Maderas que Cantan

La Marimba

Maderas que Cantan
Marimba de Zeferino
Hermanos Nandayapa
Arregios y Direccion de Rafael Carrion
Harmony Columbia HL 8149

Mexican pressing probably late 50s early 60s. I found this in a Northern Kentucky thrift today.

Hammond Organ Hits Of 1967

Song Of India

Hammond Organ Hits Of 1967
In The Ken Griffin Style
Ashley Tappin At Piccadilly Gardens In London
Somerset SF-28300

Obscure LP and artist. Nice cover of exotica favorite, Song Of India.

Hammond Gone Cha-Cha

I Got Plenty Of Nuttin'

Hammond Gone Cha-Cha

Jackie Davis At The Console

Plus Latin Rhythms In Danceable New Cha-Cha Stylings

Produced by Bill Miller

Hammond Organ on cover courtesy of Penny-Owsley Music, Co.
Capitol Records ST 1338
1959

From Billboard - March 21, 1960: Organist Davis serves up a listenable set of cha chas that should appeal to fanciers of the popular Latin, terp step. Included are "The Glow Worm," "A Woman In Love" and "Perfidy." Fine sound and an attractive cover will help lure sales.

Ain't She Sweet!

A Woman In Love

Rain On The Roof

Heat Wave

In A Little Spanish Town

Then I'll Be Happy

Lady, Play Your Mandolin

I Got Plenty Of Nuttin'

The Glow Worm

Perfidia

Love Is Just Around The Corner 

Manana

Cha Cha Cha - En Marte

Fallo Cabrera y su Congunto

Cha Cha Cha
En Marte
Peerless
Fabrica De Discos Peerless, S.A.
LPP 105

10 inch 33 RPM.

Obscure late 50s Cha Cha record from Peerless which sold record, for the most part in Latin America and some communities in the Southwest United State.

Muzak - New Dimensions

Those Were The Days

New Dimension
Volume 2
Muzak H-I (1) 35A

1969

Only that Muzak sound can bring up the memories of that trip to the local Woolworth's department store. Your mother made you hold packages of women's underwear while she tried on shoes. You sat there red faced as you watched the school bully shoplift the latest Beatles album. He sees you looking at him and makes a menacing motion that he is going to kill you.

Yes, those were the days!

The Look Of Love
Love Is Blue
What A Wonderful World
With Pen In Hand
Master Jack
Step To The Rear
Little Green Apples
Autumn Of My Life
What The World Needs Now
Mrs. Robinson
Do You Know The Way To San Jose
Those Were The Days

Organ Favorites - Beverly Laine

Organ Favorites
Beverly Laine & Eddie Truman
Tops L1512
1957

Nice pop organ album from TOPS. This was one of those albums that I would have thought would be fairly obscure. It is, except that all of the songs are available for download at the usual online resources. Again, why some albums are digitized and sold and others are not... I'll never know why.

What is obscure are the artists. I can't find any bio information online.

This is second example of "microgroove" technology from Tops that I've listened to in the past several days. Both pressings sound thin. I attributed the sound of the first record to a bad pressing, but I'm not sure now.

Cha-Cha-Cha And Mambo

Virgin Isle Mambo

Cha-Cha-Cha And Mambo
Tops L1535
1957

Budget release featuring Perez Prado, Tito Rodriguez, Miguelito Valdez, Nat Charles and Jose Gomez. However, tracks aren't attributed to the artists.

The pressing is not good. Hopefully the entire run wasn't manufactured like my copy.

Manufacturing issues aside, the "B" mambo side is peppy play through.

Tropical Rhythms For Dancing

Mambo Borracho

Tropical Rhythms For Dancing
Mucho Merenguy Mucho Ritmo
La Sondra Sensacion
Enrique Lynch Y Orquestra
Columbia Records EX 5064

I post this obscure LP today featuring a Peruvian Orchestra leader, Enrique Lynch. There are numerous hits online with returns for various recordings, but no hard bio information (at least in English).

This album is a mix of vocals and instrumentals, and while there is some english on the cover, this LP was produced by Industrial Sono Radio, S.A., Peru and apparently imported. The music is peppy, all-be-it fairly traditional, Latin big band.

This album was a radio station copy, WAEF-FM. WAEF (104.3) which is now WRPM (98.5), Cincinnati, Ohio.

Three Suns - Midnight For Two

When Yuba Plays The Rumba On The Tuba

Midnight For Two
The Three Suns With Pipe Organ
With Ray Bohr on the Pipe Organ
Produced by Al Nevins
Arranged by Side Ramin
Photo by Murray Laden
RCA Victor LPM-1333
1957

From the back cover: Al Nevins recruited Sid Ramin, arranger extraordinary, and planned this project step by step. Sid Ramin, well seasoned by years of conjuring the spectacular scores of the Milton Berle TV shows and many other choice assignments, delivered the Three Suns with a new sound. The taste, talent and style remained the same, however – the addition was a to be only one more person with a tremendous calling – the pipe organ. One of New York's largest theaters was then recruited to cage the nightly pipe organ with the Three Suns. Take a few standards, sprinkle with brightness, add a fresh face and another enchanting album is completed.

Ray Bohr has excellent on the pipe organ and presented a new friend with the Three Suns. Twelve arrangements, delightfully planned by Sid Ramin, are coupled on one disc to provide an experience after dark for the most discriminating. – Noel R. Kramer

The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise
When Yuba Plays The Rumba On The Tuba
Memory Lane
Blue Tango
I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance
Intermission Time
Stella By Starlight
Cumana
Midnight For Two
Ain't Misbehavin'
Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
The Very Thought Of You

Mandolino Italiano

Guaglione

Mandolino Italiano
Dick Dia, His Mandolin & Orchestra
Audio Fidelity AFSD 5923
1960

There are a few great "space age" mandolin tracks on this LP. As usual, Audio Fidelity comes through with slightly off beat take on traditional music.

Not much to be found on Dia. From the back cover: "For many years he has had his own orchestra, and also served as musical director of New York Radio Station WOV for fifteen years. He also apparently played with Perry Como, Jackie Gleason, The Ames Brothers and Johnny Desmond.

Fiesta For Pipe Organ - Alfredo Mendez

Sway (sample)

Album

Fiesta For Pipe Organ
Alfredo Mendez
RCA Victor LPM-1444
1957

The last type of "Latin" album I expected to run across was one featuring the pipe organ. But here you have it! I'm a big fan of Korla Pandit, who played the organ in more of a "percussion style". Few artists, that I know of, played this way. I might have expected to hear "Latin" like this from him.  In fact, Pandit covered one tune on this album, Espana Cana.

There is slim mention of Mendez online. He played on a Three Suns album, The Things I Love In Hi-Fi. There is very little to go on. Jacket notes indicate that he was "friends" with Ernesto Lecuona, a noted Cuban composer who helped "develop Mendez' feelings for tropical music".

There is also one interesting note about the Mendez writing a concerto for the pipe organ and the sounds of space and motion. "Unique? Imagine if you will, a pipe organ accompanied by vacuum cleaners, blenders, air conditioners, and other appliances!"

Hmmm... I wonder if there was a recording made of that piece of music?!!

The sample, Sway, is a much recorded tune written by Pablo Beltran Ruiz and made famous by Dean Martin in 1954.

Info about downloads and my blog.

Ted Heath - Pop Hits From The Classics

Pop Hits From The Classics
Ted Heath
London LL3124

I can't find a release date for this album. You can find it online in CD and by-the-download.

You wouldn't get the original cover art with the digitized versions. The music is way easy listening.

Heath albums can sport fun art. In this case "cutting long hair". An image that seems odd today. But "long hair" was a way of saying "stuffy" especially when it came to classical music (long hair music). This would be a visual way of saying "I'm made the classics cool."