A1 	Simba 	
A2 	Oasis Of Dakhla 	
A3 	Maracaibo 	
A4 	Tehran 	
A5 	Pantan 	
A6 	Havana 	
B1 	Mozambique 	
B2 	Wotuka 	
B3 	Cuchibamba 	
B4 	Batumba 	
B5 	Rio 	
B6 	Zambezi

Les Baxter - Composer, Piano, Primary Artist 

Those who think exotica records are just tiki silliness and kitsch should definitely give Les Baxter’s Tamboo a serious listen. Despite the cheezy and ignorantly semi-racist cover art work, there is some serious music going on here. Baxter was an extremely prolific composer and record producer who worked in the fields of easy listening and soundtracks, as well as different varieties of what has come to be called ‘exotica’. Over the years, as the exotica style became a gimmick, Les let his artistry slip, but this is one of Baxter’s early exotica attempts and on this one he is earnest and sincere about mixing different musical genres into a fascinating new style of his own.

The whole idea of melding musical styles to create a sort of fantasy world of sound begins with Les Baxter. Before there was Sun Ra, King Crimson, Herbie’s Sextet, Brian Eno or Bill Laswell there was Les Baxter mixing Afro-Cuban rhythms, Debussy’s orchestrations and modern studio trickery to create musical lands that didn’t really exist. Sun Ra himself stated his admiration for Baxter, an admiration I had always assumed after hearing Sun Ra’s very exotica flavored ‘Angels and Demons at Play’ LP.

Saying that there is something other-worldly or futuristic about this music may seem cliché since it is obvious that is what Baxter is going for, but when those wordless vocals quietly cascade over a syncopated Afro-Latin groove accompanied by first dew in the morning twinkly Debussy type orchestrations, you know you have arrived somewhere very different then the places you have known before, a place that is very moving and beautiful too. ---jazzmusicarchives.com

Long before the term "world music" leaped into the lexicon, pianist, composer, and arranger Les Baxter was plundering the globe in search of new sounds with which to entice listeners. Having already single-handedly invented space pop, with his pioneering use of the theremin in the early '50s, Baxter turned from Music Out of the Moon back to this planet, with a stream of albums that captured Earth's more exotic styles. Tamboo! was his epiphany, a set that circled the globe, but was presented in a wildly accessible style that even your gran would love. In many ways the music is reminiscent of the Technicolor Hollywood visions of foreign climes, à la South Pacific and other such films. But that's not surprising, considering the amount of music Baxter composed for Tinsel Town, and it certainly helped make this album so appealing. The bright and bustling "Havana" beautifully captures the excitement and allure of the pre-revolutionary capital, while "Tehran" wafts of exotic mystery, dancing girls, and whirling dervishes. In contrast, the effervescent "Cuchibamba" hints at Latin America's indigenous roots, and "Rio" at its sophistication and glamour. But it's the many African-inspired numbers that are the most intriguing -- the desert wind which seems to haunt the "Oasis of Dakhla," the tribal drumming which invades "Mozambique" and sweeps across the "Zambezi." Even at his most exotic, however, Baxter encapsulates all these elements in a Western context, his lavish orchestral arrangements and rich melodies taking the strangeness out of even the most alien foreign styles. It's brilliantly done, and helped to broaden American minds and widen musical views. ---Jo-Ann Greene, AllMusic Review

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1.    Ricordate Marcellino
2.    Heartstring Melody
3.    Dance from Bonjour Tristesse
4.    The Lonely Whistler
5.    Mon Amour O Mon Amour
6.    April in Portugal
7.    La Panse
8.    Love Begins
9.    The Bachelors of Brussels
10.    Love Theme from A Farewell to Arms
11.    I Never Had A Dream Like This Before
12.    The Poor People of Paris

For some reason, Confetti is one of the more difficult Les Baxter records to find. It is not particularly exotic in that the tunes are from or about Europe (especially France). The musical style is the string-heavy easy listening of his "April in Paris" material. But three whistling tracks make it essential for the whistling-album collector, at least, if not the Les Baxter or easy-listening completist. "Ricordate Marcellino" pays tribute to the whistling master Muzzy Marcellino. Les Baxter's chorus sings on several tracks. Fans of light-hearted "continental" (or dramatic orchestra) music and hopeless romantic types should enjoy it. --- Tony Wilds, Rovi

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. --- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

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