Howdy Folks! Check out my Atomic Age Vinyl Finds! If there are copyright issues or a problem with any post, just contact me and I will make corrections. I'm here to have fun and hope you will share in my process of discovery!
An Evening With Chopin
Benninghoff
Plantation Records PLP-502
1976 Meadow Properties
Sometimes an LP blindsides you and you just don't what to say.
I bought this LP because I like the horrible cover artwork. At least the art is worth $6 don't you think? I mean... Chopin snuggled up to a bar maid with some guys sitting in chairs (who in the hell are those guys?) and and why is some super hero figure shown barging through the door? That's worth $6! Now wait! There is a note on the cover that explains that the guys sitting in the chairs are historical figures: George Sand, Chopin, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Heinrich Hiene, Lord Byron, Novalis and Captain America. What?!! And wait... CAPTAIN AMERICA? That is NOT Captain America and I hope Marvel Comics didn't see that mention! I have no idea what the cover means. It must mean something...
Not be outdone by the cover, the music is a incredibly strange mix of orchestrated "Chopin" pieces mingled with "psych" tunes. Found on the B side, track 2, is sort of a mini rock opera that includes Prelude In A Minor – OP. 28#2, Waltz – OP. 64 #2 Part 1 and Waltz – OP. 64 #2 Part 3.
This track is actually groovy and maybe Benninghoff was on to something and rock operas where starting to "happen" in the 70s.
The Universal Language Of Music Volume 3
INDIA Records
Recorded by Korla Pandit Production Co. 1969
This is a copy of Volume 3 with no printing on the back. Much to my surprise, when I opened the box I found that the jacket was autographed by Pandit. The autograph is in pencil. The pencil didn't imprint throughly, but it appears as if the autograph is written: Greetings Marc, Yours Korla Pandit 1977.
There is a great website you can visit to find out more about Pandit.
This LP is a lovely mix of traditional piano and organ tunes along with a few fun and funky period covers with drums and one exotica organ number.
I just found another signed copy of this album. This one is signed on the back of the jacket: Best Wishes Wilma & Elmer. Korla Pandit - 1972
And a third copy of the same release this one signed: Namaste! (Common spoken greeting or salutation originating from India and Nepal) Greetings! Doris. Korla Pandit - 1972 - Box 261 West Vancouver. B.C.
77 Sunset Strip
Frankie Ortega & Sy Oliver
Produced by Marty Palitz
Cover Design by Sy Leichman
Diamond Jubilee
A Product of Jay-Gee Record Co., Inc.
Cover and Liner Printed by MacMurray Press, N.Y.
SDJLP 1106 & JLP 1106
1959
Personnel (Dining At Dino's, 77 Sunset Strip, Kookin' For Kookie, Free Way Mambo)
Frankie Ortega - Piano
Bert Hanson - Bass
Walther Sage - Drums
Sy Oliver - Arranger-Conductor
Charlie Shavers - Trumpet
Richard Perry - Trumpet
James Nottingham - Trumpet
Frank Sarraci - Trombone
Lawerence Brown - Trombone
Rodnet Levit - Trombone
Philip Bodner - Alto Sax and Clarinet
Sam Taylor - Tenor Sax
Seldon Powell - Tenor Sax
Dave McRae - Baritone Sax
Al Chernet - Guitar
Donald Lamond - Drums
Personnel (Lady In Distress, After Sunset, Spencer Stakes Out, Sunset Stripper, Stu's Muse, What Private Eyes)
Frankie Ortega - Piano
Bert Hanson - Bass
Walther Sage - Drums and Bongos
Sy Oliver - Arranger-Conductor
Charlie Shavers - Trumpet
Ernst Royal - Trumpet
Lawerence Brown - Trombone
Rodney Levitt - Trombone
George Dorsey - Alto Sax
Philip Bodner- Tenor Sax and Clarinet
Daniel Bank - Baritone Sax
Dave McRae - Baritone Sax
Kenneth Burell - Guitar
Donald Lamond - Drums
From Billboard - May 11, 1959: Sexy cover gives the package display value. Ortega, who is featured in the TV film series "77 Sunset Strip," provides solid swingy instrumental treatments of listenable jazz-flavored selections, including the title theme, and other tunes keyed to the series – Kookin' For Kookie," "What Private Eyes," etc. Effective backing by Sy Oliver.
From the back cover: The beat of the Frankie Ortega Trio is a familiar one on the West Coast. They are featured regularly in Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe. They were heard recently, for the first time, on the East Coast – at the Embers in New York.
"77 Sunset Strip" is the sound and style of the Frankie Ortega Trio set in the moving music of Sy Oliver for this album and will probably be used in future episodes. The feeling of the program, the frenzy of "jazz" climate is here.
The Trio is featured in all of the numbers. The trio means Frankie Ortega on piano. Bert Hanson on bass and Walter Sage on drums. Frank is a native of Los Angeles. He studied with Edith Knox, joined the Roger Wagner Chorale when he was 10, remained with them for 6 years. Frank organized his first band when he was 17.
Bert Hanson first studied violin. Then he played cello with the Milwaukee Symphony under the baton of Bruno Walter, Stokowski and more. Walter Sage studied with Ian Kerr, Tympanist of the Cleveland Orchestra. He played with the Peter Merenblum Symphony. Each member of the Trio began his career in classical music.
Sy Oliver is one of our greatest arranger-conductors. He created the 2-beat style of Jimmy Lunceford. He played and wrote many of the great Tommy Dorsey arrangements. He has scored for Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Mills Brothers, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Della Reese.
The orchestra playing around the Frankie Ortega Trio here include some of the country's best and best-known jazz musicians. Many are featured as soloists through this "77 Sunset Strip" album.
77 Sunset Strip
Kookin' With Kookie
Spencer Stakes Out
What Private Eyes
After Sunset
Sunset Stripper
Stu's Blues
Lady In Distress
Dining At Dino's
Free Way Mambo
The George Shearing Quintet And Orchestra Arrangements by Billy May and George Shearing Capitol Records T858 1957
Black Satin (with Capitol "Stereo" sticker applied to cover)
The George Shearing Quintet And Orchestra Arrangements by Billy May and George Shearing Capitol Records ST858
E.M.I Records Limited - Hayes • Middlesex • England
Made and Printed in Great Britain 1957
From Billboard - November 3, 1958 (review for stereo release): This melodic package was a solid sales item in it's monaural version and has much to offer stereo-wise, via Shearing's tasteful delicate pianistics and the easy swinging jazz-flavor of the entire album. Listenable, spin able mood music.
The Folks Who Live On The Hill If I Should Lose You Starlight Souvenirs What Is There To Say Black Satin You Don't Know What Love Is Nothing Ever Changes My Love For You One Morning In May Moon Song Medley: As Long As I Live – Let's Live Again
Strange gimmick album practically lost to history (there is probably a good reason for that).
Track vocals are attributed to "monsters". For example, You Really Got Me is attributed to "Frankenstein's Monster".
Of course... Frankenstein never sounded so good. You know, with all the throat surgery and all. And what this track has to do with "Monsters" I have no idea.
The tracks attributed to "Dracula" actually sounds a little like a cartoon Dracula singing.
It's hard to know who the target market was. I don't think H&L had any idea either.
Exotic Dreams
The Enticing Voice Of Ethel Azama
Liberty LRP 3104 1959
Ethel Azama was helped along in her career by Martin Denny. Azama was doing night club engagements in Honolulu and Denny wrangled a contract for with Liberty to make this LP. He also produced the LP. Denny is one of the "kings" of exotica. Readmore about Azama on wikipedia.
I can't say that this is my favorite exotica LP. The songs choices are uneven. Some songs don't promote the "theme".
Music For Space Squirrels
Al Caiola's Magic Guitars
ATCO 33-117
1958
From the cover art, it is hard to believe this album was created in 1958. The illustration is by Milton Glaser. The illustration seems more like something you might see produced in the late 60s or early 70s.
The back cover presents a story about the U.S. sending two squirrels (Stanley and Stella) into space (squirrels this time around because the "apes" were "such prima donnas").
Space age pop and squirrels? How could I resist? The music is sort of high pitched or high strung and frenetic. I got the squirrel thing... but not the SPACE thing. I would have preferred more "space" than squirrels in my music. Anyway. There is only one slow or laid back track on the LP and that's the song I like. Sweet Lorranie.
Cover Photo by Werner Stoy - Camera Hawaii
HIFI RECORD R607
1959
From the back cover: Arthur Lyman plays vibes, marimbas, congas, etc.; Alan Soares plays piano and celeste; John Kramer plays bass and percussions; and on the beat, Harold Chang, who plays as dazzling and overwhelming an array of percussion as you'll ever see or hear. The voice heard in "Lullaby Of The Leaves," the last track on side one, is charming Ethel Azama.
Once again, through the courtesy and generosity of Mr. Henry J. Kaiser, we have been permitted to record the Arthur Lyman group in the Aluminum Dome on the beautiful grounds of Mr. Kaiser's famed Hawaiian Village Hotel. Fabulous is an extravagant word, but the recorded sound in the Aluminum Dome is extravagantly good, so we'll call it fabulous. The very fine photography on the cover is that of Werner Stoy of Honolulu.
Perfect sound reproduction was achieved with 3 AKG Austrian microphones, a custom built Ampex 3-track 1/2" magnetic tape stereophonic recorder, and later painstakingly processing, using a scully automatically variable pitch lathe with latest Westrex cutting head to make the master disc. Frequency response is from 16 to 20,000 C.P.S. Pressings are custom pure virgin Vinyl.
White Goddess
Frank Hunter And His Orchestra
Kapp Records KS-3019
1959
The jacket notes indicate that Hunter used an "Ondioline, an electronic instrument designed in France, which issues a strange, vibrator sound when the entire keyboard is shifted." There are a lot of other-worldly sound in the mix. Like any good exotica recording you will find yourself transported to another world.
Ritual Of The Torch
Poinciana
Strange Echoes
Jungle Drums (Canto Karabali)
Pulse
Lost Plateau
White Goddess
Temple Bells
Lost In The Stars
Zimbahi
Mist Of Gorongoza
Jungle Fantasy
Marimbita
The Brilliant Sounds Of Leo Arnaud
Liberty Records LRP 3088 1958
This is a wonderful album with a jacket graced by the most exotic cover model, Anita Ekberg (who "can be seen with Bob Hope in United Artists' Paris Holiday").
Arnaud has a long list of film credits to his name and at least 4 albums, including this one. This project as a good as any exotica record I have yet to hear. Consistent, playful and exotic!
Martin Denny
Liberty Records LST-7237
1962
Cover Design: Studio Five
Apparently this is one Martin Denny album that never made it to CD. So I'll post a sample above. You can easily download the entire LP elsewhere.
In this case, a jacket note says it all: The exotic sound is especially well suited to the influence of jazz. I love Denny's lesser known small combo jazz stuff. This is a great album
Jungle Echoes
Chaino and his African Percussion Safari
Omega Records OSL 7 1959
Chaino is one of the elusive figures of space age pop. After growing up in Chicago, Leon Johnson left home and lived a fairly wild life, eventually taking up the bongos and making a name for himself as "Chaino" (taken perhaps from the great Cuban conga player, Chano Pozo?) on the "chitlins" circuit of black nightclubs. More at Space Age Pop
Great cover and wild exotica music, much of which is spiced up with grunts and groans. The B side leads off with a long and very funky track titled: Jungle Drum Variations. This is a cool recording.
Quiet Village The Exotic Sounds Of Martin Denny Producer: Si Waronker Color Photography: Ivan Nagy Cover Posed by Sandy Warner "the Exotica Girl" Liberty LRP 3122 & LST 7122 1959
Performing Group:
Martin Denny: Arranger-Composer, Piano, Celeste August Colon: Bongos, Congas, Bird Calls Julius Wechter: Vibes, Marimbas, Percussion Harvey Ragsdale: String Bass, Marimbula Raymond Alexander: Percussion Jose Bethancourt: Percussion John Frigo: String Bass
From Billboard - March 30, 1959: Liberty Records is re-releasing "Quiet Village," by Martin Denny. The disk (released as a single last October) suddenly showed up with heavy sales in Detroit three weeks ago, thereby prompting the label to re-release it nationally, including re-servicing of all radio stations.
The platter was originally featured in Denny's "Exotica" Volume 1 album. Meanwhile Denny, who just completed a six-week engagement at the Round Table here, opens at Bakers Keyboard Lounge, Detroit, this week, following which he plays a four-week date at London House in Chicago, starting April 15. He returns to Honolulu May 5, to resume a long-time run at Don the Beachcombers.
Stranger In Paradise Hawaiian War Chant Coronation Sake Rock Paradise Found Firecracker Martinique My Little Grass Shack In Kealakekua, Hawaii Cha Cha Cha Tune From Rangoon Happy Talk Pagan Love Song Quiet Village
Hawaiian Sunset The Sounds Of Arthur Lyman HIFIRECORD R807 1959
Also released, according to the sticker as seen above which is fixed the second cover shown, in stereo. The pressing came inside of the same jacket featuring the mono catalog number.
From the back cover: This recording was miked by three Austrian made AKG microphones and recorded by a custom built Ampex three channel Stereophonic magnetic tape recorder using 1/2" recording tape. Cutting of both the stereophonic and monaural disc was done by Westrex cutting heads and a Sully atomically variable pitch blade in connection with specially designed amplifiers. Exact engineering, painstaking processing and careful quality control make possible nil distortion, 16 to 20,000 CPS frequency range and noise level of minus 60 DB. Pressings are custom pure-virgin vinyl. This recording is also available on Stereophonic HIFIRECORD and pre-recorded HIFITAPE for stereophonic playback.
Hawaiian War Chant Sweet Leilani Imi Au Ia Oe My Tone Whispering Reef Ha Lei O Hawaii Isle Of Golden Dreams Mapuana Waipio Kawohikukapulani Ke Kali Nei Au Harbor Lights
