IZ and I pt 13....... In Dis Life
Posted on March 5, 2010 with 2 comments
By mid 1995 Israel was beginning to have greater difficulty with his health. It seemed as though he was canceling appearances more often than he had during the previous year. We continued to work, but I could see that Israel was having difficulty.
We all cared deeply for Israel and were pulling for his health to improve, but it was a struggle. It may sound strange, but not only was Israel my friend, I worked for him. When he could not work, the band could not work. I was able to make up for some of the lost work by doing sessions and teaching drums. I worked with my friend, Del Beazley, on his gigs. I also worked with Teresa Bright, Brother Noland and Glenn Medeiros. But still, I could see that I was going to have to make some difficult decisions as far as work was concerned.
Recording in Hawaii started to lean heavily toward the "Jawaiian" sound. As far as I know, Brother Noland may have coined that term. It's a mix of Hawaiian music and Reggae. In ‘95 it seemed as though every session call I got was to do a Jawaiian thing. I didn't really like it. I remember actually saying to myself during a session, "someone should write a song called ‘Please Not Another Jawaiian Tune’”.
I should mention that I did the percussion tracks on Bruddah Waltah's CD, ‘Hawaiian Reggae’, years before. It was a good project and it took off as far as sales and awards went. Brother Noland had his thing going on from way back in the eighties. These guys had their own thing going on, but there were a lot of guys piling on that did not have the talent or sound to pull it off.
Hawaiian Style Band released ‘Vanishing Treasures’. They had some of that sound too, but the arrangements and musicianship are outstanding. I was fortunate to play percussion on that CD as well as John Cruz’ CD, ‘Acoustic Soul’ with its reggae tinged Shine On. I'm not bashing the music, but lots of groups were doing the Jawaiian thing and I needed to explore other avenues.
Up to that point, the pursuit of music was at the very center of my existence-to the point where it was actually unhealthy. I needed to refocus attention on my family, and do some serious re-prioritizing.
I spoke to Israel and told him that I was seriously considering leaving the Island, but that I would be happy to fly out to any gigs he needed me for. He understood, and my last gig with Israel before moving to California was November 17th on Maui.
I did fly back to Hawaii to do more gigs with Israel, and in October of’ 96 we played at the Marin Civic Center in the Bay area of California. It was a huge sellout crowd, and Israel signed autographs for hours following the show. I flew back to Hawaii to record on the ‘In Dis Life’ CD. It was only Gaylord and I in the studio. Israel was not well, and the session was booked late at night. I recorded a few tracks, and then came the title track. It was very moving. When Gaylord and I were listening to the playback we both knew that Israel was saying goodbye.
My last gig with Israel was at the Waikiki Shell in March of ’97.
Sadly Israel passed away in June of that same year.
We all cared deeply for Israel and were pulling for his health to improve, but it was a struggle. It may sound strange, but not only was Israel my friend, I worked for him. When he could not work, the band could not work. I was able to make up for some of the lost work by doing sessions and teaching drums. I worked with my friend, Del Beazley, on his gigs. I also worked with Teresa Bright, Brother Noland and Glenn Medeiros. But still, I could see that I was going to have to make some difficult decisions as far as work was concerned.
Recording in Hawaii started to lean heavily toward the "Jawaiian" sound. As far as I know, Brother Noland may have coined that term. It's a mix of Hawaiian music and Reggae. In ‘95 it seemed as though every session call I got was to do a Jawaiian thing. I didn't really like it. I remember actually saying to myself during a session, "someone should write a song called ‘Please Not Another Jawaiian Tune’”.
I should mention that I did the percussion tracks on Bruddah Waltah's CD, ‘Hawaiian Reggae’, years before. It was a good project and it took off as far as sales and awards went. Brother Noland had his thing going on from way back in the eighties. These guys had their own thing going on, but there were a lot of guys piling on that did not have the talent or sound to pull it off.
Hawaiian Style Band released ‘Vanishing Treasures’. They had some of that sound too, but the arrangements and musicianship are outstanding. I was fortunate to play percussion on that CD as well as John Cruz’ CD, ‘Acoustic Soul’ with its reggae tinged Shine On. I'm not bashing the music, but lots of groups were doing the Jawaiian thing and I needed to explore other avenues.
Up to that point, the pursuit of music was at the very center of my existence-to the point where it was actually unhealthy. I needed to refocus attention on my family, and do some serious re-prioritizing.
I spoke to Israel and told him that I was seriously considering leaving the Island, but that I would be happy to fly out to any gigs he needed me for. He understood, and my last gig with Israel before moving to California was November 17th on Maui.
I did fly back to Hawaii to do more gigs with Israel, and in October of’ 96 we played at the Marin Civic Center in the Bay area of California. It was a huge sellout crowd, and Israel signed autographs for hours following the show. I flew back to Hawaii to record on the ‘In Dis Life’ CD. It was only Gaylord and I in the studio. Israel was not well, and the session was booked late at night. I recorded a few tracks, and then came the title track. It was very moving. When Gaylord and I were listening to the playback we both knew that Israel was saying goodbye.
My last gig with Israel was at the Waikiki Shell in March of ’97.
Sadly Israel passed away in June of that same year.