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Les Baxter - "Les Baxter's African Jazz" (1959) - Capitol Records
Jambo Friends,
We're in store for a sonic tiki trip to the dark continent tonight and there's no better tour guide than Les Baxter. So brush up on your swahili, put on your safari hats and let's go!
To quote the liner notes from this fantastic LP, "Africa still echoes with the primitive beat. But the continent is no longer dark. For ancient Africa has collided with the twentieth century and the result is a flamboyant explosion." Hmm.
The titles to some of these songs is worth the price of admission alone: "Congo Train", "Elephant Trail", "Banana Boy", "Mombasa After Midnight", "Walkin' Watusi", "Ostrich Hunt", "Cairo Bazaar", "Jungalero" & "Balinese Bongos". Between the cover art and these song titles, how could you see this record in 1959 and NOT buy it???
The album is all instrumental with all selections composed by Baxter. There's some jazzy trombone and tenor sax playing, but what stands out are the exotic percussion sounds and sound effects, punctuated by manic bongos, floating vibraphones and tiptoeing marimbas. (Not to mention some cool-sounding pre-surf rock guitar work on "Cairo Bazaar"!)
There's pretty much nothing not to love about this album... "a thrilling adventure in exotic sound!"
RATING: 4.5 Shrunken Heads out of 5
To quote the liner notes from this fantastic LP, "Africa still echoes with the primitive beat. But the continent is no longer dark. For ancient Africa has collided with the twentieth century and the result is a flamboyant explosion." Hmm.
The titles to some of these songs is worth the price of admission alone: "Congo Train", "Elephant Trail", "Banana Boy", "Mombasa After Midnight", "Walkin' Watusi", "Ostrich Hunt", "Cairo Bazaar", "Jungalero" & "Balinese Bongos". Between the cover art and these song titles, how could you see this record in 1959 and NOT buy it???
The album is all instrumental with all selections composed by Baxter. There's some jazzy trombone and tenor sax playing, but what stands out are the exotic percussion sounds and sound effects, punctuated by manic bongos, floating vibraphones and tiptoeing marimbas. (Not to mention some cool-sounding pre-surf rock guitar work on "Cairo Bazaar"!)
There's pretty much nothing not to love about this album... "a thrilling adventure in exotic sound!"
RATING: 4.5 Shrunken Heads out of 5
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