( 1.10.1930 - )
Lyle Recorded No Frills with:
- iBook
- GarageBand
- M-Audio MobilePre
- M-Audio Keystation 49e
- Sony MDRV-900 Stereo Headphones
- Koolau custom acoustic-electric tenor ukulele
In the studio with Ray Charles
Links
- Lyle Ritz: 2007 Hall of Fame Inductee
- www.koolauukulele.com/ritz.html
- eFolkMusic
- Bassist Lyle Ritz: Father of Jazz Ukulele
Info
How a Hollywood studio musician became a Hawai'i 'ukulele legend.
Barney Kessel, who at the time was the West Coast A&R for Verve Records heard Lyle play and offered him a recording contract. The result of that was two jazz ukulele albums, "How About Uke" and "50th State Jazz". Unbeknownst to Lyle, these two albums became an integral and significant influence to many of Hawaii's most respected musicians today. (from Roy Sakuma Productions web site copyright 1997-2002 Roy Sakuma Productions, Inc.)
Additional Links:
Links
Artist Info
(from artist's site) - Entertainer, musician and comedienne, Cali Rose loves to sing, play the piano and write--both songs and stories. She's thrilled that people actually pay her to do this!
Cali has been playing the piano since the ripe old age of six, and according to family legend, began singing as soon as she could talk. As a young adult, she took a slight detour from music, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and later working in an emergency room, while attending nursing school.
Links
Be sure to visit Gerald's web site for sample of his style. Gerald is a multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, lap steel and ukulele.
Artist Info
What the critics say... Successfully blending the sounds of jazz blues and swing, Gerald Ross has created a guitar style uniquely his own. Whether he is playing jazz standards, popular favorites, delta and urban blues, Tin Pan Alley melodies, New Orleans rhythms or boogie woogie, it's bound to be a delightful surprise to any listener.
When the mood strikes him, he has been known to pick up a mandolin, bass, steel guitar, banjo, harmonica, Cajun accordion and ukulele. A ukulele is not a toy.
Transcriptions of Gerald Ross's songs are available at Dominator's Ukulele TABS:
- Aboriginal Blue
- Easter Parade
- Runaway
Gerald's Recording Process
From Gerald Ross (Flea Market Music - Bulletin Board reply to a posting)
Multi track recording - my technique.
- I use Pro Tools LE for my recording software.
- I generate a bass line for the song using Band In A Box. I dump that bass line to a WAV file. I import this to a single track in Pro Tools. The bass is much nicer to play against that a boring click.
- I record the scratch melody line of the song. I don't care if I make mistakes on this track. This "scratch" track is solely used as a guide for the rhythm guitar.
- I record the rhythm guitar track listening to the bass and scratch melody.
- Once the rhythm guitar is in the can I erase the scratch melody tracks and re-record them.
- Then mix and you are done.
Links
Artist Info
( from artist's site ) - Perhaps Glen Rose is best known as a jazz pianist, but anyone who has been a part of the audience at any of his Great American Songbook concerts knows that ukulele has always been a delightful part of the act.
A jazz teacher as well as a performer, Glen has become adept at bringing the secrets of the jazz sound to not only piano students, but to ukulele and guitar players as well via his unique and user-friendly jazz chord method books and workshops.
Highlights from Glen’s musical career include working on Hollywood movie scores with such luminaries as Quincy Jones, Nelson Riddle, and Henry Mancini. He was a jingle writer, a college professor, a jazz vocal teacher and played jazz piano in the cabarets of Europe for eight years. Over the past fifteen years, Glen has toured with his one-man concert shows as well as spent time penning jazz books for ukulele and guitar. Glen’s current passion is in conducting his Jazzy Ukulele Workshops, bringing his jazz chord knowledge and love of the old standards to ukulele players everywhere.
Links
Artist Info
Russo is the Ukulele Crooner. ÊRick is one of Today's most memorable ukulele playing personalities, with his smooth '50 crooning styles. Rick has hosted open microphones, participated in Craig Robertson's Ukulele Noir shows, is 1/2 of the Mai Tai Serenaders, and is one of the Ukulele Expo's enduring fixtures.






It's hard to say whether the ukulele is making a comeback -- if it will ever again be as popular as it was in the 1920s and '30s. Certainly many musicians in a number of different and sometimes unexpected genres such as rock 'n' roll and pop are taking it up. Not only musicians, either. Warren Buffett, the second richest man in the world, plays one. (I wonder what Bill Gates plays: a piccolo?)