Career
He made his first single record, "Hawaiian Chimes," for Island Recording Studio in 1957. He was noticed by Margaret Williams, the owner of Tradewinds Records, who recorded Kwan in her living room. The result, in 1958, was Kwan's first Tradewinds single, the original instrumental "ʻOpihi Moemoe," which would become his signature piece and a standard tune in the slack key repertory. In 1960, Tradewinds released an LP of Kwan's playing, titled simply Slack Key, that included six of his own compositions, including "ʻOpihi Moemoe." It was the first album to consist entirely of slack key instrumentals. A later Tradewinds album that is made up of tracks by Kwan and Raymond Kāne bears the same title, so they are often identified by the colors of their covers: the "red album" (Kwan) and the "black and white album" (Kwan and Kāne). Other tracks featuring Kwan as soloist or sideman were released on two early-1960s Tradewinds compilations, Party Songs Hawaiian Style, Volumes 1 and 2.
Read more about this topic: Leonard Kwan
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