Our Story So Far 

Founded in Boston by bassist Randy Wong and drummer Abe Lagrimas Jr., The WAITIKI 7 (a portmanteau of “Waikiki” and “Tiki”) is a 7-piece all-star alternative jazz ensemble specializing in the historic recreation and modern interpretation of mid-20th century Exotica music.

Inspired by Les Baxter, Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, Gene Rains, Robert Drasnin, and others of the late 1950s-mid 1960s, WAITIKI aims to recreate the sound, ambience, and fun of the classic Tiki aesthetic.

Exotica music was the soundtrack to the jetsetter, bachelor pad, and lounge aesthetic that became a worldwide phenomenon in mid 1950s to late 1960s. Escapist by nature, its exotic influences from Hawaii, Polynesia, Asia, and the Caribbean were melded together by master orchestrators and arrangers such as Les Baxter, Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, Robert Drasnin, and others. Although few of those might be household names, the music—and genre—they created was palpable and inspired the names you probably do know: Nelson Riddle, Henry Mancini, Cal Tjader, Combustible Edison (of Quentin Tarantino’s Four Rooms); even the HBO hit TV show White Lotus.

Over more than 20 years, Randy, Abe, and an all-star cast of stellar bandmates spanning jazz, Latin jazz, and classical genres, have dedicated themselves to performing, producing, and presenting Exotica, acoustically and with the same performance standards that the original masters brought.

The WAITIKI 7 debuted in 2008 at Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s Festival Wassermusik, amid Barack Obama’s historic speech less than a quarter mile away and has since performed across the continental U.S. and Hawaiʻi. Owing to the unique, pastiche character of Exotica music, the group has performed in few traditional venues (music clubs, jazz festivals, concert halls) and prefers to perform in settings of its own design.

Most notably, the group collaborates with the world-renowned, luxury resort HALEKULANI and its premiere outdoor restaurant, House Without A Key, returning Exotica music to its Waikiki roots.  Other collaborations have included the now-defunct Don The Beachcomber (Seal Beach, CA), which hosted the Waitiki Festival of Music & Cocktail.

WAITIKI 7’s recorded output includes Adventures in Paradise (#12, JazzWeek Jazz), New Sounds of Exotica (#13, JazzWeek Jazz), the exclusive vinyl-only release Waitiki in Hi-Fi, and our take on the Sun Ra classic “Somebody Else’s Idea of Somebody Else’s World,” with soul screamer Barrence Whitfield on Songs from the Sun Ra Cosmos, released on Modern Harmonic.

The band has also been chronicled by NPR Morning Edition, PRI Global Village, The Feast, the LA Times, Giant Robot, Audiophile Audition, Jazziz, mentioned in cocktail books by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, Martin Cate, and Food & Wine, featured in TikiBarTV (Steve Jobs’ favorite video podcast), and more.

And, on June 5, 2026, The WAITIKI 7 will perform with the HAWAII SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, closing the HSO’s HapaSymphony pops series.

Meet The WAITIKI 7

Randy Wong

Randy Wong
Co-Founder, Bass
Hononlulu, Hawaiʻi

Hawaii-born and raised, bassist Randy Wong seeks adventure with every musical endeavor. As a symphony musician, he has performed with Kenny Loggins, Bela Fleck, Yo-Yo Ma, sitarist Anoushka Shankar; violinists Joshua Bell, Midori, Ray Chen, and Augustin Hadelich; conductors Leonard Slatkin, JoAnn Falletta, Gunther Schuller, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and dozens of others. As a sideman, he has supported ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro, American singer-songwriter Susan Werner, soul singer Ron Artis II, and the open flow organization Honolulu Art Ensemble. He has produced and recorded albums for Exotica, pop, classical, world, and Hawaiian musicians, performed in operas and ballets, played the space-age bachelor-pad music of Juan Garcia Esquivel with the Orquesta Nacionale de Jazz de México in Cuernavaca, and even jammed with Brother Ah and George Clinton at one of Obama’s inaugural balls!

Known for his passion for the mid-century aesthetic—from music to cocktails—Randy has been profiled on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, the Department of Defense/Armed Forces Network’s America: Who We Are, PRI’s Global Village, Radiomultikulti, the Australian Broadcast Company, and Hawaii Public Radio. He has been cited in books, publications, and apps by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, Martin Cate, Food & Wine, Travel & Leisure, Boston Magazine, Improper Bostonian, Honolulu Weekly, Boston Globe & the Boston Herald; has written articles for Hana Hou (Hawaiian Airlines), Honolulu Magazine, SUMMIT, Tasting Panel, NMG; and has consulted for Don the Beachcomber (Huntington Beach, CA), Drink (Boston), and more.

Co-Founder, Bass
Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

Abe Lagrimas Jr.

Abe Lagrimas Jr.
Co-Founder, Drums
Hononlulu, Hawaiʻi

Abe Lagrimas, Jr. is a musician, composer, educator, and author who plays the drums, vibraphone, ukulele, and studied at Berklee College of Music. He competed in the highly prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Drums Competition and has worked with many different artists such as Eric Marienthal, Eric Reed, Kamasi Washington, Katisse Buckingham, Lalo Schifrin, Barbara Morrison, Michelle Coltrane, Jake Shimabukuro, Kenny Endo, and continues to be an in-demand session musician in Los Angeles.

As a solo ukulele artist, Abe is a Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award (Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts) recipient and has released multiple albums in the United States, Japan, and South Korea. He has headlined many ukulele festivals throughout the United States, as well as Canada, Mexico, U.K., Germany, China, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, and Australia. Abe is also an active educator who has conducted workshops, currently teaches private lessons, and is an instructor for the Fender Play series. He is the author of Jazz Ukulele: Comping, Soloing, Chord Melodies (Berklee Press & Hal Leonard), which is available in stores worldwide and on Amazon. He currently endorses Canopus Drums, Paiste Cymbals, Vic Firth Drumsticks, Beato Bags, Ko'olau Ukulele, Analysis Plus Cables, Fusion Gig Bags, and Roswell Pro Audio.

Co-Founder, Drums
Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

Tim Mayer

Tim Mayer
Reeds
Coatepec, Mexico

Graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1996, and returning to teach in 2002, Tim has been active as both artist and educator has lead to regular appearances in Colombia and Mexico with Berklee Latino, and acting as Artistic Director of the JazzUV International Festival in 2015, 2017, and 2019 in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, where he also taught for several years.

Tim has performed and recorded with a wide range of jazz and latin jazz artists such as Maynard Ferguson, Slide Hampton, John Faddis, Danilo Perez, Arturo Sandoval, The Brubeck Brothers and most recently Maraca & His Latin Jazz All-Stars; with Cape Verdean artists such as Bana, the Mendes Brothers, and Bius; received a Grammy nomination in 2009 with La Clave Secreta, and is credited on many critically acclaimed recordings, including his first as a leader, Resilience, released by Jazz Legacy Productions in 2011.

Recent tours include a tribute to Horace Silver leading a quartet which performed in Mindelo, Sáo Vicente, and with Orlando Maraca Valle and his Latin Jazz All Stars, featuring Steve Turre and Robby Ameen. In 2021, Keeper Of The Flame, his second CD as leader, is released, featuring Rodney Whitaker, Ulysses Owens, Michael Dease, Miki Hayama, and Emmet Cohen in a swinging set for octet.

Reeds
Coatepec, Mexico

Helen Liu

Helen Liu
Violin, Bird Calls
Hononlulu, Hawaiʻi

A native of Potomac, Maryland, Dr. Helen Liu is an active performer and educator in solo, chamber and orchestral settings. She is a member of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, violinist of the Galliard String Quartet and Chamber Music Hawai‘i.

Dr. Liu holds received her doctorate in violin performance from Stony Brook University and graduate degrees from New England Conservatory, and bachelor’s from the University of Maryland – College Park, where her principal teachers include Pamela Frank, Philip Setzer, and James Buswell IV. She has also spent many summers with the Aspen Music Festival, Castleton Festival, Longy International Baroque Institute, National Repertory Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute, and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. She has collaborated with Wu Han, Ani Kafavian, Colin Carr, Arthur Haas, the Emerson String Quartet, and others, and has given recitals at Carnegie Hall and Suntory Hall (Tokyo).

Violin, Bird Calls
Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

Zaccai Curtis

Zaccai Curtis
Piano
Hartford, Connecticut

After graduating from New England Conservatory in 2005, Zaccai Curtis moved to New York City where he performs regularly with artists such as: Donald Harrison, Cindy Blackman Santana, Eddie Palmieri, Christian Scott, Ralph Peterson, T.K. Blue, Brian Lynch, Ray Vega, and Eric Person amongst others.

Curtis composes and arranges for his own quartet, trio, Big-Band and more. In 2003 he was chosen as a winner of the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer’s competition and each year consecutively through 2006. Zaccai and his quartet were selected by the U.S. State Department to be in the American Music Abroad (Jazz Ambassadors) program two times in 2006. They performed in Bangladesh, Calcutta, Bangalore, Mumbai, Sri Lanka and Maldives. In 2007 Zaccai Curtis was awarded the ‘Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism’s Artist Fellowship’ for ‘original composition.’ In 2017 Curtis became a Chamber Music America: “New Jazz Works” grant recipient.

Zaccai currently performs his own music with his group ‘Curtis Brothers Quartet’ and released his album, Syzygy(2017) after three successful releases; ‘A Genesis,’ ‘Blood Spirit Land Water Freedom’ and ‘Completion of Proof.’

Zaccai, along with his brother Luques, has developed a recording collective (TRRcollective) of musicians that produce music on their own terms. He is proud to have been a producer for the GRAMMY nominated album (Entre Colegas 2016) released on the label (Truth Revolution Records/TRRcollective).

Piano
Hartford, Connecticut

Augie Lopaka Cólon Jr.

Augie Lopaka Cólon Jr.
Percussion, Animal Calls
Hononlulu, Hawaiʻi

Born in Hawaii, Lopaka Colón Jr. is an established percussionist and multi “Na Hoku Hanohano” award winner (Hawaii’s version of the Grammy’s). He's the son of the famous percussionist Augie Colón, and has since a young age followed in his father steps - he attended the University of Hawaii for 6 years majoring in Ethnomusicology.

In the late 90’s, Lopaka was part of the successful Pure Heart band, rated in the top-50 Musical Groups of All Times of Hawaii and also one of Hawaii’s youngest musical groups ever to take the local music scene by storm in such a short period. The group later evolved into Colón (named in honor of Lopakaʻs father). Both bands won the People's Choice award at the Hokuʻs as Favorite Entertainers of the Year for 2 years in a row. He has collaborated with majority of Hawaii’s top-notch musicians either doing studio work, live performances, or just having fun “Kanikapila”(musical jam).

Lopaka is a member of The Waitiki 7, in which he performs percussion and exotic birds and animals sounds, and he is also a key component in the success of several local bands like the Grammy-nominated Wild Hawaiian (a project with the Henry Kapono band), the Barefoot Natives, the Makana trio, The Mana Maoli Collective, Don Tiki, to name a few. He has performed with many other Hawaii's top musicians, including Mick Fleetwood's Island Rumours Band and Michael McDonald.

Percussion, Animal Calls
Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

James Benoit

James Benoit
Vibraphone
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

James Benoit, a native of Niskayuna, New York, is the newly appointed Principal Timpanist of the Seattle Symphony. Previously, Benoit was the Associate Principal Percussionist and Assistant Principal Timpanist with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and spent three seasons as a section percussionist with the Sarasota Opera.

As an educator, Benoit was on faculty at the University of Pittsburgh and at the Luzerne Music Center. An avid supporter of music in the classroom, he also has worked as a teaching and performing artist with Associate Solo Artists, a non-profit organization that provides artistic interdisciplinary programs to children, teachers, businesses and social establishments by giving concerts, masterclasses and workshops in schools throughout New York.

Benoit received his Artist Diploma from Duquesne University, his Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and his Bachelor of Music degree from the Berklee College of Music.

Vibraphone
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The WAITIKI Voyage

1989

Honolulu, HI

An 8-year old Randy meets Arthur Lyman for the first time at Waialae Country Club. Over the next decade, Arthur would encourage Randy to seek a career in music.

Boston, MA

WAITIKI is formed, and is an immediate hit with artsy, cultured New Englanders. The band’s first gigs include the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, the Boston Children's Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the New England Aquarium.  

2003

2005

Ft. Lauderdale, FL

WAITIKI makes its Tiki festival debut at The Hukilau, performing on the mainstage of the Mai Kai, and with famed 1960s exotica composer Robert Drasnin for the first live performances of his "Voodoo" album since the mid-20th century.

Honolulu, HI

WAITIKI makes its Honolulu debut at the Hawaiʻi International Jazz Festival, performing at the legendary Hawaiʻi Theater in memory of Martin Denny (who had just passed), for Christina Denny, Martin's daughter. Abe & Lopaka both played with Martin Denny when he was alive.

2005

Medford, MA

Waitiki connects with lounge revivalists Brother Cleve (producer of Combustible Edison, the Del Fuegos, and Juan Garcia Esquivel) and engineering virtuoso Ducky Carlisle to record our first records at Ice Station Zebra Studios.

2005-2007

2007

Honolulu, HI

WAITIKI first connects with Harold Chang, the last living member of the Martin Denny & Arthur Lyman bands at Harry’s Music Store.

2007

Berlin, Germany

The WAITIKI 7, created specifically for Festival Wassermusik, debuts at Haus den Kulturen den Welt.

Three back-to-back albums — Adventures in Paradise, New Sounds of Exotica, WAITIKI in HI-FI — The WAITIKI 7 to critical acclaim, JazzWeek & CMJ radio charts, many top releases of the year lists, publicity in major magazines like Mother Goose, Jazziz, Downbeat, JazzTimes, Giant Robot, and NPR Morning Edition. 

2009-2011

Huntington Beach, CA

The WAITIKI Festival of Music & Cocktail takes place at Don the Beachcomber. This epic 3-day extravaganza of exotica music & cocktails, features The WAITIKI 7 with guests Combustible Edison (Cleve & Thee Millionaire), Sherry Shaoling (of Don Tiki), Robert Drasnin, and more.

2010

Honolulu, HI

The WAITIKI 7 joins forces with Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony (HYS), of which Abe & Randy are alumni, and crooner Jimmy Borges to help raise over $150K and introduce youth to Exotica music. Using instruments from Martin Denny’s recordings, WAITIKI 7 and over 100 of Hawaii’s finest high school musicians performed music of the exotica greats, including charts from the Les Baxter and Nelson Riddle libraries. The live recording garners a nomination on the final ballot of the Na Hoku Hanohano awards—a first for both HYS and The WAITIKI 7.

2013

2022

Lawrence, KS

The WAITIKI 7 returns to Kansas to help our friend Darrell Brogdon, creator/host of the internationally-syndicated radio show Retro Cocktail Hour, celebrate its 25th anniversary on-air. Some 15 years prior, we helped celebrate their 500th broadcast. 

2023-Present

Honolulu, HI

Sixty-five years following its birth, The WAITIKI 7 begins its collaboration with Halekulani to return exotica to Waikiki.