REMEMBERING Robert Drasnin
We initially met and performed with Bob Drasnin at The Hukilau festival (Fort Lauderdale) in 2005. It was Bob’s first live concert of music from his 1959 Voodoo! album, which was a studio project he undertook the same year he received his Master’s from UCLA. (Dave Pell, head of Tops Records, approached Bob about producing an Exotica album to follow onto the success that Martin Denny had found.)
For the Hukilau performance, Bob re-arranged his Voodoo charts for a 12-pc chamber orchestra of which WAITIKI (then a quartet composed of flute/alto flute, vibes, upright bass, and drum set) formed the core. We performed every chart off of the album, along with a few new ones that eventually made their debut on Bob’s 2007 record, Voodoo II. Some of our Tiki friends, like Alice Berry (aka Formaikahini/Formica Dinette) took part in the Hukilau performance. Coincidentally, Yma Sumac and Bunny Yeager were also present, though unfortunately Yma did not sing!
To Bob’s surprise, the performance was such a hit that we reprised it at The Hukilau again in 2006, and then brought it to the Tiki Oasis festival (San Diego) in 2007.
Over the years, Tim and I got to know Bob really well, and when we began to organize our WAITIKI FESTIVAL OF MUSIC & COCKTAIL (WFOMAC) for New Year’s Eve 2011, we asked him if we could feature his music on one of the nights.
We were thrilled and delighted when Bob not only said yes, but also offered to conduct, play, and compose music for the event. Bob reorchestrated our favorite songs from his Voodoo and Voodoo II albums specifically for The WAITIKI 7, and composed a couple of new tunes for us as well. As Bob was no longer using notation software at the time, he ended up dictating the arrangements over the phone to Tim and Randy, who then would transcribe them into the Finale software.
Bob’s WFOMAC night went off spectacularly well, and we were able to document parts of it, as seen in the videos below. Bob was a true statesman, and we miss him dearly.
