Today we’d like to introduce you to Ukulele Jake.
Hi Ukulele, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A progressive liberal college town. My sister died when I was five years old. Visiting the University of Michigan’s Children’s Hospital are some of my first and most vivid memories. This loss impressed upon me the transience of life; it’s fleeting nature. I learned that to love life, one must always be a little in love with death. This idiom has informed many of my life’s decisions. It has disabused me of the notion there is a correct way to live one’s life. Life is a mysterious gift that must be pruned, watered, nurtured. And ultimately, returned. Because this body is merely a rental.
Many of my closest friends comprised the lively Ann Arbor music scene of the early 2000’s. For example, Ska music concerts were a habitual convening. That is when I began writing, singing, and fronting our garage bands. At the tender age of 21, I picked up the ukulele for the first time. Maybe it was because it fit in my backpack; maybe it was because all of my friends were already good at guitar, but I immediately fell in love with it, infatuated by it, possessing it every waking moment, waking up in the middle of the night to play it, finding it in my bed with me as I woke each morning. The ukulele added a dimension to my life that would open up doors to an embarrassment of riches for me.
I started by learning the chords to any song I had ever heard. From there, my friend haughtily taught me the basics of music theory in my backyard. After establishing myself in Ann Arbor’s deep but finite music scene, I moved to New York City when I was 23. I was alone and lonely. I often muse that if I had known how difficult it was going to be, I probably wouldn’t have done it! My climb up Ukulele Mountain in NYC was fraught with detours and doubt, but after six years of misfires and fluctuating interest in a career in music, I started the Ukulele School of NYC in earnest.
In the six more years since then, I have played at places like Lincoln Center, the United Nations, and endless bars, schools, daycares. But my favorite audience remains a quiet evening under the stars. In 2025, I released my debut album, Direct Line In, which has more than 10 million streams on TikTok. My song ‘Snow Shoe, Pennsylvania’ has been critically acclaimed for it’s vivid storytelling and complimenting melody. The Ukulele School of NYC can also boast having served over 10,000 kids through assemblies, concerts, after-school programming, professional developments, and adjunct professorship.
Currently, I am endeavoring to release my sophomore album as well as a children’s album. In addition, I am the music director at several French schools in Manhattan. However, I reside in Brooklyn where I have embraced the stand-up comedy scene as producer and host for many shows.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There are many potholes on the avenue of triumph. For me, those potholes have included a broken engagement, the loss of my mother, a car wreck, and a bewildering search for meaning.
In the beginning of the ukulele school’s birth, I would strap my ukulele to my bicycle and pound the pavement. For some days up to 50 miles round-trip making stops at students’ houses on the Upper Westside, parts of Brooklyn, and swaths of Queens. In the rain, snow, and shine. Chugging up mammoth bridges like Manhattan’s or the Brooklyn Bridge. However, I remember the Queensboro bridge would cause me to muster all the strength I had to summit it. The bicycles would often get stolen –at least once a year. Which became a built-in operational cost.
At the beginning of Covid, I had just gone full-time with the ukulele school. And what I thought would be bust became boon. Our new found connectivity from afar, provided me a greater national presence in the ukulele scene. Through the wonders of technology, I not only taught my students ukulele, but guitar and piano as well. Every Friday at 5 PM I would host a group Ukulele lesson for free for my younger students. This pales in comparison to any real-life socializing. However, I was very proud to be able to provide some discourse for my younger students in an extremely isolating time for them. Many of these students from the early days have gone onto attend art centric high schools. A dream can be as delicate as the tulips in spring. So I am paralyzingly moved that I could be a nurturing steward to rose garden of their dreams.
The road to success is long, and it’s path is narrow. What I have found in the last seven years is that the promise of victory is not unlike hiking up a mountain in the Catskills. Making it the top of the mountain depends upon not slipping, not giving up, and pushing through doubt like a cloud of gnats. When it gets too tough for everyone else, that’s just right for me. Perseverance does not do it justice. It’s more akin to a vengeance for success. Failure feels personal, and glory is eternal.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am known in New York and parts of Michigan as a champion of this humble instrument, the ukie. My performances attempt to elevate these tiny four strings into something greater. Something tender and is emotionally dynamic. I am most proud of the accomplishment of my first studio album where I recorded 17 original songs for all audiences the goal of this album was to show the complexity and diversity of the ukulele and it also encompass a lot of my Ann Arbor friends who become family as they helped build this record.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I love connecting with fans and fellow champions of the ukulele. My table is long, and my seats are many.
First, I recommend listening to my album, Direct Line In. It can be found on all streaming platforms (e.g. Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube).
Second, I would suggest visiting my website: ukulelejake.com to learn more about the ukulele, lessons, and concerts. Along with my instagram: Ukulele_Jake
While you’re on my site, take a look at the ukulele chord chart that I created!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ukulelejake.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukulele_jake/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jacobnyc
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobsayraf/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG8KjxADTf0Hh4qLhJH0fHw
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/the-coney-island-two
