Post #479191 by OnyaBirri on Mon, Aug 24, 2009 5:17 PM

I understand what you're asking; but I'm talking about very specific tunes and arrangements with a very exotic sound and feel, not just jazz or big band guys running through standards like "Brazil."

I have been listening to exotica for two decades, and I've had an ongoing project that I call "Buried Treasures." It consists of exotica one-offs that are easily overlooked because they are not on exotica albums. It's been a long work in progress, and I've burned some discs for Jeff Central. I don't claim to have everything or to have heard everything, but I'm sure I've found stuff that wasn't on many people's radar. I'll post the specific titles later.

Your question is very timely, because I've been thinking about the very question you raised for the past year or so.

The Kostelanetz album (only four extended tunes) is very good. I haven't spun the actual 78 set (nothing to play it on) but the same recordings or same arrangements showed up later on "Lure of the Tropics." There is some theremin on at least one of these, IIRC.

Keep in mind that, with 50+ years of hindsight, it's very easy for us to decide retroactively what does or doesn't define this genre. It probably wasn't as apparent back then. I'm not even sure how prevalent the term "exotica" was prior to Martin Denny. Jeff Central may know the answer to this.

[ Edited by: OnyaBirri 2009-08-24 17:18 ]

[ Edited by: OnyaBirri 2009-08-24 17:19 ]