On September 28, 1957, Lyle Ritz, 27, sat down in a Los Angeles studio for the second of his sessions for Verve — playing the ukulele. The contract was an accident. Ritz had once demonstrated instruments at the Southern California Music Company, and on a visit to his old workplace, played a few tunes at his colleagues’ urging without noticing Barney Kessel, then scouting talent for Verve, standing within earshot. That day he taped four standards, including “Moonlight in Vermont” and “How About You,” the tune the LP borrowed its pun from. How About Uke? made no impression on the mainland, so Ritz went back to the bass and spent the 1960s and ’70s as a Wrecking Crew regular, on records from the Righteous Brothers to Pet Sounds. In Hawaii, meanwhile, the album had become scripture for a generation of players. When Roy Sakuma tracked him down in the mid-1980s with a festival invitation, Ritz had no idea.
Cover of “How About Uke?” (Verve, stereo issue MG VS-6007, as reproduced on a later CD reissue), the album partly recorded on September 28, 1957. Used as a stand-in because no free-licensed photograph of Lyle Ritz could be found on Wikimedia Commons. Album cover art, copyright Verve Records, all rights reserved — this is not a Creative Commons or public-domain image.
Sources: Verve Records Discography: 1957 — jazzdisco.org (Lyle Ritz sessions of September 18 and September 28, 1957; the September 28 titles “Solamente Una Vez,” “Moonlight In Vermont,” “Lulu’s Back In Town” and “How About You,” issued on Verve MGV-2087, “How About Uke?”) , Lyle Ritz — Lyle Ritz Plays Jazz Ukulele, Fresh Sound Records reissue notes (“How About Uke?” recorded in Hollywood, September 18, 28 and October 1, 1957) , Lyle Ritz — Wikipedia (born January 10, 1930; the Southern California Music Company; overheard by Barney Kessel, then scouting for Verve; limited mainland popularity; Wrecking Crew credits including “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” and “God Only Knows”) , “Gods of Uke: The Influence of Ukulele-Jazz Pioneer Lyle Ritz, 1930–2017” — Ukulele Magazine (Kessel heard him during a visit to his old workplace; Ritz “had no idea of his legendary status in the Islands” when Roy Sakuma invited him to the Ukulele Festival in 1985) , “Ukulele artist played jazz, influenced isle musicians” — Honolulu Star-Advertiser, March 9, 2017 (the album “didn’t generate much interest on the mainland,” so he took up the bass; Sakuma knocked on his door in 1984; Ritz “shocked” at his impact on Hawaii)
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