Les Baxter
Les Baxter is a pianist who composed and arranged for the top swing bands of the '40s and '50s, but he is better known as the founder of exotica, a variation of easy listening that glorified the sounds and styles of Polynesia, Africa, and South America, even as it retained the traditional string-and-horn arrangements of instrumental pop. Exotica became a massively popular trend in the '50s, with thousands of record buyers listening to Baxter, Martin Denny, and their imitators. Baxter also pioneered the use of the electronic instrument the theremin, which has a haunting, howling sound.
Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory and Pepperdine College in Los Angeles. After he completed school, he abandoned the piano and became a vocalist. When he was 23, he joined Mel Tormé's Mel-Tones. The group sang on Artie Shaw records, including the hit "What Is This Thing Called Love."
In 1950, he became an arranger and conductor for Capitol Records, working on hits by Nat King Cole, including "Mona Lisa." Around the same time, Baxter began recording his own albums. In 1948, he released a triple-78 album called Music out of the Moon, which ushered in space-age pop with its use of the theremin. Four years later, he began recording exotica albums with Le Sacre du Sauvage.
On his early-'50s singles Baxter was relatively straightforward, performing versions of standards like the number one hits "Unchained Melody" and "The Poor People of Paris," but on his albums he experimented with all sorts of world musics, adapting them for his orchestra. As he was recording his exotica albums, Baxter was also the musical director for the radio show Halls of Ivy, plus Abbott & Costello radio shows; he also composed over 100 film scores, concentrating on horror movies and teenage musicals and comedies, though he also did dramas like Giant.
Baxter's heyday was in the '50s and '60s. Although he continued to compose and record in the '70s, his output was sporadic. Nevertheless, a cult following formed around his exotica recordings that persisted into the '90s.
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Les Baxter's Teen Drums (Stereo Version)
Jazz - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Master of the World: Les Baxter at the Movies, Vol. 1
Film Soundtracks - Released by Red Bitch Music on 2 Sep 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Les Baxter's La Femme
Les Baxter, Franck Pourcel and His French Strings
Lounge - Released by Capitol Records on 1 Jan 1956
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Goliath & The Barbarians
Film Soundtracks - Released by Screenland Records on 1 Feb 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Remixed by The Newton Brothers
Electronic - Released by Bax Music on 5 Sep 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Suicide Tempel
Les Baxter, Robert Drasnin, The Exotic Sounds Of Arthur Lyman, Martin Denny and His Orchestra, Dominic Frontiere
Pop - Released by Hit that Record on 1 Aug 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Cry Of The Banshee (Original Motion Picture Score) / Edgar Allan Poe Suite (From The Original Television Score) / Horror Express (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Film Soundtracks - Released by Citadel - Mafy on 16 Mar 1996
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Whatever Lola Wants (Mono Version)
Pop - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Les Baxter's Balladeers
Pop - Released by Rhino - Warner Records on 23 May 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
From Saigon to Singapore : The Mysterious East
Pop - Released by Mach60 Music on 1 May 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Les Baxter's Young Pops
Rock - Released by CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92) on 1 Jan 1960
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Los Mejores Sonidos Por Les Baxter Y George Melachrino
Film Soundtracks - Released by Hhpvrdigital on 8 Aug 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
An Evening of Light Music and Romance, Vol. 2 (Various Artists)
Lounge - Released by Golden Sky Records on 31 Jan 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Voices In Rhythm
Pop - Released by Rhino - Warner Records on 3 Jan 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Panic in Year Zero! (Original Soundtrack) [1962]
Film Soundtracks - Released by Classic Soundtrack Collector on 1 Feb 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Round the World with Les Baxter + Skins! (Bongo Party with Les Baxter)
Jazz - Released by Sauvage Recordings on 2 Sep 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ports of Pleasure
Jazz - Released by Music Manager on 22 Jun 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jewels of the Sea
Jazz - Released by Trunk Records on 2 Mar 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -