Jake Shimabukuro can still vividly remember the first time he held a ukulele, at age four. The encounter shaped his destiny and ultimately gave the world one of the most exceptional and innovative uke players in the history of the instrument — and one who has drawn comparisons to musical titans like Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis. His dazzling fretwork, ambitious repertoire, and wistful melodicism made him an international phenomenon on YouTube, when a video of him performing George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” went viral — one of the first videos to go viral on the platform. He has collaborated with artists as diverse as Yo-Yo Ma, Jimmy Buffett, and Bette Midler and breathes fresh life into everything from covers of hard-driving rock classics and jazz songbook standards to traditional Hawaiian music and his own original songs.