Post #505904 by bigbrotiki on Thu, Jan 21, 2010 10:22 AM

On 2010-01-21 08:40, virani wrote:
I love in this article the phrase : "the educated whinings of the theremin". That's really well writen !!

And I had no idea that that was Les Baxter's first appearance on a record! I am glad I have the CD of that album, at least...

Maybe he just didn't like Yma, she sure is an acquired taste. He was more into Asian Exotica, it seems, if one goes by the titles of his books. Maybe he was stationed in Asia in WWII?, I couldn't find any specific info about that. And maybe he considered Yma more "folk", or anthropological music, like Elizabeth Waldo and Marais and Miranda, and not loungey enogh. Though she was a Les Baxter protege.

But his grasp of the genre, naming Arty, Marty and Les as the prinicipals, and listing such albums as White Goddess and Exotic Island, is amazing. It's as if someone would have written an article about the evolution of Tiki style naming Don, Vic and Steve back then. :)

And that guy grows on me the more I find out about him:

"He was active in the California nudist society, :)
He worked as a pilot, music critic, newspaper columnist and public relations director before becoming a fiction writer.
He held a black belt in Aikido."

That was my martial art, too! Now all that is missing is that he had a Tiki backyard at his house in Encino!

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2010-01-23 13:54 ]