Jasmine Jade - Axel Strodahl

 

Flamingo

Jasmine Jade

Axel Stordahl and His Orchestra

Cover Photo: Max Yauno

Dot Records DLP 25282

1960

From the back cover: 

A whiff of jasmine, a flash of jade.

A winding street in Singapore.

A sheik's outrigger on a moon-drenched beach.

A multi-colored bird in a jungle glade.

A tropical breeze, like sandalwood and wine.

Mystery peering through beaded curtains.

These are some of the exotic images women into the rich fabric of Axel Stordahl's sensuous arrangements. The scenes. scents and sounds of faraway places have been masterfully evoked without the use of animal noises and bird-calls, for Axel has taken great pains to create his effects using only actual musical instruments. Some are unusual – such as the boo-bams in "Japanese Sandman," and the Chinese bells in "Baubles, Bangles and Beads," but basically the orchestra has the conventional components – stings, reeds, brass and percussion. The secret lies in the ingenious ways in which they are used.

Axel Strodahl is an old hand at the exciting basins of producing unusual sounds. He claims that he became an arranger in self-defense, because he couldn't stand the sounds he emitted when he was a trouper-layer. Allowing for a little exaggerated modesty, the fact remains that he did play trumpet briefly with the early Tommy Dorsey orchestra, for which he also sang and, later, arranged over a period of seven years. Following this fairly steady job, Axel found himself on the West Coast where he began another career as conductor-arranger for his former Dorsey sidekick, Frank Sinatra. Stordahl spent nearly eleven years in that association, one which embraced the fields of radio, television, recordings and personal appearances. Since then he has put in four years of the Coca-Cola show with Eddie Fisher, a season with Gisele Mackenzie, and has been musical director on numerous television spectaculars.

Axel and his wife, talented singer June Hutton, are residents of Encino, California. That is, they have a home there with daughter Susie and son Jeff. But they really "live" on their new sailboat, the Saga II, which graces a slip at Newport, California, an on which the whole family cruises at every opportunity. Perhaps they dream of extending the range of the Saga II to the faraway, exotic lands this album speaks of so eloquently. In any case, the music which Axel has coaxed out of his wonderful orchestra will transport the listener as surely and pliantly as any luxury liner, to the lands of enchantment.

From Billboard - June 11, 1960: A striking color photo of a colorful bird gives this package solid display value. Contents spotlight lushly exotic instrumental treatments of romantic oldies and a few originals. Utilizing such off-beat instruments as Chinese bells and the boo-bams with regular sections – strings, reeds, brass, percussion – Stordahl interprets "Moonlight On The Ganges," "Baubles, Bangles And Beads," etc. Sock Jockey wax for mood segs.

Moonlight On The Gauges

Baubles, Bangles And Beads

The Moon Of Manakoora

Japanese Sandman

Neiani

Caravan

Jasmine And Jade

Bali' Ha'i

On A Little Street In Singapore

Flamingo

Pagan Love Song

Lotus Island