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.
© TiVo
Similar artists
-
-
-
-
-
Blue Tango Blue Mirage
Jazz - Released by SINETONE AMR on 6 mei 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Caribbean Moonlight
Pop - Released by SINETONE AMR on 1 jan. 1955
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Back To Black And White
Jazz - Released by btbaw sounds on 1 jul. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Holy Christmas Voices
Jazz - Released by HCVVV Voices timeless on 1 dec. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Yellow Dinner Music
Jazz - Released by Archive Catapulte on 3 sep. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ritual of the Savage (Hit 1951)
Pop - Released by JB Production on 20 nov. 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jazz Club, Vol. 2 (The Jazz Classics Music)
Jazz - Released by Fabulous Jazz Records on 16 mrt. 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jazz Club, Vol. 1 (The Jazz Classics Music)
Jazz - Released by Fabulous Jazz Records on 16 mrt. 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Easter Dance
Jazz - Released by Archive & Catapulte on 7 apr. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tea Time
Jazz - Released by Archive & Catapulte hits on 22 apr. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wild Guitars
Lounge - Released by Ancien Prodige on 11 apr. 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Goliath And The Barbarians (Hd Remastered Edition, Doxy Collection)
Lounge - Released by Doxy Records on 24 mei 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Calcutta
Traditionele jazz en dixieland - Released by Jasnet Records on 21 mrt. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Exotica Collection Volume Three
Jazz - Released by Marmot Music on 16 jul. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo