Be Gentle With Your Ears

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What’s exotica? Well, it’s some kind of tropical jazz or easy listening with exotic instruments, like flute, vibraphone and bongo’s. One of the key figures of exotica is Les Baxter who created the sound in the 1950s. He also composed ‘Sunset mood’ for Carmen Lesay and ‘Pharaoh’s curse’ for Tony Martinez, two songs that can be heard in this mix. I selected a couple of similar tracks around these exotica songs, like the one from the Avalanches (whatever happened to them?).

Some of the tropical ingredients were copied by Dr. Buzzards Original Savannah Band and more seventies disco acts (that are gathered on ‘Cocktail disco’, a compilation from Dimitri From Paris). And many lounge acts used the typical exotica sounds in the 2000s. Listen to ‘Slip into something comfortable’ from Kinobe or the album ‘Silent movie’ from Quiet Village. Enjoy!

Picture by Kristine May

Tracklist:

John Scofield – Flower Power (1990)
Ju-Par Universal Orchestra – Is Anyone Listening (1976)
Carmen Lesay – Sunset Mood (1960)
Quiet Village – Utopia (2008)
Bert Kaempfert & His Orchestra – My Way Of Life (1968)
The Fugitives – Wind Of Love (1969)
Julio Guitierrez – Last Tango In Paris (1972)
The Avalanches – Since I Left You (2000)
The Johnny Harris Orchestra – Footprints On the Moon (1969)
Tony Martinez and His Mambo Combo – Pharaoh’s Curse (1957)
Edu Lobo – Viola Fora De Moda (1972)
Love Unlimited Orchestra – Brazilian Love Song (1976)
Milton Banana Trio – Noa… Noa (1965)
Willie Bobo – I Heard It Through The Grapevine (1967)
Four Tops – Fool On The Hill (1969)
Smoove & Turrell – Latin Groove (2009)
Ayoe Angelica – Dr. Jekyll (2008)
Belle & Sebastian – I Want The World To Stop (2010)
Dale Jacobs – Almost Home (1978)


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