Sol Hoopii In Hollywood CD

In 2007 the U.K.'s Grass Skirt label (and its U.S. counterpart Beer Records) accomplished a feat of historic proportions by reissuing all of Hawaiian guitarist Sol Hoopii's pre-Columbia recordings, (including three alternate takes) which were waxed in Hollywood, CA in 1925. These rare relics originally appeared on the Sunset, Silver Screen and Hollywood labels, under the headings of "the Waikiki Hawaiian Trio," "the Hollywood Trio," "the Hawaiian Syncopaters," and Sol Hoopii & His Novelty Quartette. The few participants to have been positively or hypothetically identified are guitarist Lani McIntire and ukulele handler Glenwood Leslie. The individuals who operated the banjo, clarinet, and alto saxophone remain anonymous. This marks the first time that these precious recordings have found their way to the public at large via the CD format. There exists here a delicate balance between stylish instrumentals and tidy vocals, between traditional Hawaiian material and hot Tin Pan Alley pop tunes like "My Best Girl," "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" and "Yes Sir, That's My Baby." Textures range from the zippy "Hilo March" to the gently reflective "All Alone," and from a stimulating take on James P. Johnson's "Charleston" to an unusually calm treatment of George Gershwin's "Oh Lady Be Good." "Come On Nancy" bears an uncanny resemblance to "Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula," a Hawaiian novelty tune published in 1916 that later became a mainstay in the standard Dixieland repertoire. This magnificent compilation also includes performances by everyone else who is known to have made Hawaiian-styled recordings for Hollywood and Sunset records. Those artists are: Coppock's Hawaiians (tracks 20-21), Charles Frederick's Hawaiians (tracks 22-24) and Charles Diamond (tracks 25 and 26). Diamond's rendition of the "Sleep" waltz and especially his dazzling adaptation of John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" clearly prefigure what finger style guitarist Guy Van Duser would accomplish as a Rounder recording artist during the '70s. ~ arwulf arwulf

Sol Hoopii is widely recognised as the greatest Hawaiian steel guitarist of any era. In 1925 he recorded his first 78s for the Hollywood Record Company. These highly influential performances forever changed the face of Hawaiian steel guitar and they are

Liner Note Author: Allan Dodge.The Wire (p.68) - "These historic but fun recordings feature Sol Hoopii along with Glenwood Leslie and Lani McIntire as The Hawaiian Trio, furiously improvising on contemporary jazz and blues hits..."