Jake Shimabukuro

Tickets: $50 (fees not included)

“a rocking wall of sound that rivals anything Harrison or Clapton have done.”

One doesn’t normally think of the ukulele as an instrument that inspires passion, depth, subtlety, and power but, just as Bela Fleck has done with the banjo, Jake has imbued the 19th century Hawaiian musical instrument with an expansive and barrier-breaking sound. It’s a stunning performance that could easily take place at the Kennedy Center for the Arts. Or the 9:30 Club. Yeah, it’s that good.

Jake Shimabukuro’s talent is easy to see. The Hawaiian-born ukulele performer and composer brings his gift to The Avalon in a show that is called brilliant with whomever and wherever he plays. Jake has gone on to play everywhere from The Hollywood Bowl to Lincoln Center to the Sydney Opera House and The N.O. Jazz Fests and collaborated with some of the world’s greatest musicians, including Yo-Yo Ma, Bela Fleck and The Flecktones, Jimmy Buffett, Jack Johnson, Bette Midler, Ziggy Marley, Sonny Landreth, Billy Strings, Lukas & Willie Nelson and Warren Haynes.

Jimmy Buffet says,” I met him in Honolulu the first time and I’d never seen a solo ukulele master like that. You don’t tell Jake Shimabukuro how to play anything. Maybe rehearse one time go over the chords and he just went out there and he’s magic. So that’s what I thought, I said this guy's magic.”

Most notably Jake Shimabukuro, on ukulele plays the instrument in ways you never imagined. Listen to his perhaps most well-known performance, the cover of Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” The performance is notable for, not just the impeccable playing, but also for the arrangements and drive as the song builds from the lonely, plaintive familiar melodies line to a full on, rocking wall of sound that rivals anything Harrison or Clapton have done.

And don’t be surprised if he has you and the rest of the audience singing “Bohemian Rhapsody” at the finale’ of the show.