Lyle Ritz is my favorite uke players-others in his style I should know about ?

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LarryL

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It seems that in every type of music I enjoy, I dial into certain performers that i like the best...Chet Atkins-guitar, Jerry Byrd..hawaiian steel, etc.
With ukulele it is Lyle Ritz for me...I love his chord melody playing and have tried to get all of his music. Its as much as his choice of music, the jazz standards, that i like. There are probably others in his style that I dont know about...suggestions please ? I have listened to a lot of uke players on youtube, and I tend not to care for the flashy, fast players who like to dazzle you with their talent. I am an old guy, what can I say. I also love Herb Ohta....he and Lyle's "A night of Ukulele Jazz" is great ! I am sure I would enjoy hearing many of you on here playing chord melody as well.
Thanks in advance.
 
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Following. The only other I can think of is Benny Chong but there is very little recorded material that I know of.
 
Jim Hanks said:
Following. The only other I can think of is Benny Chong but there is very little recorded material that I know of.
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Benny is amazing. There's quite a bit of him on YouTube.
Last fall we were visiting my wife's brother in Kailua, Hawaii. They live fairly close to Nico's and Bryan Tolentino and Halehaku Seabury play there a few nights a month.
We went down to eat and listen. I had done a workshop with Bryan a few months before at the Magic Fluke Facility. We got to talking on their break and he told me to bring my uke down the next time they were there. People would get up and play while they took their break.
A week or so later they were back and I took Bryan up on his offer. Benny and Byron Yasui were sitting at the next table with their instruments and were going to play after I did. I've never been so intimidated in my life. A young guy named Micah Kane was sitting in with them and played two pieces before me. I had two pieces I was going to play. I played the first one, Here Comes The Sun perfectly. I decided that I would stop there and told Bryan thank you.
Benny and Byron got up and just tore it up for 15 minutes. Byron stayed on stage and sat in with Bryan, Micah and Hale. It was amazing.
 
peanuts56 said:
A young guy named Micah Kane was sitting in with them and played two pieces before me. I had two pieces I was going to play. I played the first one, Here Comes The Sun perfectly. I decided that I would stop there and told Bryan thank you.
Benny and Byron got up and just tore it up for 15 minutes. Byron stayed on stage and sat in with Bryan, Micah and Hale. It was amazing.
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Mika Kane has been doing a lot of work lately with The Ukulele Site/HMS. He's definitely an up-and-coming player. Check out some of the recent HMS Youtube videos where he's jamming with Corey Fujimoto. Quite impressive!
 
I'm a massive fan of Lyle Ritz but realizing that there are so few tenor players like him now, I have turned to soprano ukulele - where lots of good stuff is happening on YouTube with people playing on original Martin's or clones of Martin's. Here's an example: https://youtu.be/MW5EMcxAlzQ
 
There are a few things (unfortunately not much) with Byron Yasui, also look at Paul Hemmings, Abe Lagrimas
 
This is great guys ! There are always so many forum members who have years of experience and knowledge on things...it makes it fun to belong to this community. my knowledge and experience in uke is limited, so I already have more uke players to check out. Keep 'em coming !
 
Snargle said:
Mika Kane has been doing a lot of work lately with The Ukulele Site/HMS. He's definitely an up-and-coming player. Check out some of the recent HMS Youtube videos where he's jamming with Corey Fujimoto. Quite impressive!
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He is a student of Byron Yasui I think. He's a very fine player and a really nice young man.
I got to speak quite a bit that night with Byron. I heard Jake play the first movement of his concerto with The Hartford Symphony a few years ago. Byron was playing bass that evening. Nice guy and for a man around 80 he's in amazing physical condition.
 
peanuts56 said:
He is a student of Byron Yasui I think. He's a very fine player and a really nice young man.
I got to speak quite a bit that night with Byron. I heard Jake play the first movement of his concerto with The Hartford Symphony a few years ago. Byron was playing bass that evening. Nice guy and for a man around 80 he's in amazing physical condition.
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Byron is a complete musician and great teacher. He has great knowledge of ukulele, guitar and bass and his theory knowledge is amazing. He is also a very nice and humble guy who is happy to share his musicianship with others.
 
Ohta-San, Herb Ohta Sr.

I love his bossa nova work.
 
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Looks like Amazon has a couple of CDs by Benny Chong, one of which is reasonably priced :)

Neil Chin has CDs available on his website, nealchin.com.

Mika Kane has a CD available on his website, mikakane.com

The others mentioned on this thread likely have recording available as well.

Remember that one of the first things that got clobbered by Covid were gigs which is one of the ways these guys support themselves You can show your appreciation by purchasing a CD or two. The artists will see more than they would from a streaming service or YT which pay a small fraction of a penny per play.
 
Kimosabe said:
Otha-San, Herb Otha Sr.
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Definitely. Ohta San is like a walking encyclopedia. We've heard Sr. many times with his partner Nando Suan on guitar. Nando is excellent and to me plays in a style similar to Wes Montgomery. Sr. is also a funny guy and usually has a funny joke or story to tell on stage. Nice guy as well.
Jr. is a very complete player. He plays jazz quite well as well as other styles. He's a true pro. UU member and good friend MM Stan, my wife and I saw Jr. and Jon Yamasato last November at Nico's in Honolulu. Jr. is on the quiet side and that evening he was quieter than usual. Jon told me on a break that Jr. had just gotten back that morning at 11 am from playing shows in China. He got home, slept a few hours and showed up at 6 for the gig. I asked him if he was at least able to sleep on the plane and he said he didn't! Guy was exhausted and still played amazing. At the end of the night he and Jon came over, shook our hands, hugged my wife and thanked us for coming out. Great musicians and even better guys.
 
Let's not forget the lively Japanese scene. There are several great Japanese players who play jazz on tenor ukuleles - for instance Kiyoshi Kobayashi.
 
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