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The Waitiki 7
The WAITIKI 7 is a modern Exotica supergroup that blends jazz with global influences to create an immersive sound. Rooted in Hawaiʻi’s golden age of Waikiki, Exotica was pioneered by musicians like Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman, and The WAITIKI 7 continues that tradition while redefining the genre for today’s audiences.
Composed of conservatory-trained musicians, including GRAMMY winners and symphony performers, the band has spent 20 years preserving and advancing Exotica. Their accolades include JazzWeek chart-topping releases, Na Hoku Hanohano Award nominations, and features in NPR, JazzTimes, Downbeat, and Jazziz.
Founded in Boston by Hawaiʻi musicians Randy Wong and Abe Lagrimas Jr., The WAITIKI 7 emerged after the 1990s lounge revival, filling a void as one of the few professional ensembles dedicated to Exotica. Today, they continue to bring the genre’s lush instrumentation and evocative soundscapes to new generations worldwide.
Inspired by Les Baxter, Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, Gene Rains, Robert Drasnin, and others of the late 1950s-mid 1960s, WAITIKI aims to recreate the sound, ambience, and fun of the classic Tiki aesthetic.
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The Waitiki 7: Waitiki In Hi-Fi
by Chris May
The Waitiki 7Waitiki In Hi-FiPass Out Records2011 It must have been hell being a young adult in the US in the 1950s. Imagine it: the government was headed by a five-star general; nuclear Armageddon was a constant threat; race relations were bitter going on murderous; demands for workers' rights were seen as communistic subversion; working women were viewed as abnormal; gays were agents of the devil; you could spend years in ...
Continue ReadingThe Waitiki 7: New Sounds Of Exotica
by Chris May
The Waitiki 7New Sounds Of ExoticaPass Out Records2010 As kitsch as a Jeff Koons Valentine card, and as camp as a Liberace Christmas TV special, exotica first flourished, primarily in the US, between the mid-1950s and the early 1960s. As the Pacific returned to peace after the second world war, and as the US economy entered a newly prosperous, consumer-driven age, increasing numbers of Americans began taking long haul vacations, first ...
Continue ReadingThe Waitiki 7, in Hi-Fi Vinyl (Pass Out Records) - 02/08/2011
Source:
rock paper scissors, inc.
From egg-shaped plush chairs or towering cabinets carved like totem poles, hi-fi sound once poured over the conversation pits and cocktail hours of yesteryear. The warm tone and stop-and-listen vibe continue with exotica innovators WAITIKI 7's latest venture, WAITIKI in Hi-Fi (Pass Out Records; April 12, 2011). The vinyl-only release of new material finally gives listeners—die-hard exotica connoisseurs, record collectors, or the merely tiki-curious—a chance to sit back and savor the group's fresh look at a midcentury music in clear, ...
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Waitiki 7 Releasing New Album "New Sounds of Exotica"
Source:
rock paper scissors, inc.
New Sounds of Exotica: Tiki Classics Get Shaken, Stirred, and Perfected by the Masterful WAITIKI 7
Take one part diverse players with intense focus and killer chops, and one part neglected mid-century multi-ethnic hybrid music with origins on America's harmonious island paradise. Add a dash of Technicolor tropical dreamscape, a twist of wild birdcalls, and stir soulfully.
WAITIKI 7 serves up this polychrome cocktail, taking a new serious spin on exotica, the musical genre that leaped from Hawaii's fashionable bars ...
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The Waitiki 7 Announce Fall Tour to Support Adventures in Paradise -- Sept. 20-24
Source:
Fully Altered Media
Release Date: August 18, 2009 (In Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of Hawai'i's Statehood)
Adventures in Paradise, the debut album by The WAITIKI 7, is a contemporary re-imagining of the classic Exotica sound introduced on the islands in 1959 the year of Hawaii's statehood. Martin Denny, a transplanted mainland pianist who tapped into the tropical zeitgeist, stirred together several disparate elements, and created a whole new sound in the process."Exotica floats in the zone between soundscapes and an early world ...
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"This is the band to beat" -- Nate Chinen, THE GIG
"A smart and swank affair" -- Cory Frye, Under The Radar
"The rightful heirs of Denny, Lyman, and Esquivel" -- J. Simpson, Weirdomusic.com
"Looking backward while moving forward" -- Doug Simpson, Audiophile Audition
"Harks back a half-century to the golden age of exotica" -- Jon Young, Mother Jones
"Polished fusion of jazz, pop, tropical folk" -- Nippertown
"This week's best album" -- Alarm Magazine
"Needs to be on your must-have list" -- Westchester Herald "Intoxicating" -- Pete Hund, GoodNewMusic.com
Primary Instrument
Band / ensemble / orchestra
Location
Boston
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Advanced only
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The Waitiki 7
Location: Boston
Instrument: Band / ensemble / orchestra
