Post #358831 by BC-Da-Da on Sun, Feb 3, 2008 12:02 PM

Well, where does exotica come into play with anyone besides Arthur Lyman and Martin Denny, who seemed to have taken the genre as their serious artistry? Near everything else seems like exploitation, though often totally inspired at that.

One of the things that I like about the Pacific Jazz label in the 1950s (later World Pacific Records) is all of the world music that pops up under the guise of American jazz, or better yet, West Coast jazz. The Getz/Gilberto bossa nova hit "Girl from Ipanema" might have been the shot heard 'round the world, as far as Brazilian music was concerned, and that was 1964. But back in 1953, Bud Shank and Laurindo Almeida cut a great bossa nova/jazz album titled "Brazilliance."

One of my favorites from that time is "Afrodesia" by Bob Romeo, which is not on the Pacific Jazz label, but it features Laurindo Almeida on guitar, and Eden Ahbez wrote three of the songs. I did a lot of research on Bob Romeo, both with the former coffeehouse owners and with the local Musicians Union, and found that Romeo did a lot of soundtracking for those Warner Borthers crime shows, like "77 Sunset Strip," "Hawaiian Eye" and "Surfside 66." Mostly just the scenes that were filmed in coffeehouses. Romeo also soundtracked early animated films by Pierre Herbert, and he used to play flute jazz at the Venice West Cafe and the Insomniac in Hermosa Beach. His lone album is probably the coolest example of beatnik jazz colliding with world music, to create a proto-exotica package. He also had that pothumous single with James Dean on conga drum.

I say all of that to say that guys like James Dean and Eden Ahbez were a part of the ferment of '50s bohemia, and jazz, world music, TV, film, literature and folk music all seemed to collide in the coffeehouses and jazz clubs of the period. Maybe in San Francisco, there was an ellitist attitude that the beats had, and tried to seperate themselves from anything commercial. I think in L.A. there were those who were far below the radar, and far outside the system too... but the crux of the scene ran the gamut from camp to hip, rich to poor. I still feel that way about L.A. There is so much crap here, and it's so sprawling. You have this wide variety of choices that might not have the consistent air that other cities encourage. But these pockets of bohemia that happen in L.A. come out of nowhere and really stand out in my mind as being dream-like. That notion first became aparent to me when I read about the Garden of Allah on Sunset and Crescent Heights.

Sorry to veer so far from '80s tiki. I myself am just trying to catch up on all the recommendations made from this and the other Throbbing Gristle thread.

[ Edited by: BC-Da-Da 2008-02-03 12:05 ]