This CD has grabbed the attention of the ukulele world, and when you give it listen you’ll know why.

Howard Kalish

I just got mine, and I love it! I have other recordings by ukulele greats like Ohta-San, Lyle Ritz and Roy Smeck, along with the “Legends of Ukulele” compilation put out by Rhino featuring other masters past and present, and I think Gerald’s work ranks right up there among them. (Nice steel guitar, too) Congrats on a fine CD! Highly recommended.

Scott Thomas

Even an old duffer like me can appreciate the artistry and talent on this disc. My golf hat’s off to you Gerald !!

Don “Snoshu” Thompson
(formerly of “the DT’s”)

I bought this CD after buying my first ukulele, hoping it would help this old guitar player acquire an ear for the uke. This CD has given me more than an ear for the ukulele, it has also provided me a great deal of pleasure and joy, set my feet to tapping, and moved me to strum away on my new uke every day! Even my eight-year-old daughter loves this CD.

WOG

Interesting, skilled playing, great tune selection. One of the best versions of Back Home in Indiana I’ve ever heard. Pretty As the Moon is just gorgeous! Every track’s a winner on this excellent CD. I’m glad I bought a copy.

Marion Garbo Seltzer

Ladies and Gentlemen (small drumroll): If you haven’t yet decided to buy, please do – you won’t be disappointed. If you have ordered and are nervously awaiting its arrival, believe me the wait will be worthwhile. I haven’t been as delighted with a new uke CD since Soybean Sawyer’s magnum opus way back when. They always say that siblings produce uncanny collaborations together (the Boswell Sisters, the Andrews Sisters, the Everlies, etc.) – how much more so when you’re accompanying yourself? Gerald, clearly expert in all his chosen instruments for this disc, effortlessly gets around the potential problems of overtracking yourself: he doesn’t sound laboured and metronomic; rather spontaneous and in a definite groove. The choice of tracks is pretty much without fault – Tin Pan Alley, Island, Modern and Standards alongside some self-penned crackers – and the whole production is a delight from beginning to end. Even the cover graphics had me smiling. Many of us will have heard tasters for this album online – they set a pretty high standard, which the rest of the tracks match effortlessly. Alongside the earlier-mentioned Mr Sawyer, it’s great to see and hear top quality musicianship coming to the ukulele again. I bet Lyle Ritz would like this (praise enough!), and cannot recommend this disc highly enough for those looking for a soundtrack to the Summer. Top marks, Mr Ross – I look forward to your next waxing! Many thanks.

U.R.

I’m listening to my CD right now and am in heaven. ‘Indiana’ is playing and I can’t decide which I like better, that or Easter Parade. Hold the vote, I have to add in Chattanoga Choo Choo to my favs. What a great CD. Don’t pass this one up folks!

Pat Lefleur

It’s hard to say whether the ukulele is making a comeback — if it will ever again be as popular as it was in the 1920s and ’30s. Certainly many musicians in a number of different and sometimes unexpected genres such as rock ‘n’ roll and pop are taking it up. Not only musicians, either. Warren Buffett, the second richest man in the world, plays one. (I wonder what Bill Gates plays: a piccolo?)

The ukulele is a Mini Cooper among the SUVs of the music world. It has neither the volume, nor the tonal range of guitars, violins and other acoustic stringed instruments, but if you know how, you can get a lot of musical mileage out of it.

Gerald Ross knows how. Long a familiar face on the Ann Arbor and national music scene for his work with the Lost World String Band, among others, Ross is an excellent guitar player who is also accomplished on Hawaiian steel guitar and Cajun accordion. However, on his latest recording it’s the uke that wins pole position.

On Ukulele Stomp, Ross expertly steers his way through a wide variety of musical styles from Western swing to jazz and blues, and of course a few requisite Hawaiian tunes, smoothly shifting gears from Irving Berlin to the Beatles, from “That’s Amore” to “Chattanooga Choo Choo.” Every track is tastefully arranged and masterfully performed — Ross plays all the instruments on the album — and every tune serves as yet another fine vehicle for displaying the ukulele’s unique capabilities. Ukulele Stomp belongs in the winner’s circle.

Sandor Slomovits
Current Magazine
November 2006