WAIKIKI, HONOLULU, HAWAII-The venerable vocal jazz performer Jimmy Borges is being joined by his esteemed friends and fellow award-winning musicians Gabe Baltazar and Betty Loo Taylor at Outrigger Enterprises Groups' next Na Mele No Na Pua free concert on Sunday, October 26, from 4:00 to 5:30 pm, on stage at the Embassy Suites®-Waikiki Beach Walk® Grand Lanai.
Jimmy Borges is one of Hawaii's most iconic performers with a musical career that has spanned 50 years. He's performed in nightclubs, showrooms and concert halls all over the world, including San Francisco, Vancouver, Montreal, New York, Las Vegas, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro. Whether it's jazz, Broadway, well known classics or contemporary tunes - Borges does it all with style and finesse. A Frank Sinatra aficionado, Borges is the only singer ever allowed complete access to Sinatra's legendary musical arrangements. In addition to his singing career, Borges' early years consisted of roles in various popular TV series, such as "Hawaii Five-O," "Magnum PI," the "Rockford Files" and "Charlie's Angles."
Na Hoku Hanohano Award winner Gabriel "Gabe" Baltazar Jr. is recognized as one of the world's great alto saxophone players. He began his musical career as a featured soloist with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, with whom he recorded 18 albums. He also collaborated with other talented musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, Cannonball Adderly, Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars, James Moody and the Saxophone Stars, and the Oliver Nelson Orchestra, among others. His recorded version of "Stairway to the Stars" is considered by many critics to be the definitive interpretation of that jazz standard. Baltazar has performed with Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, Jerry Lewis, Don Ho, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Martin Denny. He also served as Royal Hawaiian Band deputy director for 17 years.
Betty Loo Taylor, notable pianist and jazz musician, became a piano prodigy at the tender age of three. In 1998, she performed in front of an enthusiastic audience at the Brewery Arts Center in Carson City, Nevada, which was recorded and became her only solo recording album to date. Betty Lou Taylor's life story was featured in a short film documentary entitled "They Call Her Lady Fingers," which won the Blockbuster Video Audience Award for Best Documentary in the 2003 Hawaii International Film Festival. In June of this year, she received a Na Hoku Hanohano Award for Jazz Album of the year for "For All We Know," a special collaboration with one of Hawaii's distinguished singers Joy Abbott.
Outrigger's Na Mele No Na Pua signature concert series is held bi-monthly on the final Sunday of the scheduled month. Each concert is held from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. on the Grand Lanai of the Embassy Suites-Waikiki Beach Walk hotel. Since its inception, some of Hawaii's most prominent and legendary entertains have taken the Na Mele No Na Pua stage, including Eddie Kamae, the late Aunty Genoa Keawe, Ledward Kaapana, Jerry Santos of Olomana and Willie K.
Concerts are free and open to the public while seating allows. Elevator access to the Grand Lanai is located on Lewers Street ground level. $6.00 valet parking for up to four hours is available to concert-goers at the Embassy Suites-Waikiki Beach Walk (201 Beachwalk) and the Wyndham Vacation Ownership-Waikiki Beach Walk (227 Lewers Street), with any same-day purchase from any Waikiki Beach Walk merchant.
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About Waikiki Beach Walk®
Outrigger Enterprises Group's Waikiki Beach Walk is the largest development project ever to be undertaken in Waikiki. The 8-acre area, bordered by Kalakaua Avenue, Lewers Street, Kalia Road, Beachwalk and Saratoga Road, has been completely rebuilt as a vibrant showcase and gathering place in the new Waikiki. With a total cost of $535 million, it features an outdoor entertainment plaza, an array of shops and restaurants and five new accommodation choices. With a design theme that celebrates Hawaii's voyaging and ocean heritage and an outdoor setting that takes advantage of the island's cooling trade winds and year-round excellent weather, Waikiki Beach Walk is the consummate expression of Hawaii today -- a place where people come to be enlivened with warm hospitality, a rich confluence of cultures, and nature's precious gifts from land and sea. For more information, visit www.waikikibeachwalk.com.
About Outrigger Enterprises Group
Outrigger Enterprises Group is one of the largest and fastest growing privately-held leisure lodging and hospitality companies in the Asia Pacific and Oceania regions and continues to expand its presence throughout the area. A family-owned company with more than 60 years of hospitality experience, Outrigger runs a highly-successful, multi-branded line of hotels, condominiums and vacation resort properties, including Outrigger® Hotels & Resorts, OHANA® Hotels & Resorts, Outrigger Condominium Collection®, Embassy Suites®, Best Western® and Wyndham Vacation Ownership®. Currently, Outrigger operates and/or has under development 47 properties with close to 12,000 rooms located in Hawaii, Australia, Guam, Fiji, Palau, Bali and Phuket, Thailand. Outrigger Enterprises Group also operates and develops hotel properties and hospitality-related retail and real estate opportunities for partners in Hawaii, the Pacific, the mainland USA and Asia. For on-line information, log on at www.outriggerenterprisesgroup.com and www.outrigger.com.
*Embassy Suites is a registered trade mark of Hilton Hotels Corporation.