Sunday Night Jazz Showcase
Program #63 (March 22 at 8:00PM)
The contemporary jazz fusion group known as Kilauea is led by Honolulu (Hawaii) born Daniel Ho, spending his childhood immersed in the study of music. He studied organ, ukulele, classical guitar, piano, electric guitar, bass, and drums.
He played in his high-school bands while running a series of garage bands and was an accomplished enough pianist to place in the semifinals of the Young Keyboard Artists International Piano Competition at the University of Michigan.
He moved to Los Angeles after graduation and attended the Grove School of Music, where he studied composing, arranging, and film scoring. His father became ill during his time in college, which compelled him to return to Hawaii, where he attended the University of Hawaii's music program on scholarship.
A job in publishing persuaded him to return to California, where he still resides. After moving there, Ho found himself gradually transitioning from playing the keyboards to the slack key guitar. His playing style was also in transition.
Over the course of his career, Ho has contributed to more than 30 records, ranging from pop styles to smooth jazz and contemporary Hawaiian music. He was the leader of the commercially successful smooth jazz group Kilauea, recording six albums with them that all broke the Billboard Top Ten.