LIVIN' IT LIVE
Bill's new album
Get yours now!

Ukulele Legends Concert
Bill performs with Eddie Kamae and the Sons of Hawaii and Herb "Ohta-san" Ohta!
Saturday, February 10
The Waterfront at Aloha Tower Marketplace
Honolulu, HI
Presented by the Ukulele Foundation of Hawaii, all proceeds go to benefit the Foundation.
Tickets $65 & $30.
Click HERE for ticket info.

Ukulele Picnic In Hawai'i 2010
Saturday, February 13
Kaka'ako Waterfront Park and Amphitheater
Honolulu, HI
Free Admission!
Click HERE for more info.

San Francisco Chronicle

Andrew Gilbert
Thursday, April 2, 2009

At 101, ukulele master Bill Tapia is the oldest working musician in the United States, if not the world. Born in Hawaii to Portuguese parents, he can recall playing "Stars and Stripes Forever" for American doughboys heading off to World War I in 1918. His longevity is amazing, but what's most impressive is the way he distills nearly a century of musical experience on the bandstand, delivering graceful, harmonically sophisticated renditions of jazz standards and Hawaiian swing on the diminutive four-string uke.
(Full story here...)

Billboard Magazine

More about the new album

1. Undecided
2. I Want To Learn To Speak Hawaiian
3. Secret Love
4. Nearness of You
5. E Ku'u Morning Dew featuring Mihana
6. Honeysuckle Rose featuring Ledward Kaapana
7. Satin Doll featuring Lyle Ritz
8. All of Me featuring Mihana
9. The Sheik of Araby featuring Ledward Ka'apana
10. The Lady Is A Tramp featuring Lyle Ritz
11. In a Mellow Tone
12. Stars And Stripes Forever

More about Bill

At 101 years young, there's no doubt that Bill Tapia is in a class by himself. Not only is he still playing, touring and recording, his chops, wit and showmanship remain top notch. Case in point: that big crowd reaction you hear about 1:45 into "Undecided" on his new CD? That's Bill playing his ukulele behind his head, a trick he first learned about 50 years before Jimi Hendrix.

Having purchased his first instrument at age 7 from one of Hawai'i's original ukulele makers, Tapia represents the last living link to the earliest days of Hawaiian music as we know it today. Tapia is the only musician on the planet who can say these words: "Here's a song I performed in World War I…" when he’s introducing the unique version of "Stars and Stripes Forever" he came up with in 1918 at the age of 10.

Abandoning the uke for guitar,Tapia's youth was spent performing and jamming with the top names of the day, including Charlie Barnet, Billy Holiday, Fats Waller, Bing Crosby and many more. While in Hawai'i he led his own big band and also worked with Island luminaries like Sol Hoopi'i and Johnny Noble. After World War II, Tapia and family settled in the San Francisco area, where he taught guitar in obscurity for decades.

Bill picked up the uke again a few years ago. Since then, he's hit the Top 10 on the jazz chart twice while touring the West Coast between frequent trips to perform in the Aloha State, where he now has a second home. His longevity and legend will only grow with his new live release, "Livin' It Live", available now. Recorded at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall and elsewhere on a 2005 tour, Tapia is joined by Bay Area jazz aces Ruth Davies and Akira Tana, plus Hawaiian songstress Mihana and special guests Ledward Ka'apana and Lyle Ritz.

John Berger of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin summed it up last year when he wrote: "For him, being 100 is maybe the new 50, in terms of playing music and entertaining a crowd."

****THE LATEST NEWS****

New $19.95 Price:
To You Sweetheart, Aloha -- the "heartwarming" documentary about Bill! (see below for details)

Bill's album Livin' It Live debuted at #11 on the CMJ Jazz chart and is receiving airplay on over 100 stations nationwide!

TO YOU SWEETHEART, ALOHA Award-winning PBS documentary about Bill Tapia produced by Walking Iris Films DVD @ $19.95 Photo by Aaron Archambault "Heart-warming..." Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times “4 Stars…A very moving and personal story about a remarkable man” John Berger, Honolulu Star-Bulletin "A gem!" LA Weekly

Bill's Other Albums Download Bill's songs from iTunes Music Store. (To download iTunes application for Windows or Mac, click here)

Click here for a special autographed set of Bill's CDs and Poster!

More Press

Old Dog's New Licks
(Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 2/22/08)

The Return of the Ukulele Man
(Los Angeles Magazine July 04)

A Vintage Sound
(Orange County Register, 4/23/04)

At 96, a Uke Legend Still Has Plenty of Pluck
(Los Angeles Times, 4/1/04)

'Ukulele Man
(Ka Wai Ola o OHA newspaper Dec, '03)

Picking Up Wood Vibrations
(Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 11/15/02)

On the Scene
(Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 11/18/02)

Royal Reflections
(Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 02/04/02)