Office Naps
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From '50s NYC clubland, a Yma Sumac-inspired version of "Babalu" by jazz/calypso singer Phyllis Branch.The radio show
The show is Lost Frequencies. Every Monday night from 9pm to 11pm (CST) on Marfa Public Radio I explore the atmospheric side of post-War music: bop & vocals, soul/R&B heartbreak, exotica & soundtrack moods, Latin jazz, oddball instrumentals, honky-tonk ballads, early electronics - even some dreamy '60s psychedelic pop. Tune in at Marfa Public Radio or at KRTS 93.5fm.Categories
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Category Archives: Jazz Obscura
Discos Corona/Crown Records: A mambo, Latin jazz and exotica-ish sampler
Hi all, I put together a homemade compilation of Afro-Latin, Latin jazz and exotic-ish Latin selections on the fascinating Los Angeles budget record labels Discos Corona and Crown Records. I can be downloaded here: http://officenaps.com/discoscorona_crown_sampler.zip Note that this a ZIP … Continue reading
Lotus Land: The curious legacy of jazz exotica
This is an essay I wrote back in January for Melbourne, Australia’s mighty PBS 106.7fm. Many thanks to Richie1250 for having me aboard, and for keeping the torch ablaze for progressive radio. 1958's Forbidden Island, one of Martin Denny's definitive … Continue reading
Jazz Dramatique
Over at the Lonely Beat I discussed the Naked City, the version of the modern American city in the post–War popular imagination. And how a singular form of American commercial music, in time referred to by collectors as “crime jazz,” … Continue reading
Bright Lights
Like AM Radio Dust, its companion volume, Bright Lights is just as much an exploration of lost spaces and places as it is of sound. I hope you enjoy it. Bright Lights (single MP3 file) Susan Rafey, “The Big Hurt” … Continue reading
Jeri Simpson
I first posted Jeri Simpson’s “In My Black Lace” back in 2006. It has been one of the great mysteries around here, a marvelous, truly one-of-a-kind recording whose story I’d long given up hopes of ever learning. But I’m happy … Continue reading
Nature Boy
I can think of at least a few reasons for the continued appeal of the song “Nature Boy.” There’s its philosophical, pseudo-mystical message for one. It was heady, if not radical, stuff for 1948, at least as far as pop … Continue reading
Black night
This is one of those weeks where three records get posted alongside each other not because they share some very specific theme or belong, musically- or culturally-speaking, in the same sub-sub-genre. (Jazz, early rock ‘n’ roll, pop, R&B and country … Continue reading
Jazz Exotique
A broader, more inclusive idea of exotica – exotica less as genre and more as creative style – is basically the central motive behind the Exotica Project, and a case I’m constantly building around here as well. What has in … Continue reading