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Peterson's inspiring at EKK - March 5 and 6, 2006

E Kanikapila Kakou is whizzing by faster than I can keep up; tonight we are at the halfway point with Crazy Eddie Lopes and John Cruz, so expect the unexpected and come join the musical fun.

Last week, we had a very special two-day Kanikapila with Jeff Peterson and his Dad Bard - concert on the north shore and sing-along at Island School. Attendees are still buzzing about it.

Jeff devoted the better part of the first hour working with the ukulele gang, showing them some new instrumental techniques and how to change from one chord to another.

Jeff Peterson

Jeff Peterson stepped on the stage with his two guitars - one steel string guitar and his Cadillac guitar with nylon string. Tall, young, handsome and extraordinarily talented, Jeff set the stage for the evening by inviting us into the "peanut house" where the paniolos hung out on the ranch at Ulupalakua after long days of riding up and down the vast ranchlands on the slopes of Haleakala.

"Kiho'alu is great for solo playing for paniolos who have to ride across thousands of acres on their horse or anyone stuck in Kapa'a traffic" smiled Jeff.

Son of a paniolo, Jeff grew up on the ranch spending time with folks like Steve Grinds, who makes Keola Beamer's guitars, and "Too Tall Eddie" (Eddie Wilson) who was six feet eight inches tall. Looking back, he is amazed at the early influences on his music.

Jeff has been teaching guitar for the past six years at the University of Hawaii- Manoa; he finds living in 'Oahu is great because history is alive in 'Oahu, and Manoa is an inspiring place to live and compose music.

Skillfully demonstrating the styles of musical greats and their unique influences on Hawaiian kiho'alu music, Jeff carried us back in time into a world rich with music. He demonstrated the different between the traditional and kiho'alu sounds and the difference between the various kinds of tunings used by kiho'alu artists - taro patch tuning, Maunaloa tuning, wahine tuning, etc. Slack key really extends the range of the guitar.

In the early years, before 1830's, musicians were secretive about their own style of tuning but today the many tuning styles are shared and known to many. Raymond Kane, was so inspired by the kiho'alu music he heard where he used to fish in Nanakuli, he went to buy a guitar and traded fish he caught in exchange for lessons. Raymond was one of the first to invite others into his home to share the music; Jeff played "Sweetheart Swing" as a tribute to Raymond, a great teacher who influenced the kiho'alu movement in Hawai'i..

The soothing "nahenahe style" for which Keola Beamer is a master was demonstrated in "Kiho'alu Processional".

To demonstrate another type of "C" tuning, he played "Kahealani", the song he wrote for his wife; he shared the chicken-skin way in which the rainbow burst out across the sun-rain (Hawaiian sunshine) as he was playing "Kehealani" at the Church of the Pacific the day before. This incident echoed a similar momentus experience on his wedding day in Olinda.

Jeff's new CD "Slack Key Jazz" shows the relationship between jazz and Hawaiian music. Music is always changing, impacted by world and cultural influences. In the 1920's and 1930's, cruise ships came in on"Boat Day" at the Aloha tower. Great jazz musicians of the swing period like Duke Ellington and Ella Fitsgerald made a big impact on Hawaiian music. These new influences found its way into many songs by local composers.

To demonstrate, he strummed the kiho'alu patterns and the jazz patterns and then combined them both to play "Kalama'ula" with a swing beat. Combining different styles is a great motivation for Jeff and he has the skills to do it. Kalama'ula is a beautiful place in Molokai, and when he was growing up in Maui, he often used to jump on a zodiac and ride across to the northeast end of Molokai to catch fish.

Jeff's interpretation of Duke Ellington's "Don't get around much anymore", Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine (popular dance fad), and the Delta Blues sound in "Blue Hawaii" with the hapa-haole Elvis styling were a few of the improvisations that he shared. The "pa'ani" or musical interlude solo between the verses was where Jeff's special gift as an artist could really be seen.

At the Sunday concert, he played "Hawaiian Cowboy" with several variations - Mozart and Spanish; he played "Kanana Wai Wai" for his uncle and aunty's wedding anniversary, and "Kukui Nut Run", a medley capturing in music the way the Paniolo's used to initiate a new cowboy with a generous helping of "inamona" added to the lunch. Auwe!

What was so unique about Jeff was his ability to explain very clearly by demonstration the basic structure and the variations in various stylings...he taught us how to listen to the music; what to listen for in order to understand the alternating bass and melody.

Jeff then took out his cadilllac guitar with nylon strings which was made by a Luthier in Italy; it went from Italy to Salsburg and then to Oahu where it arrived wet in a UPS package. Luckily, the guitar survived the wet packaging. Interestingly, it has an extra fret which his calls the "High C shaka chord" which he threw into the end of his version of Helen Desha Beamer's "Kimo Henderson Hula", a song she wrote in a horse -drawn carriage on her way home from a party at the Henderson's. He explained and demonstrated a technique called tremillo, the rapid repetition of the same notes to sound like a sustained tone. He ended the song with a "High C" on his extra fret.

Gabby Pahinui and Sonny Chillingworth, kiho'alu giants, often played with a lot of other musicians, each with different tunings playing together all at once; Jeff finds it a great exploration to blend a lot of different sounds into one. He then played his interpretation of "Hi'ilawa", a song about bothersome birds gossiping about lovers.

Jeff then introduced his Dad Bard Peterson. When you see Bard Peterson approaching you, instinctively you know he is a paniolo - tall, lean, walking in his cowboy boots with a John Wayne -like stride. Jeff says of his Dad, "He's a wonderful persons...always behind me in supporting whatever I wanted to do." Bard, in turn, says it is a thrill to share the stage with his "pride and joy". It's quite wonderful to see the mutual admiration between father and son.

He calls himself Jeff's #2 "groupie; Kahealani is Jeff's #1 "groupie". Since his retirement, he's been able to follow Jeff around and felt such great pride to watch Jeff play classical guitar with the Honolulu Symphony; he sat in the first row with tears streaming down his face. Jeff is invited to play music in many places so Bard enjoys going with him.

Jeff many experiences add to the richness of his music - choral music when he was one slack key artist with 30 singers , the Spanish influence when he played with ten Brazilian drummers, Asian music when playing at a wedding in Thailand, and where East Indian music found its way into his songs when he played at a resort in a Jungle.

As a youth attending Kau High School, Bard rode the boat from island to island with his father and was introduced to this "incredible way of life" - the life of the paniolo. The Hawaiian cowboys were beautiful horsemen with the innate ability to handle the cattle because they gave the animals a chance to think. Ikua Purdy, who placed first in a competition with cowboys from all over mainland, was one of the best known Hawaiian cowboys.

Bard has musical ties that go far back. In 1923 Great Grand Uncle Mel Peterson played music with his buddy Bill Tapia who today is 98 years old and just beginning his recording career. Bill Tapia and Buddy Peterson worked on helping to form the musician's union. Mel Peterson wrote "Hula Mai Nei", a song that Jeff said he should learn to play. Jeff said Aunty Angeline Locey who came to the Sunday concert danced the hula with Mel Peterson.

Bard grew up singing Hawaiian music with Hawaiian families in Haleakala and from his Hawaiian grandmother until she passed away at the age of 98. Paniolos like to sing songs with difficult lyrics like "Hawaiian Cowboy", "He Ono", and "Na Ali'i." When he attended Cowboy school in Montana; Hawaiian music brought him home to the islands. We all tried singing the tongue-twisting "He Ono" and gave it our best shot, but it would take more than one session to learn a song like that.

Every Monday night seems too short for the kind of sharing that composers and musicians bring to E Kanikapila Kakou.

There will be six more Mondays and then just listen to your CD's.

Carol Yotsuda

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