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slkho
`Olu`olu
740 Posts |
 Posted - 12/20/2006 : 07:59:50 AM
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...Here's another request.
Are there any members of Gabby's original band still alive? Still alive on Oahu? Does anyone know? If so, where are they on Oahu? John Cruz told last year that one member is still alive on the Big Island but I forgot his name.
Anyways...let me know aye?
~slkho
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Mika ele
Ha`aha`a
USA
1493 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2006 : 1:04:17 PM
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Eddie Kamae and Gabby were in the original Sons of Hawai'i.
You should read "Hawaiian Son" by Eddie Kamae -- you would (in particular) enjoy it.
You may borrow my copy or you can borrow Chunky Monkey's copy after Mrs. Chunky is done reading it -- they both liked it as well. |
E nana, e ho'olohe. E pa'a ka waha, e hana ka lima. |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2006 : 3:05:42 PM
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A lot of people still living jammed at Gabby's place and Martin, Bla and Cyril were in the Gabby band at various times. Ry Cooder was a collaborator who played on some albums. Atta, Sonny, Joe Marshall and Feet Rogers are gone. Iz jammed at Gabby's, as did Dennis Kamakahi.
Jesse Tinsley |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2006 : 3:23:11 PM
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So did George K. and Haunani Apoliona. It is on film.
Ry Cooder was a big disappointment. I love Ry for what he does that is his, especialy his very early recordings up to "Border Line", but in the Gabby band he only played mandolin backup, and when he led the Pahinui sons in a later recording, they all sounded like Ry. SoCal to the max.
Probably others too, like Peter Moon. He was sorta like Gabby's caretaker for a long while.
Too bad Atta didn't record more. The man was outstanding.
Russell knows the details. Hound him until he is forced to publish :-)
...Reid |
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808bk
Akahai
82 Posts |
Posted - 12/20/2006 : 7:04:16 PM
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| Don't forget Peter Moon |
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slkho
`Olu`olu
740 Posts |
Posted - 12/21/2006 : 10:46:13 AM
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... Thanks all, but my question wasn't really answered.(the who, and if they live on Oahu...where?) Do Peter Moon, Atta, & Ry Cooder live on Oahu? Dennis did come later, but was not one of the original members I think, George too, came later. Eddie Kamae, & Gabby's son's I know played w/ Gabby. I may have my facts incorrect.
Sorry Mike, my time is short, (i leave tomorrow early a.m.) was hoping to get some info before then, (not read a book).
Anyways, thanks to you all for trying. See ya in a couple of weeks!!
You all have a Happy Christmas & a healthy New Year's
E OLA MAU KI HO'ALU !!
:-D
~slkho |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 12/21/2006 : 11:14:51 AM
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Atta passed, as Jesse said. Cooder is in CA and nobody I know knows how to get to him. Moon is probably on Oahu, but I don't know how you find him or if he wants to be found. Haunani plays with Olomana - for a long time now, at the Hilton Sat. nights. But,she and George played with Gabby only once or twice as as a kind of special deal. George, of course, is usually on Maui. Dennis is on Oahu and performs regularly.
BTW, bands form and reform constantly, and always have; don't kill yourself trying to find some unatainable perfect Gabby band. There ain't one.
Good Luck.
...Reid |
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slkho
`Olu`olu
740 Posts |
Posted - 12/21/2006 : 11:54:11 AM
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...Ok, thanks for the information Reid, Jesse. See you all in a couple of weeks.
~slkho |
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Russell Letson
`Olu`olu
USA
504 Posts |
Posted - 12/21/2006 : 12:15:26 PM
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I'm not sure what "Gabby's original band" refers to--the only recording band that was officially and fully Gabby's was the Gabby Pahinui Hawaiian Band, aka the Gabby Band. Before that there was the Sons of Hawai`i, whose first LP was credited to "Gabby Pahinui and the Sons of Hawaii" (Eddie Kamae's book explains that contractual conflicts prevented him being named or pictured on the cover). Before that, Gabby played with a number of groups--Andy Cummings' Hawaiian Serenaders; the Maile Serenaders (actually a house band for Hula Records that included members of the Sons plus Atta and Barney Isaacs, Peter Moon, Robert Cazimero, and others); the nameless session outfit that made the "Kani Kapila" LPs for Waikiki Records (lots of overlap with the Hula group); Eddie Spencer's band (apparently for a long-standing gig at the Queen's Surf; perhaps preserved on tracks on the "East Is West" LP). Eddie Kamae writes that before the Sons took their band name on that first LP, they were often called "Gabby's group" because Gabby was the dominant personality.
So--three of the four original Sons are gone. The senior members of the Gabby Band (Atta, Sonny, Feet, Gabby) are all gone, though three of the four (biological) sons who played on the albums are alive and still playing, as is Ry. I'm not sure who else from the late '50s-early '60s recording and club scene might be around yet--I get the occasional surprise when I hear reports of old-timers living quietly in retirement or Utah or whatever.
Reid: Ry is indeed a hard man to get to--there's a big, Ry-shaped hole in my research notes, and repeated requests for interviews have been turned down by his management. I have to disagree with your take on his contribution to the Gabby Band sessions, though. Aside from providing the mainland-label connection that got Volume One released here, his playing is pretty nice--he just insisted on not taking attention away from the guys he was there to support. But if you put on headphones, you can hear his accompaniment, particularly when he doubles Gabby's twelve-string on mando or tiple. I also hear less Ry influence on the Pahinui Brothers album--according to Cyril, most of the album was complete by the time Ry and David Lindley got to Maui, so they just added their parts. If you watch the promotional video, you will note that you don't see the California guys laying down tracks at the same time as the brothers--though drummer Jim Keltner seems to have played at the same time as the Pahinuis. (As with all my research, I'm open to information that clarifies, modifies, or even contradicts what I think I understand about any given situation.) I think what we're hearing on this album is the brothers' fondness for rock, pop, doo-wop, and reggae--the mix that makes for the "contemporary Hawaiian" category. Listen to Bla's non-Dancing Cat solo work, or Cyril's 1989 solo album and you'll hear some similar sounds.
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 12/21/2006 : 4:31:13 PM
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Russell,
Ry's support when Gabby was alive was appropriate and wonderful.I didn't mean to suggest that it wasn't. I wrote an abbreviated post (for many reasons). It is the character/quality of the later (last?) album that bothers both Sarah and me. Not because it is not enjoyable; it is. When Ry was in Hawai`i with Gabby, and everyone else, he acted and played appropriately and melded wonderfully with everyone; taking a back seat to the masters, and groking the concept of making the group greater than the individual, was part of it.
We were serious Ry Cooder fans long before we understood that slack key even existed. Then, we heard the album with the Pahinui sons. Our immediate reaction was (as Ry fans), "Oh, that's a nice Ry album that isn't dominated by LA street stuff or Hispanic influence. Nice changeup." It was really, immediately, clear to us that it was a Ry album. All the hooks and harmonies were familiar to us from earlier Ry albums/film scores, whatever. It was kinda like understanding a Tom Waits score, like Emotional Weather Report was by the same guy as Waltzing Matilda. Then, later, when we got into slack key really deeply and we relistened (is that a word?) to the Ry and Pahinui sons album, that we started questioning the whole affair.
I understand that this whole issue is so subjective, but I could, I am sure, make that later/last? album's Ry-ness (another neologism) convincingly a Ry Cooder conception.
I believe we agree, at least on the initial story. Our surprise at his deferential playing in Hawai`i was as Ry fans who expected him to take a leading role and our misunderstanding of how one should behave as a supplicant student in a new and different cultural context. We know a lot more now and have for a decade or more, and, if you ask some people who are important to us who live there, I suspect they would say they that they never knew what we knew, or did, or could do, for a lotta years. We actually got a lot of tsuris (an ancient Hawaiian word) in the end, because we didn't put ourselves forward. But, we made so many lasting friends, that they forgave us. At least as late as last Feb. :-)
...Reid |
Edited by - Reid on 12/21/2006 5:11:23 PM |
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