Post #591647 by Otto on Tue, May 31, 2011 10:01 PM

On 2011-05-31 07:11, bigbrotiki wrote:
John-O, you are reaching a little too far there - just like this year's Tiki Oasis is really reaching with their "Tijuana Brass" theme.

Reaching!? Tijuana Brass theme, reaching?

Is not Herb Alpert's (false) embracing of the exotic lands of Mexico and Spain the last, dieing vestige of Exotica's similar grasping for a faraway Eden in any tropical locale?
Did Exotica not move closer and closer in to its roots – America. Starting with truly far away lands such as Easter Island and even Hawaii but Hawaii moved moved closer with the Jet Age. Then Exotica moved closer with Mexico (Herb Alpert and the Witco Spanish style) then even closer with Florida Keys, Jimmy Buffet, Yacht Rock, etc.

Not that all of this is good, but one could argue that Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass movement was the last step in Exotica. Don Ho would be a separate branch attached to the tree of Hawaii. But Herb and his imitators, Julius Wechter's Baja Marimba Band, Chet Baker's Mariachi Brass, etc. spawned a whole movement in design, (hellooooo Witco!) food, drink (margaritas!!), and even dress – harachi sandals and panchos, etc

Arthur Lyman's biggest hit is "Yellow Bird" a simple Latin tune

Almost all great Exotica tunes are built on Latin rhythms

Herb Alpert was the last musician to be able to pull off the facade of an Exotic Other, and therefore, the last in the line of inheritors to the Exotica music kingdom created by Les Baxter and Martin Denny.

[ Edited by: Otto 2011-08-13 16:58 ]