Keahi Conjugacion is known for jazz and blues, but like her famous siblings, Brother Noland and Tony C., the singer’s talent isn’t bound by genre.
Keahi Conjugacion is known for jazz and blues, but like her famous siblings, Brother Noland and Tony C., the singer’s talent isn’t bound by genre.
She appeared last year at Ka Hui Koa’s East Hawaii Jazz and Blues Festival and shared top billing with Kona’s Hawaiian swing band Kahulanui. Both acts will be back for the second edition, from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Nani Mau Gardens in Hilo. Backing Conjugacion will be the Eastside Jazz Collective — Jr. Volcano Choy on keyboards and trumpet, Adam Kay on guitar and bass, and Steve Bader on drums. She’ll also be joined by Brother Noland.
Conjugacion has become a semi-regular on the Big Island. She did a January concert with the Collective at the Imiloa Planetarium and appeared at last year’s Black and White Night in downtown Hilo. Her version of the Etta James classic “At Last” with Wendell Ing and Friends from that appearance can be seen on YouTube.
“I think I get a better response there than I do in Honolulu,” she said. “I think the local people there understand jazz. When I come to the Big Island, the people come out and they come out to listen. They appreciate jazz and they express their appreciation for it. And the people are really nice there, so much so I want to move there.”
The event has a decidedly Seattle flavor. The lineup includes pianist Deems Tsutakawa, who played the Palace Theater with a band that included Bader, plus David Yamasaki, a guitarist who played with Tsutakawa before moving to the Bay Area, where he teaches at the Stanford Jazz Workshop. Yamasaki has a heavyweight resume with credits including Tito Puente, Sheila E., the Pete Escovedo Orchestra, and Lydia Pense and Cold Blood.
As it turns out, before Conjugacion released her 2004 album “Jazz Hawaiian Style,” which garnered both Grammy and Hoku nominations, she honed her craft as a jazz singer in the eight years she spent in Seattle, learning from and working with the legendary Billy Wallace as well as Tsutakawa.
“I decided after doing Top-40 on the convention circuit and party circuit that I wanted to become more of an artist,” she said. “Back in Honolulu at that time, in the early ’90s, we didn’t have that many people in Honolulu doing jazz. … So I decided to move to Seattle because I visited my brother, Noland, when he was living there and I loved it, and I really connected with the jazz musicians there. I started studying blues and jazz and I was really lucky to connect with some of the jazz greats there.”
The event is a benefit for Ka Hui Koa Hawaii Island Veterans and proceeds will benefit the organization’s capital improvement fund. For more information, visit hawaiiislandveterans.org.
Tax-deductible tickets are $60 in advance, $75 at the door, and include pupu from Coconut Grill, plus beer and wine. Advance tickets are available at CD Wizard, Basically Books, Hawaii Printing, Hawaii Museum of Contemporary Art and Kamuela Liquor.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.