NASHUA – One of the world’s greatest ukulele player, Jake Shimabukuro, opened his concert at the Nashua Center for Arts last Saturday with a sensitive melody reminiscent of a lullaby. Jake plays his ukulele with such delicacy and emotion; he swayed his whole body in time with the music, sometimes he grinned effusively as he drew near to a specially beautiful moment in a song, and he hopped from foot to foot in frenetic moments. It’s a lovely thing to witness. 

When Jake addressed the audience for the first time, he was immensely warm. He gave the feeling that one was invited not to admire him for his creative genius, but to hear music the way he does. After playing a couple of songs by himself, Jake was joined by bass player Jackson Waldhoff, who attended the same high school as Jake and used to be his merchandise seller. Jackson provided excellent accompaniment to Jake’s playing, and despite being a significantly younger musician, Jake treated him with immense respect and gave him opportunities to solo. 

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Jake was a shy kid growing up. The first time he performed in front of an audience was in his freshman year of high school at a welcome-back assembly. His class had picked him to represent their grade with talent. Jake described how the audience got very quiet as he began playing and then roared with cheers when he finished. “It was so incredible. I had never felt anything like that before. That was when I realized I liked being on stage and playing,” said Jake. 

What’s special about Jake’s performance is that he manages to extract from the ukulele what many fail to do with a guitar, despite guitars having a broader octave range. He’s known for his intricate and expansive covers of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which elicited overwhelming applause from the audience during his performance. 

Before he played a song, Jake would take a moment to explain the creative inspiration behind the piece, from his favorite jazz musicians to 1980s movies to something more technical, like pagers from the early 2000s. In “143”, Jake built the pager code for “I love you” into the melody itself using the suspended fourth and the major third chord. 

Jake’s engagement with the crowd is partly what separates him from other excellent musicians. His effusive performance joined with his astounding musical talent created an unforgettable concert–truly, it is hard to forget the speed and acuity of his ukulele playing. At times his fingers were moving so quickly they were completely a blur. 

When the concert ended, Jake said a few words of thanks and delivered a special message to the children in his audience. “Whether you’re an aspiring ukulele player, or want to be an artist, or be a marine biologist, or something else, don’t do drugs. Jackson and I have been clean all our lives, and we don’t need it,” he said. 

It was refreshing to hear a successful artist combat the false narrative that creative people need substances to achieve their goals, and though the “say no to drugs” message can often sound trite and diluted, Jake hopes that it might positively affect at least one child listening to him in the audience. Jake’s concern even for the children in his audience is consistent with all 

reports of his character. “He cares more about us than he does himself,” said Bhett Lind, Jake and Jackson’s tour manager. 

Jake’s tour now takes him back home to Hawaii for multiple dates before he finishes the tour on the east coast (nearest being Stowe, VT) and CA.