Uke Tales: Pixie Dust, 1,000 Beansprouts, Defining Jazz, Your Favorite Ukulele

This edition of Uke Tales features your responses to our queries about favorite ukes and jazz music, plus some heartwarming personal stories. Thanks for writing in!

Like Tinkerbell

The ukulele holds a special place in my heart, and one of my favorite quotes captures this sentiment perfectly: “Ukulele gives me wings.”

It all started back in 2012 when I was teaching kindergarten in a public school. During an assembly in the gym, a group of ukulele-playing retirees captured my attention and ignited a spark in me. Shortly after, I purchased my first ukulele and showed up with it at my next guitar lesson. Little did I know, this decision would open doors to extraordinary experiences.

From running ukulele clubs in schools to participating in music festivals, competitions, and fundraisers, the ukulele has been my constant companion on an incredible journey. Currently I have the privilege of hosting a free community group, the Bell City Strummers, twice a month at our local library. With approximately 50 members ranging from ages ten to 82, our group embodies the spirit of community that the ukulele fosters.

One of the most memorable community building adventures with the ukulele was when my ukulele sidekick, Catherine, and I took 20 ukuleles to a small school in Baños, Ecuador, in March 2023. Witnessing how music, particularly the ukulele, transcends language barriers and fosters learning was truly amazing. The ukulele has not only given me wings but also a sense of purpose and joy. I feel like Tinkerbell spreading pixie dust everywhere I go with my ukulele.

—Genevieve Rochette, Brantford, Ontario, Canada

Serendipity Is a Baritone

I’m an old picker, and arthritis took the guitar away from me. But I had a wonderful, serendipitous experience when I picked up a baritone ukulele and was able to play it instantly because it shares the same notes as the top four strings of a guitar. I would like to just plant the seed for any of the old guitar pickers out there who have a fabulous Martin guitar in a case under their bed but they can’t play it anymore because of arthritis in their hands. Just being able to pick it up and chop chords, arpeggiate, and so on, the baritone has been a wonderful experience.

—Doc Chubinski, The Villages, Florida

No. 1,000

Aaron Keim, ukulele maker and founder of Beansprout Musical Instruments in Hood River, Oregon, sponsored an online ukulele festival on January 10 to celebrate the completion of his 1,000th handcrafted instrument. It was a great event with 15 popular ukulele performers participating and chiming in with their music and congratulations. We were fortunate to become the proud owners of his 1,000th instrument—an exquisite tenor ukulele made from curly myrtle and Port Orford cedar from the Pacific Northwest. We salute Aaron for his exceptional quality of craftsmanship and productivity.—Roger and Jennifer Brown, Wilsonville, Oregon

Favorite Ukes

Editor’s note: In the Winter 2025 issue, I asked about your favorite ukes. You responded in droves. Here are but a few of the responses.

My forever uke is a Kamaka tenor. My first uke was a Kamaka soprano my parents bought in Hawaii in the late ’40s. It is a bit battered but it still has a beautiful sound. I prefer the tenor size with a low G. The setup of my tenor is perfect for me. The strings are easy to fret and to my ears the sound is wonderful. Music just seems to flow when I play this uke. I never thought I would say it, but I don’t feel the need for another ukulele. —William Beckman, Maple Grove, Minnesota

I fell in love with my Martin OX in March 2019. It is made of composite bamboo but it has an incredible sound. I tried to get Elvis Presley’s ukulele, but I don’t know the identity of the current owner. —Chris Pagnoux, Bazas, France

My favorite uke is my cigar box ukulele that I made myself. I’m not a very crafty person, but a fellow musician gave me a cigar box from his wife’s craft projects, so I bought a kit and used the cigar box that was gifted me. It took a long time as I didn’t want to make a mistake and ruin the box. In the end, it came out perfect. The string height is spot on. Intonation is great. I love the color of the finish. It’s now my go-to ukulele. It might not seem like a true ukulele, but to me it fits just right. —Ronda Metler, John Day, Oregon

What Is Jazz?

Editor’s note: In the Spring 2026 issue, I asked what defined jazz for you. Again, my inbox was delightfully flooded with emails! Here are some of your responses.

Jazz, to me, is the harmonic and melodic wealth of Western music—joined with the freedom of the artist to reshape form, harmony, and time according to emotion in the moment. It is architecture that breathes. It is structure with a pulse.

I fell in love with jazz through the great masters—Gershwin, Cole Porter, Van Heusen, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass. What captivated me was not only their harmonic brilliance, but the astonishing range of feeling they could summon within a single melody. In jazz, joy and melancholy sit at the same table. Sophistication and playfulness share the same phrase.

The guitar has long been a natural home for jazz harmony, and I studied it deeply. But the ukulele offered me something more provocative: a beautiful constraint. How could I translate this vast harmonic language into a small instrument with a modest register?

Over the past five years, that question has become a daily practice—and a joyful obsession. I have arranged more than 300 standards from the Real Book repertoire, with the ambition of reaching 600. What excites me most is the art of intelligent simplicity, preserving voice-leading, harmonic color, and melodic clarity while working within the ukulele’s natural limits. The instrument does not allow excess; it asks for intention.

There is a common misconception that the ukulele cannot express “serious” jazz. I see the opposite. In its intimacy and transparency, the ukulele reveals harmony with disarming honesty. It does not try to overpower the music, it illuminates it. When treated with respect and imagination, the ukulele does not reduce jazz, it distills it.

Perhaps what moves me most is this: In no other musical community have I witnessed such genuine enthusiasm for learning, such positive energy, and such hunger for jazz, from young beginners to players well into their later years. There is something quietly remarkable happening where a growing community of curious, open-hearted musicians are discovering that this small instrument can carry profound harmonic language. It feels less like a niche and more like a quiet jazz ukulele movement in the making.

—Nikos “Ukulele Nick” Voutsinas, Athens, Greece

For me the Real Book that was gifted to me in the 1970s formed my early impression of what jazz was. That collection of tunes—raw chords and melodies—used by “jazz” musicians throughout the planet defined the genre for me. Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Houston Person, Charlie Parker, Ornette Coleman, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Herbie Mann played jazz. The performers at the Newport Jazz Festivals played jazz. Later on, I discovered Lyle Ritz and his style has further influenced my feel for jazz ukulele. —Rick Burke, Mystic, Connceticut