Ken Alford's Dixie Cats at Waikiki

 

Hawaiian War Chant

The Dixie Cats at Waikiki
Producer: Ken Alford
Engineer: Bob Lang
Color Photograph of Royal Hawaiian Hotel:  Werner Stoy (Courtesy of Sheraton Hotels of Hawaii)
Liberty Records LRP 3136
1959

Back cover photo credit: Camera Hawaii, Honolulu

Ken Alford's Dixie-Cats (back cover photo) on the Bandstand of the Banyan Court, Moana Hotel. Left to right: Tom Carter - Piano; "Red" Souza - Clarinet; Ken Alford - Trumpet; Bill Winston - Drums; Al Anderson - Trombone; Ed Frank - Bass; "Banjo Bill" Coker - Banjo and Guitar.

From the back cover: If you were to ponder all the spots in the world least likely to find two-beat in the real tradition, probably the Banyan Court of the Moana Hotel in the center of the golden crescent of Waikiki Beach would be somewhere near the top of your list. For this is the home of the venerable "Hawaii Calls" radio show... the fabled spa of the sun-tan set... the gentle shore bathed by the rolling sea and caressed by the soft trade winds.Yet what is so strange about finding Dixieland music anywhere? The Swedes are wild about it; so are the Poles, the Germans, the Indo-Chinese and just about everyone else. Even the MVD has never been able to convince the Russians that Dixie music is decadent and demoralizing.

So there's really nothing strange about Dixie on the Beach at Waikiki. Its absence would be stranger. For Hawaiian music follows somewhat the traditions and structure of the Dixieland theme. Its tempo is heavily accented two-beat. Of course, the lead is generally played by a steel guitar instead of a horn, but it is accorded the wide range and latitude of the trumpet or cornet chorus.

Ken Alford's Dixie-Cats, headlined in this album, were rounded up by a popular local television cowboy who calls himself "Sheriff Ken." The group had been playing various clubs and military establishments throughout Hawaii for a number of years when cornetist Alford got a call in June of 1957 from the famed Moana Hotel, now a part of the sprawling Sheraton chain.

The Moana wanted to woo the Sunday night tourist crowd in the Banyan Court with something "different." The Dixie-Cats were signed for a brief trial and have been there ever since.

This album is a sample of the 'Cats in performance. Departing from a characteristic program of standard and traditional Dixieland tunes, they have dug into the library of some of the better Hawaiian music, giv- ing it their own treatment. Several selections were written by R. Alex Anderson, Hawaii's foremost living composer, and the father of Dixie-Cat Al Anderson, trombonist.

From the well-known "Hawaiian War Chant" to the not-so-well-known (except in Hawaii) Maui Girl, Ken Alford's Dixie-Cats recreate the exciting melodic nuances and driving rhythm that Dixieland aficionados recognize from pole to pole.

So here are the Dixie-Cats, playing in the Banyan Court of Sheraton's Moana-Surfrider Hotel, hard by the incredibly blue waters of the vast Pacific. The aver- age temperature of the air at Waikiki is seventy-eight degrees; the water seventy-six. If it's cold where you are, and if you like Dixieland, come see us sometime. Make it soon.

Aloha nui loa, Bob Roberts

Hawaiian War Chant
Hula Blues
On The Beach At Waikiki
Little Brown Gal
My Little Grass Shack

Uheuhenne
Mele Kalikimaka
Malihini Mele
Maui Girl
The Cockeyed Mayor of Kaunakakai
My Hawaiian Song of Love
Hilo March