CD, Les Disques Du Soleil Et De L'Acier DSA 54014,
France, 1990 | ++++
info: French, unique "outsider" musician,
playing piano and various toy instruments, without sounding childish
or novelty. A lot of his compositions are minor key, but others are
more comical, again without sounding ridiculous. Tango music seems a
big influence for him. His best and I think most accessible, because
of the funny covers ("Egyptian reggae", "Proud
Mary"). * Also read the comments by others in The "eXotica Releases Overview"!
Paul Desmond: "Circles"
album "From The Hot
Afternoon"
CD, Verve by Request 543 487, USA, 2000 |
+++++
info: Brilliant! Beautiful! Wonderful! highly
recommended, even if you don't like jazz; make that "especially
if you don't like jazz" ;-) Produced by Creed Taylor, recorded
at Van Gelder. Includes 6 alternate takes. * Also read the comments
by others in The "eXotica Releases Overview"!
The Modern Jazz Quartet: "Precious
Joy"
album
"Blues On Bach"
CD, Atlantic 1652, USA, 199? |
++++
info: My first Modern Jazz Quartet CD! My
favorite tracks are the 5 tracks based on Bach pieces. Lovely, clear
and soft, unpretentious late-night jazz.
Album
"Le Cinéma De Serge Gainsbourg" (Musiques De
Films 1959-1990)
Tripple CD set, Universal 586 516, France, 2001 |
+++++
info: At the outside, it looks like a
hardcover book; inside there are 3 trays holding the CDs, plus a 30
page book (written in French) with lots of pictures and film posters.
73 tracks from more than 30 movies, spanning 3 decades, and most of
these didn't appear on the Philips 9 CD box "De Gainsbourg
à Gainsbarre". One of the previously unissued bonus
tracks is a version of "Strip-tease" by none other than
Nico.
Arthur Lyman: "Funny
Valentine"
album
"Leis of Jazz"
LP, HiFi Record R607, 1960's |
++++
info: Lyman's (I THINK) only jazz album
Coralie Clément: "Mes Fenêtres
Donnent Sur La Cour"
album "Salle Des Pas
Perdus"
CD, Capitol/ EMI 490258, France, 2001 | +++++
info:
I'm dreaming. Serge Gainsbourg is alive and well and still writing
songs for Jane Birkin. I wake up. It's Benjamin Biolay who does the
writing, and Coralie Clément who's singing them. Her heavenly
soft and whispering voice also reminds me off Astrud and Claudine
Longet. This album is THE revelation of the year in France and in the
French-speaking part of Belgium. A melancholy cocktail of light jazz,
bossa nova, French Chanson, and easy listening ballads, it's a
timeless classic. There should be audio samples at www.alapage.com, check
them out, to not miss this beauty.
Les Double Six: "Early
Autumn"
album
"Les Double Six"
CD, BMG RCA Victor 74321 65659,
USA, 1999 | +++++
info: French vocalese sextet Inspired by
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, that brings swinging vocal loungy
jazz. This 20-track collection spans the years 1959-'62, with
acrobatic vocal jazz arrangements of music that was originally
performed by the bands of Count Basie, Woody Herman, Shelly Manne,
John Coltrane, Gerry Mulligan, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Stan
Kenton, and Quincy Jones. Double Six member Mimi Perrin listened to
the trumpet and other solo's played by the original bands, and
brilliantly transformed them into words! Veteran of the group Ward
Swingle later started the Swingle Singers. As featured on the
"Twist again au ciné" comp CD. * Also read the
comments by others in The "eXotica Releases Overview"!
The Renaissance: "Alfie"
album "Bacharach
Baroque"
LP, Ranwood Records stereo RLP 8084, Canada,
1971 | +++++
info: A piece of utter heavenly beauty.
Absolutely wonderful, bright "pabadabada" versions à
la The Swingle Singers of 11 Bacharach tunes, backed with jazzy bass
+ drums, strings and... harpsichord! Not to be confused with the LP
of the same title by the 18th Century Corporation * Also read the
comments by others in The "eXotica Releases Overview"!
Ferrante & Teicher: "Stars In My
Eyes"
Album
"Easy Listening Favorites"
CD, MCA 20733, USA,
1993 | +++++
info: Budget re-issue of "Heavenly sounds"
less 2 tracks. Heavenly beautiful, soft and spacey prepared piano
stuff, their best work IMO. * Also read the comments by others in The
"eXotica Releases Overview"!
Gals And Pals: "Det är dej jag vill
ha"
Album
"Guldkorn"
CD, Metronome/ Warner Music Sweden
8573-85000-2, Sweden, 2000 | ++++
info: "Guldkorn" is
Swedish for "gold-nuggets". Reissue of "Vocals
1963-1967", by this Swedish vocalese sextet (3 men + 3 women)
from the 1960's, a bit similar to Manhattan Transfer, Les Double Six,
Singers Unlimited, The Swingle Singers... though not as jazzy, more
"pop", and on the live 3 tracks hey turn into some
cabaret/comedy act. Ten tracks are sung in English (4 Bacharach tunes
amongst them), the other 12 in Swedish! Most songs are covers of
American standards by Duke Ellington, Richard Rodgers (several tunes
by him), a very funny twist on Irving Berlin with "Axel Ander's
Ragtime Band". Some tracks are a capella, most are with backing.
Got it for 16 Euro from _Skivhugget_, a Swedish CD mailorder
site.
Rhoda Scott: "The Sun Died"
album "Take Five"
CD,
Polygram/Verve 511 479, France, 1991 | ++++
info:
Excellent Hammond jazz
Howard Roberts: "Girl Talk"
Album "Somethin's Cookin &
Goodies"
CD, EMI/ Sundazed/ Euphoria 184, USA, 2001 |
++++
info: Mid 1960's poppy jazz, some bossa nova,
lotsa covers: Bluesette; A hard dayss night; Charade; More; Girl
Talk; Fly Me To The Moon; Chim Chim Cher-ee (almost completely
unrecognisable)
Lisa Ekdahl, Peter Nordahl Trio: "Nature
Boy"
album "Back
To Earth"
CD, BMG RCA Victor 61463, USA, 1998 | +++
info:
Lisa Ekdahl has this child-like voice, and -- accompanied by bass,
drums and piano -- she sings 12 jazz standards, like "It had to
be you", "Tea for two", "I get a kick out of
you", "Night and day"... really nice, but here
special, fragile and fine voice is the main attraction. The closing
track is an exotic instrumental penned by Peter Nordahl.
info: Cool and heavenly beautiful wordless
"pabadabadaa" chorus jazzing its way through Bach,
Beethoven, Purcell, Chopin, Mussorgsky, Mendelssohn... accompanied by
The Modern Jazz Quartet and Guy Pedersen.
Lalo Schifrin: "Portrait Of
Harry"
soundtrack
"Rollercoaster"
LP, MCA 2284, 1977 CD,
label?, announced for end 2002 | ++
info: Half of the tracks are OK, but
I found the rest rather uninteresting.
Okazaki Hiroshi And His Stargazers: "Moon Of
Manakura"
info: Wonderful collection of sunshine pop,
wordless "pabadabada" pop and jazz. Lots of covers. * Also
read the comments by others in The "eXotica Releases Overview"!
Novi Singers (Novi Quartet): "I Don't
Know"
album
"Novi In Wonderland"
CD, Polydor/Polygram
POCJ-2541, Japan, 199? | +++
info: A wordless, modern jazz version of
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.
Joey Altruda: "Mambo Bardot"
Album "Cocktails With
Joey"
CD, Will 039, USA, 1995 | ++++
info:
Excellent coktail "lounge" jazz
Gary McFarland: "Thanks But No
Thanks"
album
"Latin Lounge" (The Best Of His Verve
Recordings)
CD, Motor Verve 533 912, Germany, 1998 | ++++
info:
The best bossa nova, latin and pop-jazz from his Verve years.
Excellent, catchy lounge jazz, beautigful melodies (mostly his own
compositions), with McFarland doin' some nice vocalase
"bya-by-bo; pa-ba-ba" humming. A bit like Cal Tjader, but
much more relaxed. Bossa nova style covers of "Hard day's
night" and "Satisfaction"; "More", and a
Bacharach song. From the liner notes by Douglas Payne: "Warm and
cool, relaxing and engaging, refreshing and provocative, elegant and
casual. It's an apt description of the music of composer, arranger,
conductor, vibraphonist and hummer/whistler, Gary McFarland... In
1964, at age 31, McFarland was young enough to dig the new pop sound
and effectively combine it with his own unique jazz style". With
guest musicians Gabor Szabo, Kenny Burrell, Willie Bobo, and Grady
Tate.
Stan Getz with Charlie Byrd: "Samba
Triste"
Album
"Jazz Samba"
CD, Verve 810 061, USA, 199? | +++++
info:
As the title says: jazz meets samba and bossa nova.
info: Blaxploitation soundtrack. produced by
Steve Barri/ Dennis Lambert/ Brian Potter. musical score by Johnny
Pate. "are you man enough" sung by the Four Tops.
Zoot Sims and His Orchestra: "Barquinho De
Papel"
album
"Recado Bossa Nova"
CD, Fresh Sounds FSR-CD 189,
USA, 1992 | ++++
info: reissue of two 1962 Colpix LPs,
"The New Beat of Bossa Nova" vols 1 & 2. * Also read
the comments by others in The "eXotica Releases Overview"!
Ahmad Jamal: "Ahmad's Blues"
album "Ahmad's Blues"
CD,
Hess/ MCA GRD-803, USA, 1994 | ++
info: From nice cocktail jazz to
(less nice) modern jazz with its improvisations
The Nutty Squirrels (Sacha Burland & Don Elliott):
"Uh-Huh"
album
"The Nutty Squirrels"
LP, Hanover HM 8014 mono,
USA, 1959 | +++++
info: A truely unique combination of utterly
coooool (light) jazz and way out craaaaaaazy chipmunk voices. One of
my all-time favorites in the novelty AND jazz genre! * Also read the
comments by others in The "eXotica Releases Overview"!
