Scott A. Supak | Canyon Country, CA United States | 06/06/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Gabby Pahinui put slack key guitar on the map. While the art form began evolving in the 1830's with the Hawaiian cowboys, Gabby became synonymous with Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar. In 1974, Warner Brothers recorded the legendary guitarist and singer with his seven piece band. Gabby and his fellow performer Atta Issacs were later to make famous Ry Cooder's Chicken Skin Music. Ry Cooder sits in here. This warm and soft music melts guitars together, and the vocals tell the story of Hawaiian history in the words and tones."
Pahinui - Not just for Hawaii anymore!
Maria Hickling | 03/31/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I got turned on to Pahinui by Medeski,Martin, and Wood. (They cover one of his tunes on "Combustication"). I decided to check out one of his CDs on spring break in Waikiki. Me and my travel companions are still spinning the disk nonstop even back here in cold rainy Seattle! If you haven't heard him you MUST aquire this CD."
Classic Hawaiian
Andrew S. Rogers | Stamford, Connecticut | 12/14/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Few things can draw people into my office like when I put on some Hawaiian music CDs, and one of the best is this great collection from the master of slack-key guitar, Gabby Pahinui. Slack-key just *sounds* like Hawaii is supposed to sound, and while Iz or Keali'i Reichel sometimes fit my mood better, when you're looking for a traditional sound, Gabby is in many ways the place to begin and end. Very highly recommended."
Gabby Is Hawaii
Ian J. Dodge | Portland, Oregon | 08/05/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I was a very little child when my mother, who was born in Hawaii, introduced me to Pahinui's music and the beauty of his guitar playing. I had never been to the islands at that point, but everytime my mother played his music at our home in California, I could see Hawaii in it. The music became more powerful when I finally traveled with my family to the Hawaiian islands in the late 1970's. When I came home, listening to Gabby's music again had a much deeper impact, and I was only six or seven at the time! It speaks volumes of Pahinui and his band's talent if they could reach the soul of a young child. Pahinui cannot be topped."