Primarily known in the islands for itsunique, mesmerizing sound in Hawai-ian music, the steel guitar is rarely

heard in jazz. Loving both Hawaiian andjazz, Maui musician Joel Katz has beenbridging these two genres with the albums“Hawaiian to Jazz” and “Adventures inHawaiian Steel Guitar,” his latest impres-sive work.

The new CD just made the 2015 NaHoku Awards preliminary ballot for BestJazz Album of the Year. The final nomina-tions will be announced Wednesday.

“I was drawn to the steel guitar by its ver-satility in articulation, pitch and tonal color,second only to the human voice,” Katz en-thuses.

Around 25 years ago, he studied brieflywith Hawaiian steel guitar legend HenryAllen.

“Then I pretty much dropped it for 20years,”hesays. “Iwasn’tverygood,but I

have a studio and would sometimes break itout on somebody’s recording.”

Known as the keyboardist for twodecades with Jimmy Mac and the KoolKats, Katz would occasionally be asked toplay weddings. One day, there was a requestfor the classic steel guitar song “SleepWalk” by Santo & Johnny.

“After that, I decided I wanted to startworking on steel guitar,” he continues. “Iwanted to do some solo work and I was en-joying playing the steel guitar. People reallyliked it and I started to see the potential.Playing the steel guitar is like meditating, ittakes a concentration and focus that’s reallydifferent from playing guitar or keyboards. Ikept doing it and it caught on.”

Two years ago, he released his debut CD,“Hawaiian to Jazz,” which was nominatedfor a Na Hoku for Instrumental Album ofthe Year. On the album, he covered a rangeof music from traditional Hawaiian classicslike “Akaka Falls” to pop tunes (including“Sleep Walk” and the Beatle’s “In MyLife”) and Charles Mingus’ “GoodbyePorkpie Hat.”

Besides his impressive steel guitar play-ing on his follow-up “Adventures in Hawai-ian Steel Guitar,” Katz makes the album re-markable by serving as a virtual one-manband. Take the debut track, where he inter-prets Roberta Flack’s hit “Feel Like Makin’Love” with an infectious jazz groove,

adding regular electric guitar, bass anddrums. In all, he distinguishes himself on atleast seven instruments, including dobro,ukulele and trumpet.

“I played pretty much everything,” henotes. “The CD is a little different in termsof the music and style that people tend to as-sociate with the instrument. I’ve put thisHawaiian style in a smooth jazz setting. The

instrument is capable of so much, it’s almostlike a horn section the way it sustains notes.I really wanted an acoustic bass on it, soDanny M plays on a few songs, and thereare horn parts, too.”

The funky, bluesy original “Canopus,”which you could easily imagine SteelyDan’s Donald Fagen singing lyrics to, fea-tures Patrick Dieter and Tom Allsage on

sax, and Henry Arroyo and Fred Boyd ontrombone. Gail Swanson pops up on fluteon the track “Flossie,” joined by Sue Sey-mour Westcott on fiddle.

On the original “About Last Night,”which highlights Katz’s dobro playing, youcan hear echoes of George Harrison’s guitarstyle. “That song just has dobro and bassand a little bit of a Wurlitzer piano,” hesays.

Another cool track, “Spooked Uke,” fea-tures him on bass, ukulele and steel. “Youput this groove to it and play the instrumentsa little differently, and it goes into a wholenew zone,” he explains.

Among the covers, the Beatles’ ballad“Fool on the Hill” from “Magical MysteryTour” perfectly fits a steel guitar arrange-ment. It’s his favorite song on the CD. Andsteel’s a natural on the Texas swing classic“Blues for Dixie.”

Katz also decided to include Willie Nel-son’s hit “Crazy,” though he found it a littlechallenging to play.

“It’s not a simple song,” he notes. “WillieNelson is really an amazing songwriter andjazz player. It was tricky and challenging.”

Aside from releasing albums and playinglive, Katz pursues his passion for Hawaiiansteel guitar teaching at University of HawaiiMaui College. His courses include guitar,ukulele, recording and audio technology.

“It’s a tradition that’s dying, and in myeffort to perpetuate the almost lost art ofsteel guitar, I offer a course at our music de-partment,” he says. “I have a great respectfor Hawaiian steel guitar players. It’s reallya difficult instrument.”

***Super exciting that Chaka Khan will

play Castle Theater at Maui Arts & CulturalCenter on May 8. Famous for hits like “IFeel for You,” “I’m Every Woman,” “Ain’tNobody,” and “What Cha’ Gonna Do forMe,” in recent years, this Queen of Funkhas collaborated with a range of artists in-cluding Prince, Eric Clapton, Herbie Han-cock and Chick Corea.

Khan has been working on a series ofnew albums, titled “The iKhan Project,”which will include music in eight genresfrom R&B, jazz, pop and rock, to gospel,country, classical and dance music, alongwith a tribute work to Joni Mitchell.

■ Tickets, which range from $35 to$125 (plus applicable fees) go on saleto the general public Saturday and are

MAUIbeat

JON WOODHOUSE

jonwoodh@gmail.commusic column

MAUIbeat

See CHAKA KHAN on the next page

One cool Katz

>> Joel Katz opens for Willie K at Mulligans On the Blue in Wailea on Wednes-day evenings. He also plays steel guitar at the Old Lahaina Lu‘au on Sundayevenings, and at Wailuku’s First Friday celebration. And he will perform at theseventh annual Maui Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival presented April 24 to 26 atthe Ka‘anapali Beach Hotel.

Maui musician brings steel guitar to jazz

Photocourtesy the artist

MAUIscene | Thursday, March 19, 2015 | Page 3