Jim Beloff’s new book provides illustrated history of modern ukulele

One day early in 1992, Jim Beloff found a Martin tenor ukulele at the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena, Calif. The find changed his life forever.

He bought the ukulele and began searching for more information on it. There wasn’t much.

At the time, if the ukulele was remembered at all outside of Hawaii, it was for Tiny Tim’s 1968 rendition of “Tip-Toe Thru ‘the Tulips With Me.”

Beloff, who was an associate publisher for Billboard magazine in Los Angeles, bought anything he could find – mostly dusty, old “how to play ukulele” books from the 1950s.

He taught himself how to play the instrument, began writing songs and continued searching for instruction books, sheet music, old records and other ephemera while traveling for Billboard. Unable to find what he was looking for, Beloff wrote and published “Jumpin ‘Jim’s Ukulele Favorites” later that year. It was the first in a series of instructional books and songbooks. With it, Flea Market Music was born.

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In 1997, the same year the company went online, Beloff documented the history of the instrument with “The Ukulele: A Visual History.” Beloff also has made recordings, produced recordings and published songbooks by other artists, and introduced the “fluke,” an ukulele-like instrument with a triangular body designed by his brother-in-law.

Beloff, 66, recounts his experiences in a new book, “UKEtopia !: Adventures in the Ukulele World,” an extensively illustrated history of the modern ukulele. He spoke about his experiences, the book and the upcoming 52nd Annual Ukulele Festival Hawaii in a recent interview. (Answers have been edited for length and clarity.)

For more information or to buy the book, go to fleamarketmusic.com.

Let’s start with your discovery of that Martin ukulele 30 years ago.

I totally fell in love with it overnight. I was curious about this instrument that had fallen out of favor (on the mainland), and finally (my wife) Liz and I found this store in East LA that happened to have a bunch of books from the last time the ukulele was popular. So I’m playing through some of these old songbooks, and I’m just overwhelmed at how pretty it sounds. I had no idea that a simple four-string instrument could express such beautiful music, and I’m thinking it’s unfortunate this instrument isn’t better known and appreciated. From there one thing leads to the other.

How did you meet Roy Sakuma?

Roy had been doing the ukulele festival, his record label was getting the (ukulele) music out and on the radio, Troy Fernandez (of the Ka’au Crater Boys) was becoming known as a virtuoso, and kids were starting to say, “ Wow, that’s cool. ” Roy heard we were doing something and invited me to come to the festival. I’ll never forget performing in front of a huge crowd.

Who is one of the most memorable people you’ve met through the ukulele?

George Harrison spent an afternoon with us playing ukuleles and singing Beatles songs in advance of a book we did called “Jumpin ‘Jim’s’ 60s Uke-in,” which was going to be pretty much the first songbook that had Beatles songs arranged for ukulele. We asked him, “Would you mind writing why you like the ukulele?” and he sat down and wrote the most adorable, sweet paragraph about how everyone who’s into an ukulele is crackers. He drew little pictures at the bottom.

Is there a project you’ve worked on that is particularly memorable?

Eddie Vedder’s ukulele album, “Ukulele Songs.” Eddie found an ukulele in a pawn shop and taught himself how to play it. He found an old songbook of ours, and that kind of helped him to figure out chords and learn some songs, and then he started writing his own. When he decided to do his own album, which eventually became “Ukulele Songs,” he decided the perfect accompaniment to the album would be a songbook, set up like our songbooks, of all of (the album’s) songs, with all the chords and everything. Of course I said yes. At times I had some trouble deciphering some of his unusual altered chords, and I had to email him, “What are you doing right here on the song?” He would film himself, I think on a GoPro video, playing the chords, and that’s how I’d figure it out. The book sold out – the entire 5,000-piece run – before it even was available. Working with Eddie was a wonderful experience.

Where does the new book fit for you?

The pandemic knocked us out like everyone else, but I had this fun project to work on while we were under lockdown. Looking back at the whole 30 years, it’s been a wonderful, glorious adventure.

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Reach John Berger at [email protected].