Improvisation is at the heart of keyboardist, composer, arranger, band leader, audio engineer and producer Kit Ebersbach’s new free jazz album, “Ala Pōʻai,” from Lō'ihi Records, which launched with a vinyl release on Sept. 25.
The album features Abe Lagrimas Jr. on drums, Mark Tanouye on bass, Gustavo DʻAmico on saxophone, with vocals by Maia Shizue and spoken word from Deborah Harada. The entire album came together in two days of recording.
"We did a couple of takes of each,” Ebersbach told Aloha State Daily.
The album’s name, “Ala Pōʻai,” refers to a circular road. Many of the songs are named after places, such as “Short Cut (Cliff Street),” which references his first home in Haledon, New Jersey.
One of the tracks on “Ala Pōʻai” is titled “Māmane (Puʻu ʻŌʻō Trail),” named after his favorite trail on Hawaiʻi Island.
“It’s unlike any other trail,” Ebersbach said, adding that it crosses lava fields and kīpuka, or areas of ancient, old growth rainforest that were spared from destruction.
“And the birds are so sweet and everything."
Ebersbach, Shizue and DʻAmico will share music from “Ala Pōʻai” and talk story at “Soundings: A Listening Party,” starting at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 8 at the ʻAwa Hou Kava Lounge. The event is presented by Lō'ihi Records and the Community Programs department of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Outreach College.
Michelle Huynh, assistant faculty specialist for the UH Mānoa Outreach College, is looking forward to offering this free event to the public.
“It's also exciting to partner with Lōʻihi Records and to have this event at ʻAwa Hou! Kava Lounge, a community-engaged venue easily accessible to UHM students,” she said in an email to ASD. “In addition, we'll have an amazing opportunity to talk story with artists spanning several generations, so this listening party kicks off what we hope will become an ongoing series where anyone in the community will feel welcome to gather and share in listening together.”
The idea for “Ala Pōʻai” came up after Ebersbach played piano with “Hawaiʻi to the World” talent competition winner T.J. Keanu Tario, who will soon release a new album, also produced by Lō'ihi Records.
Ebersbach has been making music in Hawaiʻi for almost 60 years. He founded Don Tiki, a neo-exotica band, which featured the legendary Martin Denny in its first album, “The Forbidden Sounds of Don Tiki.” He is also the creator of “Aloha: Āina,” a 12-volume collection of field recordings capturing the sounds of nature across Hawaiʻi, including birds and frogs. These recordings, which combine environmental noise and nature sounds with music, started as part of Hawaiian Airlines in-flight programming, which Ebersbach has curated for more than a decade.
Ebersbach said he started making up songs as a kid. While studying linguistics at Yale University, he began to take music more seriously.
“But what was really great was somebody had gifted Steinway [& Sons] pianos to all the residential colleges,” he said.
Eventually, the chairman of the linguistics program went on to start a department at the University of Hawaiʻi, and Ebersbach followed, seeking a higher degree.
He moved to Hawaiʻi in the late 1960s, playing piano to make ends meet. Ebersbach said his National Defense Foreign Language grant was not enough to cover his living expenses, so he turned to music.
During a recent walk through of his Pacific Music Productions recording studio in Chinatown — where “Ala Pōʻai” was created — a wall of CDs appeared behind his desk.
He explained it is "just so that I can keep track of what I use and I don't use the same things over and over again, I put the ones that I use over here."
He also previously performed alongside his wife, Gerry, in the Squids, a punk and new wave band. And for more than two decades, Ebersbach played and recorded music with the late Teresa Bright, who died in 2024. Now, he occasionally accompanies the singers Starr Kalahiki, Rachel Gonzales, Angeli Cabrera and Sandy Tsukiyama.
Buy the vinyl of Ebersbach’s album for $30 at Lōʻihi Records, or find it at Bandcamp. Albums can also be purchased at Aloha Got Soul's brick-and-mortar shop at 2017 S. King St. in Honolulu.
Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
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