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Topic: A Bit of Joe Custino |
Jeff Au Hoy
From:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
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Posted 1 Jun 2005 1:24 am |
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Here's one I just dug up from the archives. Sounds like it could be 60's material, but for some reason I'm inclined to say it's from the 70's... late for this style.
The tune is "Lei Aloha, Lei Makamae" (a.k.a. the original Hawaiian wedding song), done by Sonny Kamahele and group. Sonny sings the high part while Cy Ludington takes the low. Hawaiian steeler Joe Custino actually gets a solo in the middle of this slow number.
Uncle Boyce Rodrigues commented to me that Jules Ah See and Joe were "cut from the same tree", and you can hear it in the attack and slower vibrato.
Joe played the Ah See/ Barney Isaacs tunings (C13, E13, B11) on frypans, Stringmasters and Valco-type instruments... this recording sounds particularly Fender-ish to me--my ears sense a Stringmaster with the treble cut. I think Joe, like Jules, got some nice dynamic variation without the use of a volume pedal.
Please enjoy. [This message was edited by Jeff Au Hoy on 01 June 2005 at 04:22 AM.] |
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c c johnson
From:
killeen,tx usa * R.I.P.
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Posted 1 Jun 2005 1:55 am
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| Mahalo Jeff. My kind of music. CC |
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Roy Thomson
From:
Wolfville, Nova Scotia,Canada
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Posted 1 Jun 2005 3:59 am
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Very pretty!!
Singing and playing.
Thanks Jeff.
Roy
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Gerald Ross
From:
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Posted 1 Jun 2005 4:53 am
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Very nice Jeff, thanks.
One thing I like in mid 20th century Hawaiian recordings is the rhythm section work. Very lean and tight. One guitar, one uke, one bass.
Many contemporary Hawaiian recordings can learn from this style. There seems to be a tendency in recent H recordings to overkill and muddy up the rhythm section. For example, you can't have three guitars (one in an open slack key tuning, one in standard tuning and a twelve string), two ukuleles and an electric bass and expect to get a tight sound.
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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association
[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 01 June 2005 at 05:54 AM.] |
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Jeff Strouse
From:
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
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Posted 1 Jun 2005 5:51 am
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Great stuff!
 |
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Bob Stone
From:
Gainesville, FL, USA
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Posted 1 Jun 2005 7:34 am
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Thanks Jeff. I don't think I had ever heard Joe Custino before. Nice stuff.
I agree, it sounds more like a Fender than the other instruments you named.
Gerald, just another example of the "over production syndrome," in my opinion. |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 1 Jun 2005 11:37 am
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Very nice, but I don't think that is Sonny's falsetto, however much in his style.
Joe's minimal steel work shows how effective a simple solo can be.
Thanx as always Jeff for the fine music.[This message was edited by Ron Whitfield on 01 June 2005 at 12:38 PM.] |
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Derrick Mau
From:
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 1 Jun 2005 12:11 pm
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Sounds to me like a younger Sonny doing the harmony part. They trade off during the bridge.
This is a prime example of how basic rhythm can sound so good; something the Hawaiian musician of today cannot understand. They all want to come in with their ukes and guitars and play all this fancy pickin' ****.
The Hawaiian music here has changed as Gerald had said, and they are very few left who play and strum in this style.
I heard a Hawaiian kupuna (elder) once say:
"No need make fancy". Boy, was she right! |
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Don Kona Woods
From:
Hawaiian Kama'aina
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Posted 1 Jun 2005 11:38 pm
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Great number and one of my favorites, Jeff.
| Quote: |
| Uncle Boyce Rodrigues commented to me that Jules Ah See and Joe were "cut from the same tree".. |
I have some early tape recordings of Joe Custino in the 1940's. His style did not sound like Jules Ah See at all and it involved a lot of single string playing.
However on the Walter Clarke, Beach Boy Party Album Joe sounds alot like Jules Ah See.
I believe that his playing evolved over the years to sound more like Jules Ah See.
Did Jules Ah See therefore influence Joe Custino's style?
Aloha,
Don |
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Jeff Au Hoy
From:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
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Posted 2 Jun 2005 12:02 am
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Hi Don,
I've thought the same thing... in some of the earlier recordings of Joe he exhibits a really wobbly, almost reckless vibrato. The later stuff (60s and later) is more chordal, more precise, more sensitive.
One of my favorite albums that features a more Jules-ey Joe is Hula Record's "Let's Hula", c. 1962(?).
Ron, I'm inclined to believe it's Sonny based on a few aspects: 1) the anglofied pronounciation of "no ho'okahi" (i.e. know hoe-oe-kahi) 2) the sweeping manner in which he slides up to the notes in "na'u" 3) the manner in which "ku'u" is broken/yodeled in the final "e ku'u lei" and 4) that this would be comfortable key for Sonny's range. [This message was edited by Jeff Au Hoy on 02 June 2005 at 01:27 AM.] |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 2 Jun 2005 12:34 pm
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We'll probably never know for sure, now with Sonny gone.
Sure would be nice to still see, hear and ask him today. |
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Jeff Au Hoy
From:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
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Posted 2 Jun 2005 7:50 pm
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Ron, I knew a record-listening geek like myself wouldn't convince you. You got me sticking Q-tips in my ears! (even though doctors recommend against it)
You made a good point... afterall, I was some negative 10+ years old when the recording was made.
Not being able to trust my hearing any longer I emailed the mp3 to Auntie Nina Keali'iwahamana who's known Sonny since the Hawai'i Calls days. She responded:
quote:
I can honestly say I believe it is definitely Sonny singing the wahine
(high) part. The little nuance he had of breaking his "ha'i" hasn't
changed over the years.
By the way, Joe Custino was Auntie Nina and Uncle Boyce's brother in-law.
[This message was edited by Jeff Au Hoy on 02 June 2005 at 08:53 PM.] |
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Don Kona Woods
From:
Hawaiian Kama'aina
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Posted 2 Jun 2005 11:35 pm
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| It sounded like Sonny to me, just a younger version. |
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