Tamboo!

Album review

Long before the term "world music" leaped into the lexicon, pianist, composer, and arranger Les Baxter was plundering the globe in search of new sounds with which to entice listeners. Having already single-handedly invented space pop, with his pioneering use of the theremin in the early '50s, Baxter turned from Music Out of the Moon back to this planet, with a stream of albums that captured Earth's more exotic styles. Tamboo! was his epiphany, a set that circled the globe, but was presented in a wildly accessible style that even your gran would love. In many ways the music is reminiscent of the Technicolor Hollywood visions of foreign climes, à la South Pacific and other such films. But that's not surprising, considering the amount of music Baxter composed for Tinsel Town, and it certainly helped make this album so appealing. The bright and bustling "Havana" beautifully captures the excitement and allure of the pre-revolutionary capital, while "Tehran" wafts of exotic mystery, dancing girls, and whirling dervishes. In contrast, the effervescent "Cuchibamba" hints at Latin America's indigenous roots, and "Rio" at its sophistication and glamour. But it's the many African-inspired numbers that are the most intriguing -- the desert wind which seems to haunt the "Oasis of Dakhla," the tribal drumming which invades "Mozambique" and sweeps across the "Zambezi." Even at his most exotic, however, Baxter encapsulates all these elements in a Western context, his lavish orchestral arrangements and rich melodies taking the strangeness out of even the most alien foreign styles. It's brilliantly done, and helped to broaden American minds and widen musical views.

© Jo-Ann Greene /TiVo