Honolulu is as home to as many hidden mysteries as it is to ones that are apparent on the surface. While the chain of volcanoes beneath the earth give a certain mystique to Hawaii, it’s the surf and the land that draws so many people to the Honolulu best hotels year after year. The list of special attractions in the area is vast and seemingly endless, and the best way to see it is with an open curiosity, because it constantly reveals more of itself. Interestingly, the more it reveals, the more it’s apparent that there is still so much more to it.

It’s as complex as any kind of music, where the rhythms get more layered as they develop, and this is no more evident than in jazz music. This is a unique contribution to world music from the US, where African rhythms merge with early local forms to create some of the most complex creations in the world of music. It’s characterized by its adaptability, and every place that plays it changes the form, and every accomplished musician working in it furthers the evolution. It is indeed in Hawaii, too. In the 1950s, there was a band called the Hawaiian Dixieland All Stars , a sextet headed by a guy named Danny Barcelona .

He passed away in 2007, from cancer, and left a pretty spectacular career behind. Toward the end of his life, he lived in California, but before that he played with the Bernie Halmann Group, and also taught drumming classes on the islands. However, in between, he was the “little Hawaiian boy” who played alongside the jazz master Louis Armstrong. He’s the high hat that one can hear on “Hello, Dolly!” along with a number of other popular favorites. It’s certainly in line with Armstrong’s ability to break barriers and ceilings, in order to get more visibility for people of color in the entertainment industry, and Barcelona was able to mark the possibility for Hawaiian representation in media for generations to come. He left the world with man gifts, and made it a better place.

Technorati Tags: