Jazz on a ukulele?

K

keluitry

New member
Joined
Oct 8, 2013
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Location
Australia
Hi,

Recently started playing uke, perhaps 3-ish months ago. Anyway, my main instrument is saxophone, and I'm serious about that. Uke is just a side for a bit of fun.

Anyway, wondering if jazz can be played on a uke. Would I just play the same chords you would on a piano? Take the ii-V-I progression, Dm7 - G7 - C7....that kinda thing?

Reggae is also something I like, so can you play that too?

Thanks.
 
Can play pretty much anything on a uke that you can on most other instruments. Have you seen Kamoa's version of an ES335?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O0lTAB5ups

Just go to YouTube and search ukulele jazz and/or reggae
 
Last edited:
I believe they are made to order now. Give them a call.
 
Lyle was also the bassist on a bunch of studio recordings:

The Beach Boys, "Good Vibrations"
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, "A Taste of Honey"
Lesley Gore, "It's My Party"
The Righteous Brothers, "You've Lost That Loving Feeling"

Imagine all of the children in the world that had been conceived due to "You've Lost That Loving Feeling"... I hold Lyle personally responsible.
 
Bill1 said:
Look up a player called Lyle Ritz. I believe he put out a jazz album in 1957 playing a ukulele, called "How About Uke", and another in 1959 called "50th State Jazz". I think he did have a break from ukulele recording after that, but others still carried on with ukulele jazz for the last 50 or so years. He also has some music books and CDs in print at present and was in a video called Joy of Uke 2 which may still be available. I am sure others will suggest some other names to look up.
Click to expand...

More recently there was Lyle Ritz and Ohta-San together at McCabe's, A Night of Ukulele Jazz - this is one of my favorite uke recordings. Ohta-San plays just about all genres, but I'm especially fond of his jazz and classical.

A few others - Sarah Maisel, Benny Chong, Byron Yasui, and Kiyoshi Kobayashi (from Japan - his stuff is hard to find stateside but worth tracking down if you can).
 
Did not know Lyle Ritz, but just download his combined albums from iTunes for $9.99, such a deal.
 
Jazz and jazz chords are wonderful on the ukulele - what about James Hill, Kimo Hussey, also look up Glen Rose, Curt Sheller, to name but four....... you can play anything on a uke! Even reggae!
 
All very nice recommendations... one of the best jazz talents that I see in the ukulele universe, at the moment, is Abe Lagrimas Jr.

He is primarily a jazz drummer (I believe he studied at Berklee College of Music), but he has brought his jazz sensibilities to the ukulele like no other. There are many ukulele players that can play lovely arrangements of jazz standards, but most would have difficulty hanging with a jazz ensemble. This Abe kid, however, could hold his own - as far as I can tell.

 
Wicked said:
All very nice recommendations... one of the best jazz talents that I see in the ukulele universe, at the moment, is Abe Lagrimas Jr.

He is primarily a jazz drummer (I believe he studied at Berklee College of Music), but he has brought his jazz sensibilities to the ukulele like no other. There are many ukulele players that can play lovely arrangements of jazz standards, but most would have difficulty hanging with a jazz ensemble. This Abe kid, however, could hold his own - as far as I can tell.

Click to expand...


I love the video very much. Thanks for sharing!
 
Another incredible jazz-ukelele stylist is our own (UU member) Sarah Maisel; if the OP is interested in learning jazz ukulele, Ms. Maisel teaches via Skype. She is a wonderful instructor! :)
 
Dr. Uke has plenty of Jazz tune pdfs as does UkesterBrown.

Here's a bit of Jazz on an ukulele.

 
keluitry said:
Anyway, wondering if jazz can be played on a uke. Would I just play the same chords you would on a piano? Take the ii-V-I progression, Dm7 - G7 - C7....that kinda thing?
Click to expand...

As an aside.... Jazz is much, much more than playing a bunch of extended chords (6s, 7s, 9s, 11s, 13s). There are no such thing as "jazz chords." Rhythm is crucial (and often the weakest link for most players)... and finally, improvisation is integral to the genre.

Jazz enthusiasts are often a snooty bunch when it comes to classifying who is a true Jazz musician versus someone who is "jazz-ish." The general ukulele population is much more lenient - as they should be - but most of the "jazz players" in the uke world would not pass muster outside of it.

That being said... just play that thing like you stole it.
 
Quote from Wicked.... "There are no such thing as "jazz chords."

Anyone care to argue with that? I would...... yes, there's much more to jazz than jazz chords, of course, but I think to say "there's no such thing" is just - not right! And I know Claude Debussy, for example, was using extended chords early in the last century for his impressionistic music, but it's still reasonable to describe them as jazz chords in general talk about jazz, surely?
 
"Jazz chords" would be chords that are necessary and/or sufficient for making jazz, right? There is no such thing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Ukulele Nick
Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me 👄 jazz ukulele fingerstyle tutorial (with tabs) D. Ellington, B. Russell - 1943
Replies
0
Views
54
Ukulele Nick
Ukulele Nick
Ukulele Nick
Mr. Joe - jazz blues ukulele reharmonization
Replies
0
Views
53
Ukulele Nick
Ukulele Nick
Ukulele Nick
Someone To Watch Over Me 💕 jazz ukulele tabs (with verse)
Replies
0
Views
102
Ukulele Nick
Ukulele Nick
AndrewHardel
A Gypsy Jazz Waltz (arr. for Ukulele/Guitar/Bass)
Replies
1
Views
84
Jan D
Jan D
Ukulele Nick
Wes Montgomery - 10 Jazz Blues Ukulele Licks (with tabs)
Replies
4
Views
329
Ukulele Nick
Ukulele Nick
Top Bottom