John King began learning the Hawaiian ukulele at the age of six, while living on the island of Oahu, by secretly imitating his mother’s playing technique and studying the lesson materials provided by a kumu, or teacher, who was an aged Hawaiian woman. An accomplished player, his mother had won several talent contests at Waikiki and as a result had been presented with beautiful koa wood ukuleles made by the prestigious firm of Kamaka & Sons. As a young man King studied classical guitar, eventually spending several years under the tutelage of the great Spanish virtuoso Pepe Romero and his father, Celedonio. It was Pepe who recognized the unique talent of his pupil and encouraged him to further develop and refine the technique and repertoire of the ukulele. Believing the ukulele could be played as a serious concert instrument, John King commissioned Italian luthier Gioachino Giussani to craft a number of fine ukuleles for that purpose, culminating in the release of his debut recording “Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita No. 3,” for unaccompanied ukulele.

Recognizing that the ukulele is not commonly regarded as an instrument with the capacity for expressing great music, “Soundboard” editor and historian Richard Long kindly offers the following:

“The only way that Goethe could prove that the German language was a worthy vehicle for great literature was to write great literature in that language. In much the same way, musical pioneers have established the worth of underestimated musical instruments simply by playing good music upon them, and doing it well. Segovia did this for the guitar in the early years of the last century. Now John King, in his Bach performances, is doing the same for the ukulele. An accomplished classical guitarist, King has researched the history of the guitar and mastered the performing techniques, which were used on its smaller ukulele-like ancestors. To ancient traditions such as the campanela, he has added the sophistication of modern classical guitar technique. Nor is he performing on some plastic toy. King has collaborated with world-class luthiers in both Europe and America, creating custom ukuleles made of the finest sound woods, such as select European spruce and Brazilian rosewood—instruments which rival the harp in the bell-like brilliance and purity of their tone. The result is a sonorous, polyphonic instrument of surprising versatility. Most importantly, John King is not only a dazzling virtuoso on the ukulele, he is a polished musician whose readings of Bach would be welcome on any melody instrument.”