I'll Remember April Balsa Bill Ukulele

I first began working up an arrangement of this old jazz standard a few years ago. Then I went to the Don Ho Show at Waikiki about a year before he died. The band played a short set, kind of a medley, to start the show and the guitar player grabbed a uke and launched into a chorus of this tune.
Afterwards I introduced myself to Benny Chong, ukulele legend. He'd played in the Ali'is and was back playing with Don Ho.
We became friends and I always try and catch Benny and his sidekick, Byron Yasui on bass whenever I'm in the islands.
Benny inspired me to get serious with this tune and I did some intense woodshedding to learn it. I'd played it on the piano for years but this was a whole new thing. Chordal melody and single string improvisation on the uke.
Here I'm playing my Sonny D tenor with Aquila Nylgut DGBE strings (with a high fourth). I found the uke in a pile of instruments at the stadium swap meet. I just can't seem to put it down.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Jazz
• ukulele
• Sonny D tenor uke
• Hawaii
• Balsa Bill