz in general.

   Now my listening tells me jazzers may profess to be open-minded and cutting edge and the like but they cling to the past with a death grip.

   Trane, Miles, Monk religiously over and over. 1956, 1943, etc., complete with sidemen and so forth. People programming this stuff make life difficult for new acts of the more traditional sort much less ukers trying to get hearing.

   Broading out we tend to think that uke music is everywhere. But is it really? Yeah it’s on YouTube aplenty but turn on the radio and how much ukulele do you REALLY hear?

   Unless it’s some sort of special program I maintain you hear virtually none at all. Do the pop stations play Danielle? Or any other uke acts? I haven’t heard it if they do. Train doesn’t count.

   Uke acts, even “big” ones, such as Danielle, Julia Nunes, NeverSayNever, despite their touring are primarily YT acts. Online acts. Playing ukulele festivals is just preaching to the choir and means essentially nothing to the non-ukulele world.

   It’s still the guitar’s world. Like it or not.
   Ukers tend to get big-headed about the instrument. You have to step outside the bubble to see that it is a bubble you’re living in.

   And I do like Selja, a bright musical light from Finland. Good to see her on blogs. Tried to become their Eurovision Song contest entrant. Now if a uker could win that.

   Just think “Waterloo” for the possibilities…

2. Woodshed March 4th, 2013 12:27 pm
   

   Ron: Radio? What’s them?

3. Howard Smith March 4th, 2013 1:42 pm
   

   It’s the new fangled name for the Wireless.
   h

4. Svenstication March 14th, 2013 8:21 pm
   

   Any clever people know the chords for Stupid?

5. Woodshed March 15th, 2013 8:13 am
   

   Svenstication: I might well write it up.