The question at the heart of the debate of Exotica vs. The Other is finally voiced. Thankfully it comes from someone who knows jazz, Hawaii, and exotica. Nate Chinen, an esteemed jazz critic, known for his writings for the New York Times, JazzTimes, and Village Voice asks, “was Exotica a species of Hawaiian music” and follows it with a thoughtful commentary at his blog, The Gig. Chinen, who was born and raised in Honolulu, is no stranger to exotica or its musicians—he studied drums with Harold Chang, gigged with many of the Islands’ finest jazzers, and wrote remembrances of Arthur Lyman when Lyman passed away.

Exotica was by definition a mongrel genre, hovering not only between “modern” and “native” but also between the West and the Orient, between honor and exploitation, between shrewdness and kitsch. Because it was an instrumental pop music during the era when jazz was pop, there’s quite a bit of overlap in terms of style and repertoire. Musicians like Denny came from a similar school of thought as George Shearing, though their arranging strategies actually fell more in line, at the end of the day, with Sun Ra.

Check out the whole article online here. Nate wasn’t able to catch any of the shows during our East Coast tour, so if you saw and liked us, please comment below his post to let him know!

Download Nate Chinen’s “Exotica: It Takes A Village” as a PDF

As a young and aspiring musician growing up in Honolulu, HI, I constantly sought out new inspiration and modes of instruction. My career as a double bassist had humble beginnings—starting by jamming with my dad as he took slack-key guitar lessons with Auntie Alice Namakelua. Although I eventually went on to study classical and jazz music in college at New England Conservatory (Boston, MA), my heart and musical intuition has never strayed far from Hawai`i.

Even as an 8 year-old, I was fascinated with Arthur Lymanʻs music

My grandfather Mun Charn Wong (known to his friends as “MC” and to me as kungkung—the Chinese phrase for ʻgrandfatherʻ) was a major influence in my development as a musician. One of my favorite sayings of his was, “You donʻt know where youʻre going unless you know where you came from.” It wasnʻt until I began WAITIKI INTERNATIONAL (and subsequently, The WAITIKI 7) that I really understood what he meant.

Kungkung MC often would treat my family and I to prime rib buffet dinners at Waialae Country Club, where he was a member. I remember to this day: the food was exquisite; the prime rib was so tender and succulent, the au jus was pretty unnecessary. I was pretty skinny back then, and at the time, I thought kungkungʻs intentions were to help me get some meat on my bones… (it certainly worked; Iʻm no longer as skinny now as I was then). I later learned that he wanted me to be inspired by his friend Arthur Lyman, a dear friend of his who performed whenever the Club held its prime rib buffet.

I donʻt remember when I first met Mr. Lyman, but by the time I was in high school and gigging as a double bassist, I knew him well enough to bring my bass down to the Club and sit in on a few tunes. I only knew a few tunes back then, but he was kind and played what I knew—”Satin Doll” was a favorite of mine at the time, and thereʻs something about the way he played the melody that Iʻll never forget (but canʻt easily describe).

His specialty at the Club was playing Hawaiian ballads. “Sea Breeze,” “He Aloha No Honolulu,” and “Yellow Bird” were done regularly. I didnʻt know much about the vibraphone back then, and had never seen anyone other than him play, and thus didnʻt realize how special his 4-mallet realization of those melodies was. What I do remember is the variety and subtlety of his bird calls; they really added to the music, and along with his 4-mallet stuff, I was easily transported out of the Waialae CC dining room and into a jungle all my own.

Unfortunately, I never saw Mr. Lyman perform with his exotica comrades, nor did I even know what exotica was at the time. It wasnʻt until college when I began learning about exotica, and shortly thereafter (while I was on the Mainland) Mr. Lyman passed away from throat cancer. I suppose this is one of those great examples of, “If only I knew then what Iʻm doing now,” because even with the richness and authenticity of work being carried out by The WAITIKI 7, there is still much to be done. The legacies of Mr. Lyman, Augie Colon (Lopakaʻs dad), Mr. Denny, and their colleagues leave us large shoes to fill indeed.

—Randy Wong

Describe how you perceive difference between WAITIKI’s live and recorded output, particularly in comparison to that of Martin Denny.

 One incredible difference, I think, between WAITIKI’s live performances and recordings is the type of improvisation we do within the arrangements. Improvisation on our albums is predominantly jazz-influenced (by which I mean a solo melodic instrument playing a spontaneously-composed melody, usually related to the arrangement’s chord progression): Tim’s Eric Dolphy-like sax solo on “Fuzzy Mammoth Breath” or the dueling ‘Doc’ Kupka-like baritone saxes on “Rendezvous in Okonkuluku”. In contrast, we place a much heavier emphasis and priority on dropping extended dance grooves into the arrangements when playing to live audiences. Rhythmic improvisation and groove-oriented spontaneity take priority, though melodic improvisation is still an important component. The practical reasons for this are easy to identify: our fans love to get down and dance, especially after a few Mai Tais; many of our peers’ bands that play tiki festivals make great music, but don’t specifically focus on making their songs danceable; the rarity of hearing a live dance band nowadays is increasing; the use of popular dance beats help make our music more accessible; and our professional WAITIKI Wahine Dancers can be included at any point in the show—“special” tunes notwithstanding.

 As far as I can tell from the few surviving live recordings (and from talking with performers of that era), Martin Denny’s band did not employ this approach when improvising at live shows. When improvisation was allowed as part of the arrangement, Denny’s musicians were under the employ of bebop, a style of jazz improvisation that was extremely hip (but is now, unfortunately, a cliché of that idiom). Denny would supplement his selection of original exotica tunes with pop favorites (like “A-mer-i-ca” from West Side Story), exotica translations of standard ballads (like “Ruby” or “Flamingo”), what I call ‘soundscapes’ or ‘exotica miniatures’—“Burma Train”, “Congo Train”, “Harbor City Lights”, or “Jungle River Boat”, and the super en vogue bossa nova which was just then being popularized by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto.

 Aside from adding to his band’s repertoire, I believe that Denny used pop favorites and bossa nova in live performances for the same general reasons that WAITIKI uses improvised dance grooves: to increase the accessibility of exotica music to a wider-ranging audience; and that audiences love to hear familiar music in new settings (which I believe is a innate human condition to appreciate choices of arrangement, orchestration, and instrumentation; regardless of musical training, active listening or analysis). 

 The dance grooves that WAITIKI uses deserve their own separate response, but I will describe a few of them (and cite an example of relevant tunes) briefly here. Each groove is definitively linked to, or descended from, an authentic musical tradition that influences Exotica. (Which I think adds validity to the ‘why’ of dance music in Exotica, as opposed to the juxtaposition of completely-unrelated sections inside an Exotica arrangement).

• Alo-hop (also known as ‘hip-hop alo-hop’) is a unique and original creation of WAITIKI. It is based on the Hawaiian ‘ipu and pu’ili’ili rhythms used in hula kahiko (traditional hula). When played with a drum kit, the bass drum and rim shot (or temple block) play the ‘ipu rhythms. Multi-rod sticks (commonly known as “rutes”) play the pu’ili’ili rhythms. A double-time cha-cha-cha feel played by hi-hat or guiro is often added, and a hip-hop styled bass line is played by the bassist. As the groove progresses, the bass drum may become more syncopated, ala popular hip-hop beats. The alo-hop beat was developed by Abe Lagrimas and Randy Wong and is featured on the recording of “Cave of Uldo”, but is used throughout WAITIKI’s literature and was originally intended for Wong’s composition “Plamingo Flagoda.”
• Dew-fu is also an Abe Lagrimas Jr. creation, and is found in “Dew Drop Inn, If You Please, My Humming Flower”. Its purpose is to mimic the intense fighting scenes of kung-fu movies and the discord between the desynchronicity of said fighting scenes with audio tracks.  The Dew-fu beat is propelled by active rhythms on the floor tom, which acts as the drum kit’s equivalent of the Chinese war gu drum that was carried into battle on horseback by Chinese military. The Dew-fu has a distinct back beat played on the snare drum, and frequently inspires dancers to start ‘popping’. The thought of hordes of Chinese troops engaging in choreography by Electric Boogaloo while WAITIKI plays a Dew-fu on an elevated, center stage is almost too real.
• Reggae-tiki-ton made its world debut when WAITIKI played the Mai Kai Main Stage at the 2005 Hukilau festival. It is based on its namesake (reggaeton), a popular dance feel from Panama and Puerto Rico. A Reggae-tiki-ton beat differs from a standard reggaeton in that it has the addition of guiro, exotic bird calls, and ass’s jaw. There has not yet been a recording of Reggae-tiki-ton, though it is commonly featured when WAITIKI plays Les Baxter’s tune “Tiki”.  
• WAITIKI’s A Minor Tribal beat is based on the fast, driving drum grooves traditionally found behind the Tahitian ʻōteʻa dance. A Minor Tribal is named for the section of “Dew Drop Inn” that it first occurred in. On the drum kit, temple blocks, rim clicks, shell hits, and rim shots are used to mimic Tahitian to’ere’ere wooden log drums. The bassist can improvise a simple exotica bass line, though the bass line to Arthur Lyman’s arrangement of “Taboo” is typically used. Antiphonal chanting, monkey howls, and guttural sounds often accompany the A Minor Tribal beat.