 and welcome to the Hawaii Smooth Jazz Connection. I am your host, Gwendolyn Harris. My guest today, Deshanan Higa, a multi-talented performer, composer, and arranger, his professional experience expands over 30 years and has performed locally and globally with many renowned artists, including Algerot, Jeff Lorber, Michael Feinstein, Burt Baccarac, the original Elvis Presley band, Diana Craw, David Tau, and Wynton Marcellus. Wow. He has recorded music for film, radio, video games, studio, and live CDs. In late 2018, Deshanan released his first solo album, Words Cannot Express. Deshanan is currently nominated for two Nohuko Hano Hano Awards for Jazz Album of the Year and Most Promising Artist. Please welcome to the show Mr. Deshanan Higa. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me, Gwendolyn. You have to excuse me, because my eyes are right here. Let's start right now. But thank you so much for being here. I've seen you around town. I've seen you play with different people. But this is my first, I've always wanted to meet you and I'm getting to do it. Yeah, well, this is a good place to do it, right on your shelf. Yes. Well, let's get started. Tell me, when did you start playing music? I started at the age of nine while I was in the fourth grade. My family and I were living in Hilo on the Big Island at the time. And over there, they start kids very young on instruments and a band. And they actually started in the third grade. So when I joined the band in fourth grade, I was already a year behind, if you can believe that. But it was something that I really wanted to do. My brother was in the band already, and I wanted to be like him. And so I joined the band. Interestingly, though, I wanted to play drums. That was actually my first choice. I thought it was really cool. You know, what boy doesn't want to hit things, right? So I thought that would be a really great instrument. But there were already too many drummers in the band at the time. So my band director said, you got to pick another instrument. So the next coolest instrument I thought was, oh, the trumpet. That's the one for me. And it just took right away. I was like, love it first sight. So the trumpet, and you just stuck with it. You don't play any other instruments? Oh, I play other instruments. What do you play? I play a bit of keyboards. I do a bit of hand percussion. And then I also do programming and beat-making. Which is kind of a big thing, right? That sounds interesting. Oh, it's fun. Oh, goodness. Now, you play many styles of music, ranging from jazz, Latin salsa, the modern electronica, and hip-hop. Which style do you like the best? Yes. All of it, Lauren. I mean, it's really, I guess if you were to look at my music collection and see what I have the most of. I mean, I have all of that in my record collection. But probably the thing that I have the most of would be jazz. But jazz is increasingly becoming broader in its definition. And so it bleeds over to all those different other sub-genres or genres of music. And so it really encompasses all of that. You just like it all. I do. So let me ask you this. So we have your regular jazz, your, how do you say it? What's regular jazz? I don't know, that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm trying to get at. So we have our jazz. And then we move into smooth jazz. So what's the difference between the jazz and smooth jazz? Well, I think that the jazz that you're talking about is what most people probably think about when you say that we're jazz. And it's kind of related to the jazz of the 40s, 50s, and 60s, like Big Band, some hip hop, or not hip hop, but bebop, the cool school, that kind of range of jazz. So I think that's what most people think of. And then smooth jazz is actually a style that was born out of fusion and the influence of rock and funk into jazz. And so that came much later, like in the 70s. I said, I'm getting schooled, I'm getting schooled here. Now, you're the founder of many music groups. There's a few music groups that you are, that you're a founder of. But I want you to just talk about the most recent, your most recent group, the Subtonic Orchestra, because you guys were at Blue Note. Yes, yes. So talk to us about that, about that group. Well, that group came out of my desire to do music on a bigger scale. Most of the stuff I do live around town is a small group, the quartet, quintet, which is kind of like, in terms of jazz, it's what's most conventional and expected. And so that's what I've had to work with. But I heard other colors and other instruments I wanted to incorporate into my music. And so I thought, OK, let me put together a group that's bigger, that encompasses more of the sounds and colors that I wanted to give to people. And so that's where Subtonic Orchestra came out of. And that really includes the, besides your usual bass, drums, and keys, I added also guitar percussionists. And then instead of me just being the only horn I have three other horns, trombone and two saxophones and play other woodwind instruments, too. Because I was going to ask you, how many people are in that? Because just from the pictures, it looks huge. It's large. It's definitely on the bigger side. It varies from anywhere from like eight to like 11 or 12 people. And all of you could fit on the Blue Note stage. I didn't make it to that show because I was out of town. But all of you could make it on that stage. It's amazing, isn't it? We fit. We fit. And I wasn't sure we're going to fit. But you remember that group, Incognito? Yes. Yeah, one of my favorite bands. Anyway, so then when they played at the Blue Note, and they had, I think they had like 14 people. Yeah, it was massive. And they all fit on the stage. So then when I saw that, I'm like, OK, I can fit my band. You can do it. I can do it. You can do it. I can do it. I can do it. Now, most of you probably know that Mr. Deshen and Higa here, he's in the Royal Hawaiian Band. How did you come about that? How did you get into that band? Well, it's the most. That's a big band there. It's hard to get into. And it's the only band of its kind in the entire country. It's a concert band, wind ensemble format. And it has roots to Monarchy, the May of the Third, in 1836. Wow. It started the band. Yeah, so it's over 180 years old. And it's now under the city and county. And so it's a government job. It's steady work. These benefits, it's just a dream job for an instrumentalist like myself. And so it's very competitive and very difficult to get into. And I have, I guess, the unique distinction of being in the band twice. Yeah, I did it once in the 90s. And then there was a stint where I got married and we lived in New York. And I did other musical endeavors. And then we came back to Hawaii. And there was an opening in the band again. And I auditioned for it. And by God's grace, I got in again. So it's an audition. It's an audition that I had to go through. Now, where can we see the band around Hawaii? Well, most people don't know this, but the Rural Wine Band plays a lot. Really? They do over 350 concerts a year. Really? Yeah. Yeah. And nobody knows that. No. Nobody knows it. That's because we're always somewhere. You know, we rarely hit the same place, you know, twice. We do have our regular concerts at Eolani Palace on Fridays at noon, and Cop Eolani Bandstand in the park on Sundays at 2 o'clock. So those are kind of our benchmark gigs. And these are every, this is every week. Every week. Every week. Every week. OK. Right. But everything else in between, we're just scattered all over the island. Oh, wow. That's something. I learned something right there. I learned something right there. Yeah. Now you just talked about you in between time, in between the band time, you met your wife, got married. Yes. And I understand that she is in the musical field too. She was on Broadway. That's right. That's right. She was in the original cast of Miss Saigon. Oh. Yeah, that opened on Broadway in the 90s. Yeah, she was a part of that. I didn't know her then. I only met her much later in the late 90s after she had moved to Hawaii. Yeah, I was playing in a swing band. You had Xanac Lindsay. Yes, I did. I did. Who makes a girl? So we were in a band called Hula Jo and the Hot Jumpers. OK. This was in the heyday of the Neo swing movement. You know, everybody, they were doing all this swing dancing, right? It was kind of a revival of swing music. And so we started a band along with some other cats that, you know, friends. And we used to play at just on the street at Aloha Tower. We used to be called the Pier Bar. Later it became Caponos, right there on the water. And so we would play there. I think it was like twice a month. And people would just come out in droves and just dance. And Rocky, my wife, I hadn't met her at the time. But she was an avid dancer. She just loved to dance. And so she would come out just to swing dance. And so I met her in one of those times that when we were performing. And our drummer knew her. And he introduced us. And so we just kind of hit it off and we just became best friends. Now I've seen her perform with you before. She sings. So I've seen her perform with you before. Yeah, she's quite the singer. I mean, we perform regularly together. She sings with my subtonic orchestra, sometimes with my smaller group, Quad Pod. And then she has her own gigs, too. That sometimes I'll play on her gigs. But these days she's doing a lot of teaching. Like she has like 30 kids or something that she teaches. So she's kind of taking on more of that kind of mentor, educator role. And she's doing a wonderful job. She's very, very talented in not just singing and dancing, but in teaching also. Now do you teach? I have. I'm currently not teaching because my schedule with performing and writing and arranging and composing, it just takes up a lot of my time. And then along with that, just other church activities that I'm involved in with music as well, it takes up a lot of time. Oh, OK. Well, we have to go on a quick break and we will be right back. So don't go away. Hi, I'm Rusty Komori, host of Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. My show is based on my book also titled Beyond the Lines. And it's about creating a superior culture of excellence, leadership, and finding greatness. I interview guests who are successful in business, sports, and life, which is sure to inspire you in finding your greatness. Join me every Monday as we go Beyond the Lines at 11 AM. Aloha. Aloha. Aloha. I'm Lauren Pair, a host here at Think Tech, Hawaii, a digital media company serving the people of Hawaii. We provide a video platform for citizen journalists to raise public awareness in Hawaii. We are a Hawaii nonprofit that depends on the generosity of its supporters to keep on going. We'd be grateful if you'd go to thinktechhawaii.com and make a donation to support us now. Thanks so much. Aloha, and welcome back to the Hawaii Smooth Jazz Connection. My guest today, and I'm so glad he's here, is Mr. DeShannon Higa. Welcome back. Thank you. Now, we were talking earlier in the show. We were talking about all types of things. But I'm going to ask you, who would you like to collaborate with? Well, if I'm going to think globally, one of the names, I mean, there's a whole bunch of names, but one that comes to the top actually is Bruno. Bruno Mars, you know? He had local ties, right? He's from Hawaii. Right. He made it big. He's an international superstar. But I just like him as a singer, as a composer, as a writer, as a performer, as a musician. I think he's one of the few real gems in the music industry in that he's a real musician. And real musicians recognize other real musicians, and he's definitely one. And so I think it would be really fun and neat to collaborate with him on some stuff. And I would like to see that, too. That would be amazing. That would be amazing. Well, since you are here, why don't you just give us a little taste? Can you play for us today? OK, well, one of the things that I really like to do is fuse the genres of jazz and hip hop together. Oh, OK. And so I'm going to need a little bit of help, though. Uh-oh. See, you didn't tell me. Oh, yeah. But it's easy. It's really all I need you to do is. OK, and you know I can do that. I can do that. That's all I need you to do. OK. I agree with just what I need you to do. Oh, politics, do you have coming up that the viewers can come? We can come see you. Yeah, well, I'm working on right now doing a residency at the Blue Note. Oh. Yeah, and so the Blue Note has become a mainstay of the Hawaii music scene. And it's one of the go-to spots if you're a musician and you want to play in a real music club or a real audience that's not just there to eat or have drinks, but they're there for the music. Yes. And so it's a great venue for live music performance. And so I was really honored that they asked me to do something regularly for them. So I'm in the process of putting some material and things together in the subtonic orchestra format, maybe in the quad pod format, my smaller format, but basically doing something with those groups that's fresh and new every time. Nice. So yeah, that's kind of my big project right now. Oh, well, that's awesome. That is awesome. I can't wait, because you know I'll be there. You know I will be there. Now you released your CD, Words Cannot Express. How did you come out? And it just came out maybe about a couple of months ago. How did you come up with the title of that? That was easy. That was easy. Because as an instrumentalist, the trumpet is my voice. And of course, there's no words to what I play, right? And so it's all instrumental music. But it expresses and it communicates so much. As an instrumentalist, there's a lot that I want to say in the instrument that doesn't necessarily translate to words, because it's something that it's a heart language that people understand. They don't have to have words to be able to understand what I'm trying to communicate. If it's love, if it's passion, if it's anger, or if it's any kind of emotion, I can communicate it through the horn and people can understand. So that's why it transcends words. And so coming up with the title for the album, it's like, well, I can't think of a better title than Words Cannot Express or an instrumental album that this is. Well, I can tell you, I've heard it. And I love it. And my favorite song on there is Bebop. Boop, beep, beep, boop, beep, boop, beep, boop. I love that song. I love that song. And I played it on my radio show, but I just love it. I love it. Thank you. I think I'm a grown-up. You know how I got that title? How'd you get that title? OK, because, you know, you've heard of Bebop. Yes. Well, this is kind of like Bebop backwards, because it's like modern Bebop with a hip-hop influence. So it's kind of like taking Bebop and turning it on its head. So I just kind of put the two words backwards, and you get boop, beep. It's awesome. If you have not bought that CD yet, you need to buy it. You need to buy it. It's titled Words Cannot Express by Mr. DeShannon Higgs. It's an awesome CD. I've played it over and over and over. Now, I asked this question of all of my guests, and it has to do with music in the schools, because I want to see what they have to say. So as you know, they're gradually taking the music out the schools. You know how we used to have it? You go back, because that's how I played. That's how I learned. What can we do if we can do anything to keep it? To keep it in the schools, because I think our kids need this. They need, you know, kids are very susceptible to suggestion, to influence. They're an open book, right? And so you can write anything you want in them, and they'll take it. And so I think it's real important, in order for them to value the arts and music, they need to see that the people that they look up to value arts and music, right? So it's by example, first of all, by example, so the adults need to embrace art and music and creativity and beauty of all kinds, you know? Not just in jazz, but in everything, right? And then educate the kids, you know, bring them up to appreciate and see the beauty in those things as well, you know? So that's how family values get passed down. This is important, and you need to see how important this is. So you teach the kids that this is important, you do it by example, and then you do it by education. Yeah, that's true. That is so true. We can't just have the schools teach it. It has to come from the home, a mentor of some kind, you know, a big brother or big sister, somebody that the kids look up to say, look, this is important, you need to check this out, you need to dig this. And a lot of times, the way that musicians become musicians or artists become artists is that something they saw or heard sparked that desire in them. They were inspired by a great work, and that continues today. The kids coming up to that, they're no different, you know? They need to be inspired by something. So whether it be a great work of art, a piece of music, a dance, anything, you know, anything that will spark that creativity. Now, who inspired you? We're talking about mentors. I know you said earlier you saw your brother, but is there anybody else that might have inspired you in the music? Yeah, there's a lot of influence, but I think if I have to go back to the beginning, and this is what we're talking about with the mentors. Yes. I was playing in a little church orchestra. I was in the sixth grade at the time. And there was a trombone player who laid a tape on me, and he was in his 20s. And he says, here, check this cassette tape, and back then it was cassette tapes. And I put that on, and it was a Maynard Ferguson tape, right, but from the 60s, 1961 and 63. And I had never heard trumpet playing like that in my life, because he's just high note screaming player, it's super dynamic. And I'd never heard that. And it just, that captured my heart. You know, I heard that, I'm like, oh, wow. Is that what a trumpet can sound like? I wanna do that. And you're doing it. I wanna be like that. And you're doing it. Well, it sent me on a track for the rest of my life, and it made me improve and made me practice hard. I injured myself a lot in the process of trying to do what I heard. But it was a great learning experience, and that was the thing that drove me. And it was because somebody took the time to share music with me and inspire me. Nice, nice. Now, as you know, we have musicians that some make it and some don't in this industry, in the music industry. What is your advice that you could give a new or upcoming artist in this industry? Well, that's really tough, I mean, right? You know, I would love to be all positive and say you can do whatever you set your mind to do. And that's generally true. You know, it's, you can't put a cap or ceiling on desire and determination. If somebody wants something bad enough, ain't nobody's gonna tell them otherwise. And I'm certainly, I'm not gonna tell them otherwise. You know, so there's a lot to be said about the inner drive and desire and tenacity for that. Now, having said that, there's also the flip side of that, is that some people need, they have all ambition in the world, but they need a heavy dose of reality too, you know? If someone, you know, if they wanna be a painter or something, you know, but they're colorblind. That's a heavy obstacle. You have to figure out a lot of stuff to, you know, if you're tone deaf and you wanna become a musician, that's a giant obstacle, you know? Things like that. So you need to kind of work within what you're given, you know, and go from there. You have to weigh what you want in life, your ambition with the reality too, you know? And based on those two things, you make your decision. Nice, that's great, that's great advice. I sure hope so. That's great advice. Now I know you talked about the upcoming Blue Note project. Is there anything else that we can be looking for from the trumpet master? Well, we have, as you know, we have the big Nahoku Hanohano Awards coming up. You're nominated for two? Yes, I am, for Jazz Album of the Year and also for upcoming artists, promising artists. So yeah, I'm a little bit nervous about it. I'm trying not to think about it, but things are definitely ramping up towards it and I have a lot of supporters, a lot of friends who are rooting for me and they'll be there at the show and yeah, so we're just, we're hoping for the best. And, you know, I really hope that should I win one or both awards that it would just give more fuel to not just me but artists like me who wanna do similar things, you know, and pursue music and pursue their art and it'll definitely put the wind in my sails for the next project. Well, you know, I'm definitely gonna be rooting for you and our viewers are gonna be rooting for you and I'm gonna try and make it to the Nahokos. I was there last year, I'm gonna try this year to come but thank you so much for joining me on this show. This has been awesome. Next time we're gonna have like a little set up, we're gonna have like a little set up here, we're gonna have little drinks here. Oh, yeah, yeah, I was kind of waiting for that. Yeah, we're gonna have little drinks. We have to get the bartender, you know, to come on out. You know, can I have my Mai Tai, please? You know, next time we will do that but thank you again for coming and joining us on the show. Thank you, Gwen. Thank you everyone for tuning in to the Hawaii Smooth Jazz Connection. Tune in next week. Until then, aloha and God bless.