Adventures in Paradise

Pass Out Records released Adventures in Paradise on August 18, 2009 — the Waitiki 7’s studio debut as a full acoustic exotica ensemble. Hawaiʻi-born bassist Randy Wong and Abe Lagrimas Jr. had started Waitiki years earlier; this LP timed to the fiftieth anniversary of Hawaiʻi statehood and put the septet on jazz and college radio charts.

The charts borrow Denny/Lyman vocabulary — vibes, bird calls, Latin percussion, flute — with living players instead of sample pastiche. Lopaka Colon (also of Don Tiki lineage) contributes bird calls; the booklet printed drink recipes beside the track list. Reviews treated the band as a working heir to the Shell Bar sound rather than a novelty act.

Where Tikiyaki Orchestra often stacks studio overdubs, Waitiki sold live acoustic exotica as the point. Use it when the modern crate needs a Honolulu-rooted septet next to Don Tiki and the 1950s Liberty sides.