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exotica-digest         Thursday, April 8 1999         Volume 02 : Number 365



In This Digest:

Re: (exotica) Should be a National Holiday!
Re: (exotica) Answer this pt.3
Re:  Re: (exotica) Now, on to music I __dig__(longish)
Re: (exotica) Re:answer this!
(exotica) Hawaiian Shirts
Re: (exotica) Summertime and the listening is e-z
(exotica) Afro cuban question
(exotica) Me, the Gap and the damn zeitgeist
(exotica) More Kriminalfilmusik
Re: (exotica) More Kriminalfilmusik
(exotica) Re: Ortolani/Legrand
Re: (exotica) New eXotica Releases Overview Update
(exotica) Big Jim Sullivan
Re: (exotica) New eXotica Releases Overview Update
Re: (exotica) Big Jim Sullivan
(exotica) RE: Sitar/Big Jim Sullivan
(exotica) I'm feelin' a little vocal today
Re: (exotica) Summertime and the listening is e-z
(exotica) Re: Answer this pt.3
(exotica) more obits: Red Norvo
Re: (exotica) New eXotica Releases Overview Update
Re: (exotica) Big Jim Sullivan
Re: (exotica) Big Jim Sullivan
Re: (exotica) New eXotica Releases Overview Update
Re: (exotica) Me, the Gap and the damn zeitgeist
Re: (exotica) Big Jim Sullivan
Re: (exotica) Me, the Gap and the damn zeitgeist
Re: (exotica) Big Jim Sullivan
Re: (exotica) RE: Sitar/Big Jim Sullivan

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 07 Apr 1999 17:27:18 -0700
From: "Kevin C." <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Should be a National Holiday!

Lloyd Kandell wrote:
>
> My fellow exoticans-
>
> It's that time of year again... on April 10, the kahuna of the 88s,
> Martin Denny turns 88! So send your Birthday wishes to the list

Man! I was going to post a message on Friday on this...

Mr. Denny,
Wishes to you for a very, very happy birthday. Your music continues to gain new
fans! Will definitely sip a Mai Tai in your honor, while playing all your
wonderful records on Saturday.
Kevin Crossman
The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai
http://www.kevdo.com/maitai/


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Date: Wed, 07 Apr 1999 17:33:16 -0700
From: "Kevin C." <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Answer this pt.3

Lou Smith wrote:
>  1. Are you a musician? Explain...
Not unless turning on the CD player counts...

>  2. Space-age/exotic LP/CD that turned you on to this?
Robert Drasnin Voodoo! (mentioned in Wired Magazine)

>  3. This list could help you more by...
Gosh, it is already so highly useful... how much more useful could it be?

>  4. Other exotica/things you collect
Fake plastic tikis from the Islands. Mai Tai recipes. Exotica CDs... and now
records.

>  5. Unrelated music genres/acts you like
Oingo Boingo and Danny Elfman soundtrack stuff
Pet Shop Boys and other Eurodisco...
Heavy metal, grunge, 80's new wave, a bit of reggae. Almost anything except rap,
country, and most jazz.

>  6. What are you just dying to tell us?
I have really enjoyed the discussions here and geeking out into exotica this
year. I keep a file with bits of facts that people submit, and integrate it with
stuff from the Web, articles from magazine, old issues of Tiki News, etc.

>  7. Own a fez?  If so, what color, texture and tassel color? Describe it or
> other lounge-wear of which you are proud?
I like Hawaiian shirts...


>  8. Shaken/stirred?
Shaken!

Kevin Crossman
The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai
http://www.kevdo.com/maitai/


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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 7 Apr 1999 20:33:23 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re:  Re: (exotica) Now, on to music I __dig__(longish)

In a message dated 4/7/99 5:24:09 PM, [e-mail] wrote:

>sound like on the '66 album

the ALMIGHTY year for pop, garage, soul, and the swingin'
generation....Jimmy/Class of '66


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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 7 Apr 1999 20:48:17 -0400
From: "Brian Tozer" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Re:answer this!

Nat Kone wrote:

<italic>>I have to ask.  Gaslight.  Was that an Ugly Ducklings tribute
band?


</italic>No.  We were called "The Cult" (yes, 10 years before that other
band!) and one day our agent called and said, "I can't sell the band
under that name.  You're Gaslight as of today."  Of course he got
the name from the Ugly Ducklings song.  We were playing that
"Research at Beach Resorts" circuit and he wanted a less
offensive name to sell.


<italic>>(I'm trying to come up with some kind of "exotica content" vis a vis

legendary Ontario rock bands of the sixties.


</italic>Ontario wasn't exactly a hotbed of exotica, but Mckenna
Mendelson Mainline did "Misty" on their "Live at the Victory
Burlesque" album.  And, of course, Mendelson Joe has always had
a streak of kitsch running through his music!

By the way, if any non-Canadian listers ever spot "Stink" by
Mckenna Mendelson Mainline, it's certainly worth a spin.  Not the
normal fare for this list, but bawdy, dirty, swing/rock/jazzy blues
with a healthy dose of humor thrown in.


Brian T

<nofill>


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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 7 Apr 1999 20:46:09 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (exotica) Hawaiian Shirts

In a message dated 4/7/99 8:33:37 PM, [e-mail] wrote:

>I like Hawaiian shirts...

I really hate to say this, particularly in light of all that has been said
about the Gap, particularly from our resident optometrist, Robert Brooks, but
The Gap has managed in their own way to come up with some spectacular
replicas of 50's Hawaiian shirts. There are several models to choose from.
Two struck my fancy. One has that "little grass shack" theme, palm trees,
beach, sand, skies. and the proverbial shack, all in a 50's styled repetitive
pattern. Another has the "Newer Hawaii" theme--same beach, same trees, same
skies, but a corporate hotel in place of the l'il grass shack. The hotel is
tastefully placed behind all the trees, and off the beach which lies in front
of it (all still in that inimitable 50's pattern). I'll admit it; I bought
the two I liked and I just know the fellas are all gonna ax me can I get 'em
one


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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 07 Apr 1999 21:27:07 -0400
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: (exotica) Summertime and the listening is e-z

> Does anybody else like to sorta reserve their exotica music records for the
> warmer months(this would apply to areas where there are indeed
> _seasons__...when I lived in Tampa, Fl, it was hot all year_)?

I think it might be more fun to listen to them in the winter.  That's to
re-create the whole 'fakeness' of the exotica sounds, which was originally for
the ex-WW2 soldiers trying to add an element of the South Seas to their
surburban lives.  If you had money back then, you travelled to Hawaii in the
dead of winter to get away from the cold and the snow.....else you were limited
to putting those Martin Denny records on the turntable.

For me, the exotica scene isn't about recreating the Polynesian experience.....
it's about recreating the atmosphere of someone in the early 60's recreating
the Polynesian experience.

And playing exotica music in the dead of winter does a good job of doing this.

Vern



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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 07 Apr 1999 22:38:30 -0400
From: Nat Kone <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Afro cuban question

What's the name of that guy who sort of introduced Dizzy Gillespie to that
latin sound?  Is that Chano Pozo?  Whoever he was, did he make his own
records?  And what are other examples of mambo or afro-cuban music of that
type?  I'm not looking for music like Tito Puente or Perez Prado where the
tunes are usually shorter and tighter but more for the more sort of
"jazz-oriented" stuff with much longer cuts and a bit of soloing?  If that
makes it clear...

Nat



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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 07 Apr 1999 22:38:33 -0400
From: Nat Kone <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Me, the Gap and the damn zeitgeist

I saw that go-go Gap commercial that someone posted about the other day here.
In the last few months when people asked me to describe the kind of
sixties, "Now Sound", instrumental rock I had become obsessed by, I was in
the habit of saying "You know how on some sixties variety show, like
Laugh-In, they'd have some go-go dancer sequence?  And they'd have their
version of groovy go-go rock.  And of course, back then I'd get all upset
because their version of rock music was like nothing I recognized as rock
music. Well now, that fake rock is basically the centre of my taste".
So it's doubly shocking to see that commercial.  Not only have they got the
music right but except for the clothes, they've got the dancing right too.
Once upon a time, I might have thought "they read my mind" but by now I
have gotten used to the fact that everything - no matter how obscure - gets
"co-opted".
Of course I don't think they got it from me.  It's part of the zeitgeist.
But it is strange when something you considered an example of your "bad" taste
is identified as somehow cool and young and commercial.
I always knew I was ultra-cool but it's a real stretch to use the other two
words with me.
Oh and as far as where you can get music like that, it's all over the
place.  On old LP's anyway.  Can't speak for CD's.  (Ask Cheryl or Brian)
On LP you can get that go-go-Gap sound with the T-Bones, late Sandy Nelson
(but not those "beat" or "drum" records), "Batman" records (like the
Batboys or the Marketts) and even some Brass Ring.  If you want the same
feel but you don't need the organ sound, there's the Ventures.  And then
there are countless, nameless, faceless records with words like go-go on them.

Nat



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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 7 Apr 1999 22:51:24 -0500
From: "Brian Karasick" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) More Kriminalfilmusik

Just listening to Peter Thomas' Kriminalfilmusik with much
relief after that last Warp Back to Earth 2CD set that I still don't
know what to think about...  Anyway, seems the same label,
SCC/Prudence is responsible for two volumes of similar material with
the identical title but by another German musical heavyweight, Martin
Bottcher.  Anyone heard these yet as they're must haves on my list?
I hear they promise more Edgar Wallace film material.



Brian Karasick
Physical Planner
McGill University
Montreal, Canada


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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 10:11:17 +0200
From: Moritz R <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) More Kriminalfilmusik

Brian Karasick wrote:

> Just listening to Peter Thomas' Kriminalfilmusik with much
> relief after that last Warp Back to Earth 2CD set that I still don't
> know what to think about...  Anyway, seems the same label,
> SCC/Prudence is responsible for two volumes of similar material with
> the identical title but by another German musical heavyweight, Martin
> Bottcher.  Anyone heard these yet as they're must haves on my list?
> I hear they promise more Edgar Wallace film material.
>
>

I only wish I knew so much about German music as Brian does. I always
considered Martin Bottcher as a real lightweight, although he wrote the film
music of "Winnetou" and provided me with one essential childhood melody. But
anything else I heard since sounded really lame and sleepy-easy. Would
surprise me, if there was something hidden of real interest.

- -Mo

- ------------------------------------

#Exotica  mailing list frequently asked questions at:
http://home.munich.netsurf.de/Moritz.Reichelt/exofaq.html




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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 10:16:41 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Jean Leneutre <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Re: Ortolani/Legrand

It could be "BANDE A PART"  (US title: BAND OF OUTSIDERS), 1964
featuring Anna karina, Claude Brasseur and Sami Frey.

This film seems to have influenced some contemporary american
film directors such as Hal Hartley (the scene of the dance to a jukebox
in a cafe from "simple men" comes from this film), or Quentin Tarantino
(his production company is called "A band apart").

To be sure whether it's the film you are refering to, you can check at
http://allmovie.com/
there must be an entry for this film.

Jean.

> Date: Wed, 7 Apr 1999 14:56:27 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Ben Waugh <[e-mail]>
> Re: Subject: (exotica) Ortolani/Legrand

> (...)I saw a J-L Goddard film a few weeks back. I stuck
> around to catch the composer and was surprised to see
> Michel Le grand's name. The music to this film was
> wild menacing beat jazz: I had never heard anything by
> Legrand that went at this pace and was free of sugary
> strings. I have forgotten the name of the film and the
> rental shop swears they not only do not stock it now,
> but have never had a Goddard film in stock. The basic
> story involved two youngish petty thug types who meet
> a girl in an English clash and lure/strongarm her into
> a shabby scheme to burglarize the rooms of her
> guardian (who is accidentally killed in the botched
> job). I go into all this in hopes someone out there
> knows this film and can help me land the ST.

> Thanks


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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 10:26:11 +0100
From: Robbie Baldock <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) New eXotica Releases Overview Update

Johan Dada Vis wrote:

>  * Various Artists: "2069 Spaced Oddity"
>        LP, Grand Gruyere, UK, 1999

Has anyone heard this?  I saw it in a shop at the weekend and was
curious.


Robbie


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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 10:44:04 +0100
From: "Charles Moseley" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Big Jim Sullivan

Big Jim Sullivan's Sitar Beat LP is excellent. Sunshine Superman is on the
Further Inflight Entertainment LP. Most other tracks are very laid back
sitar over gentle pop tunes. Very heavy with the sitar and quite serious
unlike the Lord Sitar LP which is far more trivial. Big Jim obviously takes
his work very seriously.

Big Jim Sullivan - Sitar Beat
Lord Sitar - Lord Sitar
Chom Kitari - Sound of Sitar
Segram - Pop Explosion Sitar Style
Anandar SHankar - And his Music
Anandar Shankar - Anandar Shankar
Bill Plummer and His Cosmic Brotherhood - Journey to the East



Anybody else care to recommend and other Western/pop sitar LPs?


Thanks all


Charlie





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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 07 Apr 99 17:37:08 PDT
From: "Jill Mingo" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) New eXotica Releases Overview Update

- ----------
>
> Johan Dada Vis wrote:
>
> >  * Various Artists: "2069 Spaced Oddity"
> >        LP, Grand Gruyere, UK, 1999
>
> Has anyone heard this?  I saw it in a shop at the weekend and was
> curious.

It's a bootleg. There are a few classic hard to find tracks on there like=
 "Bodybuilding" by Orchester Werner Mueller, which was sampled by some =
beatz type band recently. Someone will know who. I don't care. But it's =
pretty much a compilation of hard to find sought after stuff - some sough=
t after by markets different from the exoticatz. Mainly a DJ tool more =
than a listening extravaganza,if you know what I mean.

x Jill "Mingo-go"



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Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 12:17:55 +0100
From: Robbie Baldock <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Big Jim Sullivan

Charles Moseley wrote:

> Anybody else care to recommend and other Western/pop sitar LPs?

Ananda Shankar - Melodies from India (EMI India)

I know Vinnie Bell released at least 2 sitar LPs.

And how could you forget:

Rajput and the Sepoy Mutiny - "Flower Power Sitar"?!


Robbie


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Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 08:05:46 -0400
From: "Bryan J. Cuevas" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) RE: Sitar/Big Jim Sullivan

>Big Jim Sullivan - Sitar Beat
>Lord Sitar - Lord Sitar
>Chom Kitari - Sound of Sitar
>Segram - Pop Explosion Sitar Style
>Anandar SHankar - And his Music
>Anandar Shankar - Anandar Shankar
>Bill Plummer and His Cosmic Brotherhood - Journey to the East

>Anybody else care to recommend and other Western/pop sitar LPs?
>Charlie

Sure, also check out
Alan Lorber Orchestra - The Lotus Palace (1967)
The Golden Leaves - A Love Affair (1968?)
Martin Denny - Taste of India (1967) *this one is underappreciated, I
really dig it.
Jackie Gleason - The `Now' Sound...For Today's Lovers (1967)

bryan c.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Bryan J. Cuevas
Department of Religious Studies
University of Virginia
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=




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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 08:35:58 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (exotica) I'm feelin' a little vocal today

Good morning or good(insert daytime here)________ everyone,

Would anyone like to yammer for a bit about any of these vocal groups or any
other similar wailin' groovies that come to mind,

Novi Quartet
Paris Studio Group
Singers Unlimited
The Association

My exposure to the above groups is limited to a few songs by The Paris Studio
Group that I've heard on various compilations, and of course the standard
popular songs by The Association.  As for Singers Unlimited, my interest in
them was peaked by the fact that Dusty Groove sells a 7 CD/14 album set,
which is impressive in and of itself.  So if anyone might like to compare and
contrast for me, I would be (as usual) greatly in your debt.

Thanks,

- -Roy

Transmission ends................................


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Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 09:23:45 -0400
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Summertime and the listening is e-z

For me, the exotica scene isn't about recreating the Polynesian
experience.....
it's about recreating the atmosphere of someone in the early 60's
recreating
the Polynesian experience.
And playing exotica music in the dead of winter does a good job of doing
this.
Vern



And Vern, on that point, I totally agree with you!  That's why my pad
      explores that ideology:  I have a tiki/jungle exotica room, and a
      "space/age" room in my apartment.  And, I also find the "Crime Jazz"
      genre very warming on those cooolllldddd days!
      Jane Fondle





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Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 07:12:17 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Eric Marvin)
Subject: (exotica) Re: Answer this pt.3

     1. Are you a musician? Explain...
      - Former piano teacher.  Not really a performer, just like to
     experiment.

      2. Space-age/exotic LP/CD that turned you on to this?
      - UL Bachelor Party. From there straight to Denny and Baxter and now
     soundtracks.

      3. This list could help you more by...
      - Good as it is.

      4. Other exotica/things you collect
      - Dust

      5. Unrelated music genres/acts you like
      - Monk and other Jazz. Mostly Piano oriented.

      6. What are you just dying to tell us?
      - How wonderful the soundtracks to early 70's cop/action TV shows are
     and how frustrated I am that they were never released.

      7. Own a fez?  If so, what color, texture and tassel color? Describe
     it or
     other lounge-wear of which you are proud?
      - Sorry, no lounge wear.  Never even ben in a "lounge."

      I think we added this last time around:
      8. Shaken/stirred?
      - Neither.  I prefer punch.


     Eric


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Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 10:07:47 -0500
From: Lou Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) more obits: Red Norvo

    SANTA MONICA, Calif., April 7 (UPI) -- Jazz vibraphonist Red Norvo, who
pioneered the use of mallet instruments in the field of jazz, is dead at 91.=
=20
    Norvo, who began his career in the 1930's, died Tuesday at the Fireside
Convalescent Hospital in Santa Monica, Calif.=20
    In addition to stints with Paul Whiteman's big band, Benny Goodman's
orchestra and Woody Herman's band, Norvo also led several small groups of
his own. One of his trios in the early '50s featured legendary bassist
Charles Mingus.=20
    Norvo also toured with Frank Sinatra and appeared on television with
Sinatra, Dinah Shore and Johnny Carson.=20
    While playing with Whiteman, Norvo met singer Mildred Bailey. They
eventually married, and formed a series of small jazz groups, billing
themselves as ``Mr. and Mrs. Swing.''=20
    Born Kenneth Norville in Beardstown, Ill., Norvo was a self-taught
musician. He switched from the xylophone to the vibraphone in the early '40s
and developed a light, gently swinging sound that made him a favorite in Las
Vegas throughout the 1950s.=20
    He also became a regular performer at international jazz festivals in
Newport, Montreal, Berlin and Monterey throughout the '60s and early '70s.=
=20
    His recordings included ``Vibes a la Red'' and ``Back to the Roots.'' =20
    Norvo retired briefly in the early '70s, but resumed playing limited dates
until a stroke forced him to stop playing altogether in the early '90s.=20
    After his first wife died in 1951, Norvo married Eve Rogers. She died in=
 1992.=20
         =09
April 8, 1999
Red Norvo, 91, Effervescent Jazzman, Dies
By PETER WATROUS,NYTimes
Red Norvo, one of jazz's early vibraphonists and a gifted band leader whose
groups greatly influenced American music and backed singers like Mildred
Bailey, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra, died on Tuesday at a convalescent
home in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 91.=20

Norvo helped introduce the xylophone and later the vibraphone as legitimate
jazz instruments. But playing an unusual instrument was not what earned him,
early in his career, spots in some of jazz's most important orchestras,
including the groups of Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnet and
Woody Herman. Norvo was a genuine improviser, effervescent, intelligent and
searching, and even his early solos reflect a literate sensibility,
embracing both the classical and jazz worlds.=20

A typical Norvo solo dives and turns, nudging the harmony with astringent
dissonances. He had a way of keeping his lines happy; they bounce with a
firm sense of swing. But underneath was an element of darkness, an
exploratory urge that led his improvisations into corners where most
improvisers would not venture. On "Blues =E0 la Red," from 1944, Norvo's=
 solo
uses odd figures and a streamlined swing that mix perfectly: riffs and lines
and melodies all combining for a powerful statement.=20

Norvo, who was born Kenneth Norville in Beardstown, Ill., sold his pet pony
to help pay for his first instrument, a marimba. He started his career in
Chicago with a band called the Collegians in 1925. In the late 1920's he
joined an all-marimba band, playing the vaudeville circuit. (He also
tap-danced and played xylophone.)=20

He changed his name after a vaudeville announcer pronounced it incorrectly,
and it appeared that way in Variety. "It stuck," he told an interviewer, "so
I kept it."=20

When he graduated to the Whiteman orchestra, he met Bailey, a singer in the
band, whom he married in 1930; they were nicknamed "Mr. and Mrs. Swing" and
remained together for 12 years. They were still friends when Bailey died in
1951.=20

The couple formed their own band in 1936, using the innovative arranger
Eddie Sauter to write much of their material. They had several hits,
including "Rockin' Chair," "Please Be Kind" and "Says My Heart," and their
work was well respected by musicians, who found the arrangements=
 sophisticated.=20

But Norvo was not simply producing pop music with his wife. He was one of
the earliest musicians to take refuge in the jazz clubs that once lined West
52d Street in Manhattan, and he worked there at the Famous Door with a group
that had neither a drummer nor a piano. The group and the music it played
helped set Norvo's reputation as a leader with experimental ideas, a jazz
musician who liked to play quietly. The music quickly came to be called
chamber jazz.=20

In 1933, the year he first recorded under his own name, he produced some of
the most unusual recorded jazz of the time, including Bix Beiderbecke's "In
a Mist" and his own "Dance of the Octopus," using a group that included
Benny Goodman on bass clarinet and himself on marimba, accompanied by guitar
and bass. And he was cultivating his own bands, with a fine ear for talent.
In 1934 he led a group with Artie Shaw and Charlie Barnet as sidemen, and
recorded with Chu Berry, Teddy Wilson, Bunny Berigan and Gene Krupa.=20

Norvo offered a singing spot to Frank Sinatra in 1939, but he turned them
down as he had just signed a contract with Harry James. Sinatra and Norvo
remained friends, however, and the Norvo band influenced Sinatra's music.=20

In 1944 Norvo joined Benny Goodman's sextet, and a year later played with
the First Herd of Woody Herman, an orchestra that was proud of its harmonic
innovations. It was in the middle 1940's that Norvo moved from the
xylophone, an acoustic instrument, to the vibraphone, an electrified
version. At that point he undertook an innovative recording project, merging
some of the best of the swing-era improvisers with the leaders of the be-bop
movement, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.=20

The session, recorded for Comet records, included Norvo, Gillespie on
trumpet, Charlie Parker and Flip Phillips on saxophones, Teddy Wilson on
piano, Slam Stewart on bass and Specs Powell and J. C. Heard on drums. They
recorded "Hallelujah," "Get Happy," "Slam Slam Blues" and "Congo Blues," and
the result was some of the most highly regarded music of the era.=20

Two years later, having moved to California from New York with his second
wife, Eve Rogers, Norvo decided to form a small group.=20

(It was hard for him to find good musicians in California at that time.) He
brought together Tal Farlow on guitar and Red Kelly on bass. The bassist
Charles Mingus, who had worked with Norvo when his group backed Billie
Holiday, replaced Kelly in 1950, and the three produced extremely light but
swinging and complicated music that was almost shocking in its virtuosity,
full of rapid tempo changes and sophisticated harmonies.=20

The band, regarded as one of the finest small groups in jazz history,
recorded for two years; later trios included the guitarist Jimmy Raney and
the bassist Red Mitchell.=20

Norvo kept busy even during jazz's slack periods. He worked with Goodman in
1959 and 1961, and recorded regularly in the late 1950's, for Contemporary,
Victory and Fantasy Records. And in 1957 he resumed his relationship with
Sinatra, who would come to Norvo's shows at the Desert Inn in Palm Springs,
Calif.=20

A year later Sinatra hired Norvo for the Sands in Las Vegas. It was there
that Sinatra came up with the idea of touring with Norvo, which they did in
1959. The association lasted nearly 20 years. Sinatra liked to have Norvo
and his band at the Sands, so that he could perform with a jazz group
whenever he wanted. Norvo often toured under the auspices of the jazz
entrepreneur George Wein as well.=20

In the 1960's Norvo suffered partial hearing loss after an infection and
compounded the problem at a shooting range when a gun discharged next to his
ear. Surgery and a hearing aid helped him regain some hearing. Then in the
1970's, after his wife and one of their two sons died within a short time,
he stopped playing for two years.=20

He is survived by a daughter, Portia Corlin of Santa Monica; a son, Mark,
and one grandchild.=20

He began to work again at a club in Las Vegas and for the rest of his career
kept recording and touring regularly. A stroke in the mid-1980's, forced him
into retirement, but even in his last years his performances were often
marvels of intelligent swinging.=20


See also:
http://elvispelvis.com/rednorvo.htm




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Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 16:39:54 +0100
From: Peter Hipwell <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) New eXotica Releases Overview Update

> From: Robbie Baldock <[e-mail]>
> Johan Dada Vis wrote:
>
> >  * Various Artists: "2069 Spaced Oddity"
> >        LP, Grand Gruyere, UK, 1999
>
> Has anyone heard this?  I saw it in a shop at the weekend and was
> curious.
>

The first track, Werner Muller's "Bodybuilder" was plagiarized in a
vastly more boring version as "Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out" by
Bentley Rhythm Ace. Basically, they constructed that song by sampling
a part of Bodybuilder, leaving a bunch of interesting scary voice
snippets out. IMHO, that track is a stone-cold jaw-dropping
classic. (It's on Muller's "The Strip Goes On" album, which may be a
German-only release, dunno). If the rest of the tracks are up to that
standard, it'll be a must-buy. Any more info, anyone?



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Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 11:42:50 -0400
From: cheryl <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Big Jim Sullivan

> Anybody else care to recommend and other Western/pop sitar LPs?

Bill "Ravi" Harris and the Prophets: Funky Sitar Man


cheryl


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Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 16:48:47 +0100
From: Peter Hipwell <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Big Jim Sullivan

> From: "Charles Moseley" <[e-mail]>
>
> Big Jim Sullivan's Sitar Beat LP is excellent. Sunshine Superman is on the
> Further Inflight Entertainment LP. Most other tracks are very laid back
> sitar over gentle pop tunes. Very heavy with the sitar and quite serious
> unlike the Lord Sitar LP which is far more trivial. Big Jim obviously takes
> his work very seriously.
>
> Big Jim Sullivan - Sitar Beat
> Lord Sitar - Lord Sitar
> Chom Kitari - Sound of Sitar
> Segram - Pop Explosion Sitar Style
> Anandar SHankar - And his Music
> Anandar Shankar - Anandar Shankar
> Bill Plummer and His Cosmic Brotherhood - Journey to the East
>
> Anybody else care to recommend and other Western/pop sitar LPs?
>
>

Not really pop, but "Curried Jazz" by the Indo-British Ensemble is
laid-back East/West jazz (e.g. sitar and fluegelhorn grooving
together) circa 1968, and I think it's really fucking cool. A
combination of Indian and British musicians, as you might (not)
expect. And it's on that bastion of musical values, the Music For
Pleasure label!



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Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 16:54:25 +0100
From: "Charles Moseley" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) New eXotica Releases Overview Update

Werner Muller's And the Strip Goes on is a good one. Body Building gets
about 9/10, Sex Machine 8/10 (very German), The Beat Goes on 8/10. The rest
of the tracks are not stone classics but the whole LP has that
easy/instrumental pop sound that I love. IMO, The Strip Goes On has all the
necessary criteria to be a killer LP and it comes with a nude on the cover.
My copy's on the Ace of Clubs label that also houses Mark Wirtz who I think
has a very similar sound.

And that Spaced Oddity 2069 looks crap. A poor mixture of funk/easy tracks
and a missing Serge Gainsbourg track they obviously had to remove from the
LP after the compilers got scared of reprisals from his record label.

Charlie





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Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 11:41:01 -0400
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Me, the Gap and the damn zeitgeist

>>>Once upon a time, I might have thought "they read my mind" but by now I
have gotten used to the fact that everything - no matter how obscure - gets
"co-opted".
Of course I don't think they got it from me.  It's part of the zeitgeist.

Have you or anybody else on the list ever considered that maybe our "dirtly
lil secrets" about a lot of this music may not be so secret anymore,
because of this list,and mags like COOL&STRANGE and the popularity of
Combusitble Edison?  Maybe we think we're so obtuse...but THEY could be
watching us!  Seriously, we could both pat ourselves on our backs and blame
ourselves for certain surges in popularity...
That Jane Fondle...always thinkin'!(or being paranoid, not sure which!)






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Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 17:03:57 +0100
From: "Charles Moseley" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Big Jim Sullivan

'Bill "Ravi" Harris and the Prophets: Funky Sitar Man'

This LP is a fake. Its all new and frankly, I thought the quality of the
musicians was very very poor. The drumming is lame and the music far too
loose. Production wise, its just too 1990s and not near enough 1970s
(especially if you read the liner notes and appreciate the amateur status
of the performers and the limitations they would have had to face in their
choice of recording set-ups).

Rant rant rant



Charlie





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Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 09:08:03 -0700
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: (exotica) Me, the Gap and the damn zeitgeist

Or further, have any of you considered that the Gap people may lurk on this
list??? We have no idea who listens in... The Internet, especially listservs
and newsgroups, is a *big* part of marketing these days - it's a direct way=
 to
measure the tastes of a very narrow demographic of consumers with mostly=
 above
average incomes and mostly younger than the mid-30s.

But I'm one of you - check my email address - totally not for profit and as
paranoid as Ms. Fondle, man.=20

This trend (of corporate culture and advertising co-opting non-mainstream
culture for its effect) is not a new one, it's just one that has now hit our
region of musical interest. That in no way negates the function of this=
 list,
which continues to introduce me to new material for my listening pleasure=
 that
I won't find in a Gap commercial or anywhere else.

Clark

At 11:41 AM 4/8/1999 -0400, Jane Fondle wrote:
>Have you or anybody else on the list ever considered that maybe our "dirtly
>lil secrets" about a lot of this music may not be so secret anymore,
>because of this list,and mags like COOL&STRANGE and the popularity of
>Combusitble Edison?=A0 Maybe we think we're so obtuse...but THEY could be
>watching us!=A0 Seriously, we could both pat ourselves on our backs and=
 blame
>ourselves for certain surges in popularity...
>That Jane Fondle...always thinkin'!(or being paranoid, not sure which!)



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Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 12:20:07 -0400
From: Brian Phillips <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Big Jim Sullivan

> Anybody else care to recommend and other Western/pop sitar LPs?


Great International Hits - V. Balsara and his Singing Sitar.

Made in the fabulous city of Dum Dum, this features "Lemon Tree",
"Edelweiss" and "These Boots Are Made For Walkin' ", amongst others.  Full
orchestra with Sitar leads.  I can safely say this is the best sitar pop
album I have.  It is also the only one I have been able to find, too!

Brian Phillips



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Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 12:38:03 -0400
From: "telstar" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) RE: Sitar/Big Jim Sullivan

> >Anybody else care to recommend and other Western/pop sitar LPs?
> >Charlie

A favourite of mine is the "Sitar and Electronics" lp by Okko for the BASF
label. In addition to the Sitar, the album also has plenty of moog and even
a cover version of "A Day in the Life".

A near perfect lp.

Allan




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End of exotica-digest V2 #365
*****************************