Jazz at Manta is an album of originals and a selection of jazz favorites generated by popular demand and executed by the dynamic duo of multi-instrumental musician Jesse Snyder, able and versatile saxophone/clarinet player and simultaneous drummer along with Gary Washburn, a recognized jazz educator.

The two have been performing at the Manta Restaurant in the famed Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on the Kohala Coast of the big island of Hawaii for the past 6 years. They have a musical chemistry and syncopated communication that is heard and seen in their live performances on Wednesdays and Saturdays at the Manta Lounge and on the album.

Gary Washburn is a gifted and prolific songwriter. His Mauna Kea Beach Blues opens the album followed by Soft Touch, both are upbeat and funky tunes.

The album includes favorites of Gary and Jesse that are often requested and loved by the guests and residents of the MKBH properties:

 

If You Never Come To Me by Antonio Carlos Jobim;

On a Little Street in Singapore by Peter DeRose & Billy Hill;

Dream a Little Dream of Me by Gus Kahn

Pure Imagination by Lesley Bricusse & Anthony Newley

Too Close for Comfort by Jerry Bock, George David Weiss, Lawrence Holofcener

Tangerine by Victor Schertzinger

Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Harold Arlen & Yip Harburg

Bali Hai by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II

 

Jazz at Manta was recorded by Karl Kasberg at his Kamuela studio, mixed by Karl Kasberg and Jesse Snyder and mastered by Garey Shelton.

 

Produced by Gary Washburn, Jesse Snyder & Andree Fallas

Manta Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, Autograph Collection

 

Cover design by Keli Ann of Illuminations, Andree Fallas and Jesse Snyder. Photography by Terry Warner

Special Aloha and Mahalo to:  Washburn Ohana, Fisher & Snyder Ohana, Kona Fallas, Keith Mallini, Kansas Henderson, Craig Anderson, Michael Hofstedt II, Silvia, Juliana, Sherry Ikezawa, Garvin, Jenna, Thor, Melanie, all Manta Crewmembers, Richard Russell, Brad Doell, Britteny Embernate, Forestone, Rovner Products and all our fans and friends that make our musical world go round.

Jazz at Manta CD or Download is available at Manta Restaurant Mauna Kea Beach Hotel during performances, online at www.jessejsnyder.com, on Spotify, iTunes and 150+ streaming sites or by mail order from Sax Monkey Hawaii, POB 2723, Kamuela HI 96743.

Visit Jesse at www.jessejsnyder.com and the Jesse J Snyder Page on Facebook. Visit Gary at Gary Scott Washburn on Facebook.

 

Jazz at Manta is dedicated to the fond memory of Gary’s brother Kent Washburn who passed away in 2021. Rest in love.