Jules Ah See video footage

Anthony Locke · From: Texas, USA

I found this the other day, and am wondering if anyone knows of anymore live video footage of Jules Ah See playing?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAe3HlIrQd4

Thanks!

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Thanks, Tony . I really enjoyed that.

Butch Pytko · From: Orlando, Florida, USA

Wow, I'm just blown away by this!!! After years and years of being a Jules Ah See fan, I finally get to see him on film and moving around as a real person! Not too many steel licks, but that's OK, just to see him move around is fantastic! If someone comes up with Jules on film playing some of his extreme wild licks, it would be too much to handle! How much more could this be, 2 iconic artists together, Alfred Apaka and Jules Ah See--priceless!!! Last summer I finally bought the same model Magnatone D-8 that Jules is playing here. When I look at my Magnatone, I think of Jules, Alfred, Webley Edwards, Hawaii Calls--the whole 9 yards!!!

Doug Beaumier · From: Northampton, MA

Very nice!!
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Mike Neer · From: NJ

That's some great looking film and sweet singing.
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Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

Stunning! Hard to top that, but if Sonny Kamahele was in, and Jules played more... certainly made my day. This may be the footage I've hoped to see from TV studio KGMB, I have a B&W shot of the studio and the same grouping is standing in front of the bamboo as in the video. Minus Sonny would place this around '57/'58.

Don Kona Woods · From: Hawaiian Kama'aina

Finally, a video of my favorite steel guitar player, Jules Ah See. Thanks Anthony for posting this.

It was a great find. There must be more video of this session and possibly other videos of Jules like this, but how do we find them. The credit for this video is to the Hilton Hawaii Village and George Tahara courtesy of Star Advertiser Channel. I would think that they might have more.

In case you cannot identify all of the musicians and singers in the video, Alfred Apaka is backed by Jules, David Kupele on rhythm guitar, James Kaopuiki on bass and the musical director for the group, Benny Kalama on uke.

Dave Mayes · From: Oakland, Ca.

Holy smokes....this is great!
Anybody know the cause of Jules's early death?

Butch Pytko · From: Orlando, Florida, USA

I was very fortunate to have met Barney Isaacs on my first visit to Hawaii in 1965. Saw many of the Hawaii Calls shows and met many of the other great Hawaiian musicians, as well. Barney played steel guitar along side Jules on many Hawaii Calls shows and viewed it as a friendship/learning experience, saying--"I learned so much from Jules". Barney and I had many long talks about Jules and when I asked how he died, Barney said it was of natural causes. I remember very well feeling so disheartened that I was 5 years too late(he died in 1960)in hopefully meeting Jules.

Mikiya Matsuda · From: San Francisco, California, USA

Dang. Their phrasing is impeccable. I love the way they play with time on the breaks. Thanks for sharing!

Derrick Mau · From: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Aloha Butch,

Jules died of a heart attack at his Kaimuki home.
Wonder why Barney did not know??

A steel guitar genius for someone only in his late 30's. I can only imagine what he would have accomplished if he had lived to 70. Taken away from us way too early.

BTW, do you remember what model of Magnatone steel and amp Jules was using when you were visiting the islands? D-8 or Lyric? Did they already switch to Fender amps at this point?

Jack Aldrich · From: Washington, USA

Derrick - Alan Akaka has Jules' D8 Magnatone, the one in the video. I was told that, after a gig, Jules went out drinking, got into a fight, was beat up and tried to drive home. They found him the next day lying by his car. He'd had a massive heart attack, which IS "natural causes", I guess. He is my absolutely favorite Hawaiian steel player.
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Derrick Mau · From: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Jack,

The Magnatone in this video doesn't look to me like the model Alan has. I've seen that steel that Alan has a few times. It was displayed at Alan's steel fest in Waikiki.

Jules, like everyone else probably had many steels in his closet.

BTW, I have Jules obituary here. It says:

Jules Ah See, famed island steel guitarist and singer died of an apparent heart attack yesterday morning at his Kaimuki home. He would have been 37 next Sunday.

Ah See was to have played at a musician's golf tournamentat the Navy-Marine golf course. He complained at breakfast that he had difficulty breathing and went to Kaiser Hospital before his golf date.
His family found him sprawled on the garage floor near his car.

No mention of him being in a fight or drunk. The hospital would have seen the injuiries had he been in a fight.

Butch Pytko · From: Orlando, Florida, USA

Hi Derrick,

Well, maybe Barney got the wrong term, so it could of been a heart attack, but I vividly remember he said "natural causes". Also, you have the actual obituary write up, which says "heart attack".

On the fight part, I didn't hear anything like that from Barney--believe me, if that happened, Barney would have told me.

Very interesting point on the golf tournament. That had to be the function that Barney was talking about when he and the other musicians were to perform at with Jules. Barney said they were all waiting for Jules to arrive, when there was a phone call from his wife, saying that Jules had died. Barney said that everyone there felt so terrible, as Jules was such a likeable guy. That was the thing, Barney really stressed that Jules had such a great personality, "A real life of the party" type guy, Barney said.

On the guitars and amps--remember, I got there in 1965, 5 years after Jules passed away. In my talks with Barney, it was a thing of being so young that I just didn't ask some questions that I should have. I noticed that Barney had the single pick up D-8 Magnatone when I was there, but I don't think I asked what model Jules had been playing. In all these years, all I could go by, is all the pictures and write ups about Jules playing the double pick up Magnatone D-8. I would think that Jules would have played both models, but from all the information that's out there, it seems to me that he favored the double pick up model. On the amps, I have a letter from Webley Edwards describing the Fender amp model SG5--whatever amp that is. I don't see it listed in a 1960's Fender catalog I have. Also, I found out that at times, Webley Edwards had contract agreements with Fender on using their steel guitars and amps. For the life of me, I'm embarrassed to say, I can't remember what amps they were using on the Hawaii Calls shows. I must of been looking at the hula girls, too much! In 1968, I saw Barney play through a Fender amp at his bar--THE PALM TREE INN, and again, I just wasn't paying any attention to what model it was--all I remember it was covered with tan vinyl with a black face in the control panel area.

Jeff Au Hoy · From: Honolulu, Hawai'i

The steel in the video looks like the double pickup Magnatone Maestro (the type Alan's got) to me. It's got the big brass badge on the front.

Butch Pytko · From: Orlando, Florida, USA

I have to agree that it looks like the double pickup Magnatone Jules is playing. During the video, if you look closely at the pickup area, you'll be able to make out the two pickups.

Derrick Mau · From: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Here's a couple of pics of the Jules steel owned by Alan. Is it the same steel as in the video?

Freeze stop the video at 1:06. The bottom wooden half of Jules steel is almost a chocolate brown and the upper wooden strip the fretboard sits on, a light blond in color. Is it the same steel? I'll let the Forum jury decide.

Paul DiMaggio · From: Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada

I think the difference in the colour is a trick of the light. In the photos if you look at the edges of the necks that are away from the camera, they are lighter than the edges closest to the camera, especially the edge closest to the sunlight. On the stage in the video, the lights would be pointing down to eliminate shadows and would make a light coloured wood reflect more, making it look even lighter.

Derrick Mau · From: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Paul,

I don't think studio lighting played a part in this.
Here's two different pics of a Magnatone Maestro that looks to be in original shape. The top layer is blonde and the lower a dark brown.

Jeff Au Hoy · From: Honolulu, Hawai'i

I retract my earlier comment. I just got through watching some footage of Barney Isaacs playing his D-8 Magnatone Lyric and it looks pretty similar to the one Jules is playing in this video.

Derrick Mau · From: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Magnatone Lyric

Paul DiMaggio · From: Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada

I have one just like that Derrick, that is the older 1 pickup model. the newer 2 pickup model D8 is also called a Lyric. The Maestro models were 3 neck units in both configurations. The basic construction design are the same over all the Magnatone multi neck steels. A cradle made of a dark wood, possibly walnut, and the necks are a blonde coloured wood, possibly ash or maple. In that video it looks to me like Jules is playing a 2 pickup Lyric, thus my thought that the only difference that I could see between the steels in the video and the photo is the darkness of colour of the necks.

Scott Thomas · Posted 31 May 2013 8:44 am

I agree. It's the long scale (2 pickup) Lyric similar to the one seen in the pics of the band from the Tapa Room. There appears to be two steels there. (Two of the same model? Hard to tell). As Derrick said, Jules probably had more than one.

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

The Lyic's early 50s design aesthetic is way cool! Love the see-through tuners.

Mike Neer · From: NJ

In listening to the Tapa Room Tapes, has anyone else taken notice of the whining sound of Jules' 1st string (I think the C13 neck)? It is a sound that can drive me crazy and I remember having that problem on one of my earlier steels.

So, my question is: which guitar was he most likely playing on the Tapa Room Tapes?
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