Teasing the Korean

I'm not an amateur.

If you are correct, then the world could use more albums by businessmen and fewer albums by "musicians." And you know why I place the latter in quotes.

Well, that just about does it, folks! The one album TTK didn't get to this weekend is the Lalo Schifrin/Paul Horn "Jazz Suite on the Mass Texts." That will happen next weekend! But in the meantime, TTK has spun: "Monday Monday" - OK "Inside II" - OK "Cycles" - Better than OK/good: Docked points for bagpipe content "Visions" - Good "Inside" - Very good "Cleopatra" - Amazing. Thanks to the OP for reminding me of all these Paul Horn albums that I haven't spun in forever!

A lot of today's pop artists are writing tunes that are very adaptable to jazz. I am talking about artists such as David Crosby, Joni Mitchell, and Stevie Wonder. Today's generation is saying some really beautiful and important things. And as adults, it is up to us to listen. Paul Horn is one of those adults who is listening to what the kids are saying. And he is demonstrating this on his 1974 Epic LP "Visions." I am switching from maitais to white wine, a California Chardonnay, which pairs well with tonight's dinner.

Still enjoying a 1944 Trader Vic's maitai, now paired with Paul Horn's "Cycles," on a a UK RCA stereo LP in pristine condition. This is not as good as "Cleopatra," but it is pretty good, especially while blasting jungle sounds from the tiki bar.

Now enjoying a 1944 Trader Vic's maitai with Paul Horn's "Cleopatra." This is an excellent album, inhabiting a space someplace between early 1960s modal jazz and 1950s Martin Denny exotica. It could have been the template for a new subgenre. The lineup includes Paul Horn on flutes, plus vibes, piano, bass, drums, and percussion. The album is further improved by simultaneously blasting jungle sounds from your tiki bar, as I am doing now. Anyway, it goes very well with this cocktail, which includes: 1 part dark Jamaican rum 1 part Martinique rum 1part fresh-squeezed lime 1/2 part orgeat 1/2 part dry curaçao. Shake with ice, and pour into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice. Garnish with fresh mint.

Context is everything. I don't consider "Inside" to be new age. I consider it to be late 1960s decadent Now Sound.

LISTEN, WHITEY! The Sounds of Black Power 1967-1974. Various, Light in the Attic records and tapes.

So I have now spun the entire "Monday Monday" album, and of the 11 tracks, I would rank 7 of them as good or better, and the other four as pure schlock. Your own schlock threshold may result in a different ratio than mine. The money cut is definitely "Karen's World," which I encourage all of you to listen to (above). The other good tracks are "Norwegian Wood," "Acapulco Gold," "Girl" (the Rubber Soul tune), "Paramahansa," "Guv-Gubi," and "Eight Miles High." This version of "Eight Miles High" is not quite as great as the Bob Thiele version, but it is very good. The schlock numbers are "Monday, Monday," "Satisfaction," "You've Got Your Troubles," and the dreaded "Exclusive Butterfly." These are all Oliver Nelson arrangements. You can perfectly imagine Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard turning on and tuning in to the moods, feelings, and vibrations of today.

Now playing the aforementioned "Monday Monday" LP on RCA. This is a mixed bag, but the track I posted above, "Karen's World," is incredible, and is arguably the money cut. "Satisfaction" sounds like it was arranged for an episode of "The Mothers-In-Law." There should be a law against flutes that play in such a high register.

I use Apple lossless. I don't really do anything with Windows involving music.

Paul Samwell-Smith was the bass player of the Yardbirds through the Over, Under, Sideways, Down, AKA Roger the Engineer LP. Try to find mono copies of the first three Epic Yardbirds LPs, four if you count "Greatest Hits." _____________________________ Now listening to "Inside II" from a couple of years later. Horn had gotten so big by this point that the Tajma Hall could not afford him, plus their seating capacity wasn't large enough. The cover art is hideous. This album dates from Epic's orange-label era, but my copy has the later dark-blue label with the logo in script font. This album has lots of overdubbing, along with sound effects such as barnyard sounds, birds chirping, and even a baby. The baby, interestingly enough, is the same one used by Perrey and Kingsley on their debut Vanguard LP. Clearly, they were both accessing the same sound effects library. I like the Bach chorales on side II, arranged by Paul Horn, with him playing all the parts on different flutes.

Now listening to "Inside," on an Epic LP with the original yellow label, from 1968. Didn't you love that label? Didn't you hate it when Epic replaced it with that orange monstrosity with the concentric white circles? Or that later dark blue design? I've told Mrs. Korean that I can tell from the next room whether the record that is spinning has the correct label design or not. This was recorded in the Taj Mahal, just solo flute and occasional voice. Despite the album's ostensibly spirtual dimension, this is totally decadent music, along the lines of Nino Rota's "Fellini: Satyricon." It is music that makes you want to lounge on silk pillows, drinking wine out of an ornate chalice, while a scantily clad odalisque feeds you grapes, preferably seedless. And if that image is not PC, blame Stanley Kubrick for searing it into my psyche via Clockwork Orange. If you don't have this album, I highly encourage you to visit your local Goodwill and rescue a copy.

Yes, the OP, Larry Kart, often surprises me as well, but generally in a good way. Let's hear it for the OP!

Funny, I just played this one last weekend! I love live borscht belt albums. Is this really live? Your box set apparently will not tell you. Anyway, this is a very good album, a good blend of rhythms for dancers but jazzy chord voicings and ensemble writing for the hipsters in the audience. I really wish that season 2 of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," which largely took place in the Catskills, would have included a Latin big band. A little more detail on these two compilations. All RCA stuff. Volume 1, "Mambo Beat," is all recordings from 1956 and 1957, Lots of "Night Beat" tracks on this collection,. Volume 2, "Yembeque," spans 1950 to 1960, and has a more interesting variety. This volume *may* include a few non-LP tracks. "Mambo Buda" sounds better on here than it does on "Cuban Carnival," unless my ears are playing tricks. Also, Mike, to make your discography a little less nightmarish, "Four Beat Cha Cha (Part 2: Out Take)" actually appears to be a coda for part 1. They flow together seamlessly. I don't know why they didn't just index them both as a single track.

P.S. If you want to know what I drank the two nights prior, just send me a PM.

So I looked through my receipts that I filed with my copy of Paul Horn's great "Cleopatra" that I got from Dusty Groove in 2014. That night, I went to Three Dots and a Dash, and I ordered the following: Puka Puka Punch Dr. Funkhouser No Bye, No Aloha And then, on the house, they gave me: Poipu Beach Boogie Board. It was my third night there, and I wanted to try nearly everything on the menu. These were the ones that were left.

Whenever I find an exotica LP in another city, and I go to that city's tiki bar while I am there, I always put the drink receipts in the album, between the back cover and the protective outer plastic sleeve. So my copy of "Cleopatra" that I bought at Dusty Groove has a bunch of receipts from Lost Lake and Three Dots and a Dash!

Thee Great Fred Katz!

It's been ages since I spun them, but I always liked the two "Inside" albums.

An exotica essential! The last time I was at Dusty Groove, I was certain I would find this record. I'd gone through nearly the whole store, with no luck. Just before leaving, I went through the new arrivals bin, and there was a pristine mono copy!

Perpetually in the DJ crate back in the day.

Well, I tried to find something good on YouTube, but they all look like they were done by these "pro" guys who hang out at Sam Ash or Guitar Center. You know the types? I wouldn't want to subject anyone to these - not even aging white male celibates. 🤣

So, back to the Machito recordings. In checking the discographies, it looks like most if not all of the Machito tracks appearing on Verve's "Original Mambo Kings" collection originally appeared on Norgran or Clef. But it appears that many or most of the tracks on the Pablo CD were produced by Norman Granz, but originally on Mercury. I realize that this is all part of Polygram or whatever conglomerate now, but I wonder if there was a reason that those Mercury tracks ended up on Pablo and not Verve. Incidentally several of those tracks on the Pablo CD appear on Verve's "More than Mambo" collection, and as Mike stated, they sound much better there.

I don't have that Mulligan album, though I have seen it over the years. You were lucky to get to see him!