WAITIKI / The WAITIKI 7

Artist Information

Biography

The musicians of The WAITIKI 7 bring together a wealth of culture and superb musicianship. At its core are three of Hawaii’s finest musicians: Percussionist & exotic bird caller Lopaka Colon (son of original Martin Denny percussionist & bird caller Augie Colon), jazz drummer Abe Lagrimas Jr., and bassist/bandleader Randy Wong. Exotica has always had strong Latin Jazz influences; in W7, these tenets are held taut by Zaccai Curtis (piano) and Tim Mayer (winds) — both of whom have received past Grammy nominations in Latin and Jazz. Crossing over from the classical world comes the group’s youngest member: twenty-one year old vibraphonist Jim Benoit. The brilliantly exuberant Helen Liu (violin) rounds out this phenomenal group. Six of the members compose and arrange for the group.

“Exotica,” explains Randy Wong, the 28-year-old bassist, music director and co-founder of The WAITIKI 7, “floats in the zone between soundscapes and an early world music hybrid. Denny took popular WWII-era Hawaiian Island songs (themselves already set to jazz harmonies, and incorporating folk songs from the Far East) and a Latin feel and then added birdcalls. He took large orchestrations intended for full symphonic orchestra and pared them down to make them feasible in the combo context. But exotica just sort of stopped developing in the ’60s.”

Which is where The WAITIKI 7 comes in. Although they bow at the altar of Martin Denny and other exotica pioneers such as Les Baxter and Juan Garcia Esquivel, The WAITIKI 7—whose name cleverly fuses that of the famous Honolulu beach with the faux-Polynesian gods ubiquitous in pop culture—is a band for today. The WAITIKI 7 retains the essence of Denny-era exotica and reconstitutes it for contemporary audiences raised on a multitude of clashing musical genres and pop culture images.

The WAITIKI 7 emerged from a smaller band formed several years ago by Wong and Abe Lagrimas Jr., who plays drums, percussion, vibraphone and ‘ukulele. That group evolved into The WAITIKI 7. While Wong, Lagrimas and Colon are the only members actually from Hawai‘i—the others hail from Boston and the Bronx—all seven musicians share a love of the exotica sound and the associated tiki pop culture, which encompasses everything from art and design to painstakingly crafted tropical cocktails and cuisine.

Each WAITIKI 7 band member is an accomplished musician, bearing degrees from Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory and other top music schools. Their collective performing and recording credits span the worlds of jazz, classical, film music, Broadway and beyond. Wong and Lagrimas didn’t set out to revive the long-dormant exotica genre, but the more they discovered about its unique musical properties and cultural significance, the more they were drawn to the idea of giving it new life.

“There’s no exotica scene in Hawai‘i anymore, but growing up I used to go and hear Arthur Lyman, the original vibraphonist for the Martin Denny group,” says Wong. “He was a good friend of my grandfather’s and my father’s. So we were going to support him as a friend, but I think I got that sound in my ear.” While attending college in Boston, Wong and his longtime friend Lagrimas—who had already played with Colon in an exotica-inspired revivalist band called Don Tiki—began to investigate exotica more seriously, and to generate ideas on how it might be made relevant and exciting again. One by one the band that would become The WAITIKI 7 fell into place.

The WAITIKI 7 made its international debut on July 24, 2008 at the WASSERMUSIK Festival held by the Haus der Kulturnen der Welt (in Berlin, Germany), and its American debut on November 1, 2008 at Liberty Hall for the Retro Cocktail Hour’s 500th Broadcast Anniversary. Its first album (street date: August 18, 2009), Adventures in Paradise, charted for 17 weeks, peaking at #2 on the JazzWeek World Top-50, #12 on the CMJ Jazz Top-50, and #23 on the JazzWeek Jazz Top-50, and also won “Exotica Album of the Year” at the Hawaii Music Awards. The group’s second album, New Sounds of Exotica has a street date of June 8, 2010.

Instrumentation

Tim Mayer - Saxophones, flutes
Helen Liu - Violin
Zaccai Curtis - Piano
Jim Benoit - vibraphone
Lopaka Colon - Percussion, Bird & Animal Calls
Abe Lagrimas Jr. - Drums
Randy Wong - Double Bass

Discography

The WAITIKI 7:

New Sounds of Exotica (6/8/2010) - CD
NPR "Exclusive First Listen"
NPR "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" Interludes


Adventures in Paradise (8/18/2009) - CD
#2, JazzWeek World Top 40; #12, CMJ Jazz Top 40
NPR "Morning Edition" Interludes
Winner, Hawaii Music Award


WAITIKI (original quartet):

Rendezvous in Okonkuluku - CD and 12" LP
NPR "Morning Edition" Interludes
Winner, Hawaii Music Award
(2007, Pass Out Records 544)

Charred Mammal Flesh: Exotica Music for BBQ - CD
Winner, Hawaii Music Award
(2005, Pass Out Records 150)

Official Website

http://www.waitiki.com

Links

• Facebook
• Twitter
• MySpace
• The WAITIKI 7 website
• WAITIKI International LLC

Audio

• Coronation
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• Left Arm of Buddha
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• Voodoo Love
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• Ouanalao
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• China Fan
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Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• "Keeping the fire burning for exotica" [+ Show ]
  

  While the lounge music revival has come and gone, it’s nice to see that The Waitiki 7 are keeping th...While the lounge music revival has come and gone, it’s nice to see that The Waitiki 7 are keeping the fire burning for exotica and doing a bang up job of it. I love this record and even my parents love this record. Being of the generation of the cocktail set New Sounds of Exotica is right up my parents alley and they could even name records that it sounded like. We bonded over this record!

• "Loaded with virtuoso talent." [+ Show ]
  

  The Waitiki 7, a born-in-Honolulu ensemble loaded with virtuoso talent, updates the classic exotica ...The Waitiki 7, a born-in-Honolulu ensemble loaded with virtuoso talent, updates the classic exotica mood on Adventures in Paradise (Pass Out)—a 13-track excursion that pays respect to the venerable music’s roots while charting its own distinctive course . . . The contributions of woodwind player Tim Mayer, trombonist Mike Dease and violinist Helen Liu provide Waitiki 7 with substantial improvisiational firepower. Laka, the Hawaiian goddess of song and dance, should be smiling.

• "Looking backward while moving forward" [+ Show ]
  

  hose who imagine the music made famous by Martin Denny and others has grown fallow or inert will thi...hose who imagine the music made famous by Martin Denny and others has grown fallow or inert will think differently after sitting back and listening . . .
  
  Adventures in Paradise is modeled upon the tranquil and relaxing exotica blueprint but The Waitiki 7 has built a different kind of tiki structure, assisted in measure by the members’ disparate training, experience and education. A realization of experimentation and advancement within a precisely coded genre gives Adventures in Paradise a context that places it in a unique position: looking backward while moving forward.

• "A Smart and Swank Affair" [+ Show ]
  

  As summer simmers ever-so gently into autumn and this Hawaiian septet delivers a light tropical bree...As summer simmers ever-so gently into autumn and this Hawaiian septet delivers a light tropical breeze through willing speakers (wait for dusk; the effect is awesome), even listeners garbed in season-appropriate attire might find themselves spectacularly underdressed. Adventures in Paradise is a smart and swank affair, the kind that usually hums between the walls of an air-conditioned nightclub.
  
  Released to commemorate the islands' 50th anniversary as a U.S. state, Paradise effectively marries the cool melodies of 1959 jazz with a contemporary tang that acknowledges the iconic influence (Les Baxter and Martin Denny are among the tunesmiths lovingly acknowledged here) of predecessors while constructing equally timeless originals in a similar spirit.
  
  That aspect's also present in the band's own DNA. Bassist and bandleader Randy Wong grew up around Martin Denny through his family's friendship with Denny's vibraphonist, Arthur Lyman. Waitiki percussionist Lopaka Colon's connection runs even deeper: he's the son of the legendary Augie Colon, whose slaps and trademark bird calls augmented many a Denny groove. Lopaka inherited his father's prodigious talents, weaving a steady thread through Paradise with his own percussive pats and impressive whoops and cries, the latter of which add a remarkable third dimension to an already exotic instrumental dialogue.
  
  And what a conversation. Listen to how Tim Mayer and Mike Dease interact via soprano sax and trombone, respectively, on "Totem Pole." They melt into each other, complete each other's thoughts, and maintain a compelling flow over the distant perpetual cool of Jim Benoit's vibes, which, like Colon's calls, dab the canvas with an extra splash of color (can't imagine "Manila" without those drops) and smooth the edges of Zaccai Curtis' often-chomping piano ("Left Arm of Buddha"). Benoit and Curtis collaborate to a different end on "Her Majesty's Pearl," painting wondrous landscapes over the hushed rush of foamy falls and a lovely interlude from violinist Helen Liu, whose subsequent slide between Benoit's vibe dots and Wong's bass jaunt sets up a most astonishing personal showcase on "L'ours Chinois," where she memorably flaunts her stuff.
  
  As if the music wasn't enough, The Waitiki 7 remain devoted to making Adventures in Paradise as interactive an experience as possible. Within the booklet, the band thoughtfully includes some choice drink recipes guaranteed to refresh just as effectively as tracks 1-13. "Shake like hell with ice cubes," advises one. Consider it done. Heck, you don't need liquor or even a glass for that.

• "The rightful heirs of Denny, Lyman, and Esquivel" [+ Show ]
  

  Adventures in Paradise utilizes most of the sonic signatures of Exotica: bird calls, vibraphones, an...Adventures in Paradise utilizes most of the sonic signatures of Exotica: bird calls, vibraphones, animal noises, latin percussion, and ukulele, performed with jazz and oriental flair, drawing from a richer pallette that paints a more compelling picture than much of the blanched white-bread sonic excursions around the world . . .
  
  A lot of interesting experiments and innovations arose from the era, and Waitiki 7 embraces the strengths and weeds out a lot of the chaff . . . Waitiki 7 are transcending time and space, resurrecting spectres of vanished musical styles and making them dance on the rim of dormant volcanoes. This is vibrant and exciting music, full of dashing and daring-do, captured brilliantly by the folks at Q-Studios in Somerville, Mass. They are correcting some of the sins of the fathers, namely complacency and commercialism, and making them their own, as is the right and privilege of all children. —J. Simpson

• "Just the right mood" [+ Show ]
  

  Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Hawaii’s statehood, the Waitiki 7 balances a thematic tribute to...Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Hawaii’s statehood, the Waitiki 7 balances a thematic tribute to Martin Denny and musical stars of yore with piano-driven Latin sounds, modern jazz, lounge, and film motifs. Adventures in Paradise, as the name suggests, could double as the soundtrack for a cheery private-dick mystery flick, calling upon exotic vocal calls, flute, horns, and vibraphone to create just the right mood.

• "This new band has a great old sound: tiki torches meets jazz meets 1950s exotica." [+ Show ]
  

  Fire up the tiki torches. Break out the umbrella drinks. The debut of Hawaii's Waitiki 7 harks back ...Fire up the tiki torches. Break out the umbrella drinks. The debut of Hawaii's Waitiki 7 harks back a half-century to the golden age of exotica, when lounge-music giants like Martin Denny walked the Earth. Yet Adventures in Paradise's exotic bird noises and camp camouflage virtuoso musicianship. A cover of jazz great Lee Morgan's "Totem Pole" showcases a mesmerizing sax-trumpet dialogue, while the sleek violin of "Mood Indigo" would please Duke Ellington himself. And you can't top the title track, the theme from a mediocre '60s adventure series, for cheesy fun.

• "Exotica is back. This album is a special liqueur" [+ Show ]
  

  Exotica is back, baby. Not your typical “salsa dura,” nonethless, the Latin backbone is authentic, t...Exotica is back, baby. Not your typical “salsa dura,” nonethless, the Latin backbone is authentic, the musical approach pure jazz. This album is a special liqueur. Recapture your own personal cocktail hour (drink recipes are included with the liner notes) and go with the wave.

Setlist

Basic Requirements

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