The Waitiki 7, as the name implies, is an ensemble that was formed to breathe new life into the fifty-year-old exotica genre. Those who imagine the music made famous by Martin Denny and others has grown fallow or inert will think differently after sitting back and listening to The Waitiki 7's hour-long debut, Adventures in Paradise. There is more to The Waitiki 7 than bird calls and some kitsch. These are earnest musicians who, for various reasons, gravitated toward South Pacific-styled sounds and decided to re-conceive and push forward the form while retaining the exotica backbone. Co-founder Randy Wong grew up in Hawaii immersed in the exotica realm but is a determined musician as well: he is pursuing a musicology degree in New England, performs as a classical bassist, and helps edit a music education publication. Pianist Zaccai Curtis has won jazz composition awards and has supported Christian Scott, Donald Harrison, and Sean Jones. Reeds player Tim Mayer has had stints with Latin artists such as Danilo Perez. Violinist Helen Liu holds a doctorate in musical arts and has served as an assistant concertmaster. On the exotica side, percussionist and bird caller Lopaka Colon has genuine exotica credentials: he is the son of Augie Colon, who supplied percussion and bird calls for Denny. These are more than mere neo-lounge musos trying to catch a bit of tiki nostalgia. The group members' jazz, classical and other backgrounds provide Adventures in Paradise a wellspring to draw from. That is illustrated by the diverse arrangements and music, from covers by Les Baxter, Denny, and Lionel Newman; to likeminded jazz renditions from Lee Morgan and Duke Ellington; and similarly inclined originals.The record opens in strict exotica territory with Baxter's "Coronation." Colon commences with bird calls and bongos, Jim Benoit then enters on vibes, and soon after Mayer brings in a high register with his soaring flute. Meanwhile, drummer Abe Lagrimas, Jr., and bassist Wong layer a light, Latin-tinged swinging rhythm. Mayer and Benoit do the honors as soloists. Benoit's warm tone, it should be noted, emanates from a vintage and rare Vibraharp Model 145, the first mallet instrument with a damper pedal and electric motor, and the textures Benoit coaxes from the hand-crafted instrument are wonderful. Anyone who knows exotica understands the vibraphone is the heart of any undertaking: it contributes harmonics and supplements the orchestral sonorities, and adds lyrical qualities to solo stretches, or textural terrain when it accompanies other musicians. Denny later reappears when The Waitiki 7 slides through a phantomed interpretation of the noir-ish "Left Arm of Buddha" and a conventional treatment of "Manila." The charcoaled "Left Arm of Buddha" has a mysterious characteristic brought out by unsettling percussion and Liu's violin. On "Manila" Curtis takes center stage with a poignant piano introduction and the rest of the band goes off into a creamy exotica domain highlighted by Colon's bird and animal calls, Curtis' jazzy keyboards and Lagrimas' gilded percussion. The album-closing title track is another tune tiki fans might recognize since it is Lionel Newman's theme to a television program that aired in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The tune's late-night tempo and tender mix of vibes, piano, light percussion and Liu's ocean drum create a laid-back cushion.  Adventures in Paradise is modeled upon the tranquil and relaxing exotica blueprint but The Waitiki 7 has built a different kind of tiki structure, assisted in measure by the members' disparate training, experience and education. A realization of experimentation and advancement within a precisely coded genre gives Adventures in Paradise a context that places it in a unique position: looking backward while moving forward. --Doug Simpson, Audiophile Audition (August 27, 2009)Adventures in Paradise is a smart and swank affair, the kind that usually hums between the walls of an air-conditioned nightclub. Released to commemorate the islands' 50th anniversary as a U.S. state, Paradise effectively marries the cool melodies of 1959 jazz with a contemporary tang that acknowledges the iconic influence (Les Baxter and Martin Denny are among the tunesmiths lovingly acknowledged here) of predecessors while constructing equally timeless originals in a similar spirit. That aspect's also present in the band's own DNA. Bassist and bandleader Randy Wong grew up around Martin Denny through his family's friendship with Denny's vibraphonist, Arthur Lyman. Waitiki percussionist Lopaka Colon's connection runs even deeper: he's the son of the legendary Augie Colon, whose slaps and trademark bird calls augmented many a Denny groove. Lopaka inherited his father's prodigious talents, weaving a steady thread through Paradise with his own percussive pats and impressive whoops and cries, the latter of which add a remarkable third dimension to an already exotic instrumental dialogue. And what a conversation. Listen to how Tim Mayer and Mike Dease interact via soprano sax and trombone, respectively, on "Totem Pole." They melt into each other, complete each other's thoughts, and maintain a compelling flow over the distant perpetual cool of Jim Benoit's vibes, which, like Colon's calls, dab the canvas with an extra splash of color (can't imagine "Manila" without those drops) and smooth the edges of Zaccai Curtis' often-chomping piano ("Left Arm of Buddha"). Benoit and Curtis collaborate to a different end on "Her Majesty's Pearl," painting wondrous landscapes over the hushed rush of foamy falls and a lovely interlude from violinist Helen Liu, whose subsequent slide between Benoit's vibe dots and Wong's bass jaunt sets up a most astonishing personal showcase on "L'ours Chinois," where she memorably flaunts her stuff. As if the music wasn't enough, The Waitiki 7 remain devoted to making Adventures in Paradise as interactive an experience as possible. Within the booklet, the band thoughtfully includes some choice drink recipes guaranteed to refresh just as effectively as tracks 1-13. "Shake like hell with ice cubes," advises one. Consider it done. Heck, you don't need liquor or even a glass for that --Cory Frye, Under The Radar (August 26, 2009)The press release for the album Adventures in Paradise states that Waitiki 7 is the only band that is performing Exotica live and acoustic, just like it was in the 1950s. They are the rightful heirs of Denny, Lyman, and Esquivel. Randy Wong, one of the principle co-founders used to go see Arthur Lyman play the vibes as a child. Lopaka Colon, who adorns the album with colorful bird calls, follows in the footsteps of his father Augie Colon, who used to do the same for Martin Denny's albums. They have lived and breathed with this music, and as such, it is not merely hipster irony or pastiche that urges them to resurrect this incidental music, but rather a burning passion. Adventures in Paradise utilizes most of the sonic signatures of Exotica: bird calls, vibraphones, animal noises, latin percussion, and ukulele, performed with jazz and oriental flair, drawing from a richer pallette that paints a more compelling picture than much of the blanched white-bread sonic excursions around the world. Of the original Exotica, much of it was recorded as background music for seductions or cocktail parties, or to audition new Hi-Fi systems. In short, it was easy-listening, and the emotional range could be rather bland. A lot of interesting experiments and innovations arose from the era, and Waitiki 7 embraces the strengths and weeds out a lot of the chaff. Standards like "Totem Pole" by Lee Morgan, "Left Arm of Buddha" by Martin Denny, and "Mood Indigo" by Duke Ellington, are mixed in with eclectic originals like "Her Majesty's Pearl", a beautiful conversation between piano and vibraphone, "Ned's Redemption", a madcap xylophone ragtime improvisation with slide whistle, and "L'ours Chinois", an oriental-sounding violin concerto that is chilling, but resolves into an upbeat Eastern adventure. They seem to have spent the time wallowing in far-off sounds, getting to know them and how to play them proficiently, rather than merely perfoming generic stereotyping to make something sound weird. "L'ours Chinois" is a perfect example of all that is great about these young musicians dusting off all this marginal music. Darkness gives way to light, sour into sweet, as Waitiki 7 takes a journey through all of this Earth's music. Anything goes, as was the case with the original creators of Exotica, but unfortunately the genre got trapped in the miasma of style and cliche, and became a parody of itself. According to Wong, "Exotica just sort of stopped in the '60s". Waitiki 7 are transcending time and space, resurrecting spectres of vanished musical styles and making them dance on the rim of dormant volcanoes. This is vibrant and exciting music, full of dashing and daring-do, captured brilliantly by the folks at Q-Studios in Somerville, Mass. They are correcting some of the sins of the fathers, namely complacency and commercialism, and making them their own, as is the right and privilege of all children. The album is not flawless, the smooth jazz soprano sax of "Ounalao" is a step in the wrong direction in my opinion, but the blood and guts, tears and laughter more than make up for the muzak. Waitiki 7 are wonderful musicians that are creating exciting worlds and have made one of the most compelling exotica and jazz albums that I've heard this year. --J. Simpson, Weirdomusic.com