Jake Shimabukuro Performs at the Jorgensen in Storrs on Nov. 29

There's a Jake Shimabukuro of any instrument. You could say Jimi Hendrix was the Jake Shimabukuro of the electric guitar, or that Bonzo was Led Zep's resident Shimabukuro behind the skins. You wouldn't be way off the mark to suggest Winston Churchill was the Jake Shimabukuro of international diplomacy. FDR Shimabukuro-d the hell out of the Great Depression. Alas, there's only one JS of the ubiquitous ukelele, that diminutive stringed device usually heard strangled to near-death up by the register of Guitar Center. He does things you wouldn't believe. (Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the ukelele? C'mon, now.) Head to Storrs on Nov. 29, and hear a uke transformed into a symphony orchestra.

By Michael Hamad

November 26, 2012