Daniel Ho Takes Active Role in Kilauea : He Says That Co-Producer and Composer Duties Have Made Him Feel Like He Belongs

Don’t let his baby face fool you. Daniel Ho, the 24-year-old Hawaiian-born composer-keyboardist, already has seen his group, Kilauea, reach No. 1, not once but twice, on Radio and Records magazine’s New Adult Contemporary playlist.

But Ho--who plays the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano tonight with his band, which is named after a Hawaiian volcano--thinks comparisons with such instrumental Wunderkinds as Wynton Marsalis are inappropriate. “I’m more a composer than a keyboardist,” he said this week by phone from his home in Alhambra. “I spent most of my time in school studying theory and composition. That’s my real forte.”

The group’s latest release, “Tropical Pleasures,” indicates that this isn’t just idle talk. All but two of the tunes were written by Ho (who co-wrote one with pianist David Benoit) and all display catchy melodic lines and a depth missing from most of today’s fusion music. Such songs as the title tune, and Ho’s “Teresa’s Confessions,” weave percussion, synthesizer, guitar and saxophone tones to create lush, lyrical sounds covering a range of emotions.

Yet, until this second album was released, Ho and the band faced identity problems. Kilauea’s first album, “Antigua Blue” spent 19 weeks on Billboard’s contemporary jazz chart in 1991, but it consisted entirely of tunes written by guitarist Russ Freeman of the Rippingtons, and featured some of that group’s personnel as well.

“I didn’t feel as much a part (of the group) as I do now,” Ho recalls. “There was a lot of talk (in the press) when the first album came out about whether I could really keep the Kilauea name going, or if I was living off Russ Freeman.

“Through the second album, I had a chance to express myself and show people I have a right to be part of this group. So I feel a lot more comfortable now, having established myself as co-producer and composer. It gives me the right.”

Still, Ho doesn’t hide the fact that the Kilauea sound is largely a collaboration between himself and producer Dean Whitney of Brainchild Records. “Dean has provided extreme, extreme guidance. He’s a real master of putting together a concept, titling the songs and fine-tuning the group. He keeps the direction very concise. He says, ‘We need this type of song here,’ and I go and do it.

“I just try to write within the format and stay within the context of Kileaua,” Ho continued, acknowledging the sound as “commercial jazz. It’s an ensemble sound, not just featuring myself or the piano--unlike, say, David Benoit, who would feature the piano a lot because he’s David Benoit. Kilauea is like the Rippingtons in that everybody plays.

“It’s a big sound, lots of production, lots of synthesizers and support instruments. It’s a very thick sound as opposed to the combo sound of piano, bass and drums. Melodically and harmonically, it leans more toward the pop side than the jazz side.”

However, the band’s saxophonist, Huntington Beach resident Greg Vail, says the music’s simplicity is deceiving. “Some of my friends give me static about being in this band,” Vail admitted. “But it’s not as easy as that. I tell them, ‘Man, you try and play over these changes.’ They’re not just silly little pop tunes.”

The band’s guitarist, Dave Murdy of Yorba Linda, agrees that the band’s direction is commercial-but-with-a-difference.

“A lot of the commercial jazz these days is hokey, pop or R&B; stuff, with very basic chord changes. But Daniel has studied formal composition and his writing is more distinct, more provocative,” Murdy said.

Murdy really cuts loose on stage with Kilauea. “Dave is a great entertainer,” agrees Ho. “A real clown and very energetic. The last gig we did in Las Vegas, he put his feet up on the keyboard like Elton John.”

“You can’t just stand in one place playing that stuff,” Murdy explained. “You have to learn to move and give the audience some excitement.”

Ho’s mother began teaching him to play the organ when he was 3 in their suburban Honolulu home. His formal piano studies began in the fifth grade; he also played ukulele and classical guitar in grade school. In high school he took up bass guitar and drums, as well.

“I guess that’s the reason why I consider myself more of a composer than a pianist,” he said. “I never really focused on any one instrument.”

Ho came to the mainland right out of high school and spent 1 1/2 years studying at the Grove School of Music in Los Angeles. Then family matters brought him back to Oahu where he studied composition at the University of Hawaii. Back in California, his work writing commercial music led to the association with producer Whitney.

Ho--who is hoping to do a solo album soon--said that left to his own devices, he’d bring a more personal context to his sound. “I have a number of tunes that aren’t as commercial. I would do the things that I feel are close to myself.”

He also hopes to get into composing for films. But in the meantime, Kilauea has a busy summer schedule of touring. A swing earlier in the year included Minneapolis, Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit; after its current stand in California, the bands heads to the East Coast. And there’s another Kilauea album in the works.

Kilauea plays tonight at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. Singer Heather Mullin opens the show at 8. $17.50. (714) 496-8930.