Yellow Bird - Arthur Lyman

Bamboo Bamboo

Yellow Bird
Arthur Lyman

Produced by Richard Vaughn

A&R Direction: Gary Brown

Recording Supervisor: Richard Vaughn

Cover Design: George Lieberman
HIFI RECORDS, INC - Life Series L-1004
1961

The first copy of this album that I blogged came with a yellow disc label. This copy features a red-colored disk label. The red disc came inside of a book-fold, rather than a single disc jacket.

Apparently, HIFI was sold to Everest Records around 1965 and, as a result, the Life Series Label was changed to yellow.

From the back cover: The name Arthur Lyman symbolizes the exotic percussion era. There have been other albums by the same title but none as apropos of the real spirit of exoticism.

Arthur and his group have started more startling sounds than can be remembered. This can be readily believed from the array of instruments played by each of the group.

The exotic percussive sounds of Arthur Lyman recorded in Henry J. Kaiser's Aluminum Dome, outside of the Hawaiian Village Hotel in Honolulu contrast the native and the modern. The group, their instruments of sound, and their music, are native, pulsatingly primitive, often eerie. The Aluminum Dome is unmistakably modern, the product of 20th century construction genius.

Arthur Lyman plays vibes, marimba and percussion of all kinds, having learned from his Hawaiian father since age 6. John Kramer plays bass, ukulele, guitar, flute, clarinet and percussions. Alan Soares is pianist, plays celeste, guitar and percussions. Harold Chang is a percussion virtuoso, and plays xylophone. The bird sounds heard are from actual birds, with some imitative bird calls by Lyman and Kramer. Arthur Lyman's group entertains enthusiastic listeners in the Shell Bar at the Hawaiian Village Hotel where they appear nightly.

Included in the astounding array of percussion heard are congas, bongos, timbale, cocktail drums, boobams, cowbell, ass's jaw, conch shell and guido, as well as the more ordinary percussions, such as tambourine, snare drums, wood blocks, cymbals, Chinese gong and sleigh bells.

Kaiser's Aluminum Dome is a half sphere, seating about 1500 persons, is used for live entertainment and movie showings. Its ingenious simplicity of structural design and ideal sound from suggest its wider use for low cost auditoriums of pleasing space age appearance. We chose this place for our recording because the half sphere shape has no "peaks" and allows the pleasing "easy" sound reproduction with natural room acoustical reverberation.  As you listen you will hear the unique effects produced by moving percussion, giving a certain sound perspective which intrigues.

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John Herny