Artist: The Out Takes

There were once these three guys who went to McKinley High School and found each other in a Music theory class. One, Noel Okimoto, played the drums; another, Allen Won played the saxophone; and the third, Benny Rietveld, played the bass.  They discovered that they loved to play music and were especially interested in jazz of various types.  They started playing together quite a bit and in 1977 formed a band.  They gained notoriety among Hawaii jazz fans as being a precocious bunch of teenagers playing a new and technically demanding form of jazz known as "fusion".  In 1979, Allen Won moved to New York City to pursue his classical interests more intensely, studying and eventually touring with the legendary Harvey Pittel Saxophone Quartet.  Noel and Benny ended up working for Gabe Baltazar at the Cavalier for a number of years.  Then in 1983, Benny moved to San Francisco, and After a number of years found himself touring with Miles Davis and then Carlos Santana.  Noel stayed in Hawaii, where, besides becoming an accomplished orchestral  percussionist, he earned a reputation as being one of the best drummers around, been called on to play and tour with artists like Wynton Marsalis, Stan Getz and Freddie Hubbard.

All three were quite busy pursuing their own particular Muses, and never, since 1979 got a chance to play together Again - until January 1993.  By coincidence, Allen and Benny were both in Hawaii visiting their respective parents.  The Three got together and a musical reunion of sorts took Place - it happened, it all clicked but with an exciting new Dimension - their unique adulthood adventures merged with Their experiences as teenagers and a new jazz sound Erupted onto the musical scene.

But something was missing.  The three friends needed a Fourth, someone to complete their sound, who shared their visceral approach to jazz.  The group found guitarist Jamie Fox who brought with him world tour experiences with Joan Baez and Dr. John... and so, THE OUT TAKES were born.