The Soul of the Drums

by Les Baxter

The Soul of the Drums cover art
  • Type: Album
  • Released: 1963
  • Label: Reprise
  • Country: United States
  • Community rating: 3.5/5 from 2 ratings

Album Notes & Community Reviews

Pioneering the atmospheric, highly conceptual exotica genre, the arranger heavily utilizes marimbas, bongos, and wordless choruses to paint an imaginary, cinematic jungle landscape. The rhythms borrow loosely from Caribbean and Afro-Cuban sources but are filtered entirely through a sanitized, Hollywood-style orchestral lens. The album remains a fascinating artifact of mid-century stereophonic testing and lounge escapism.

Genres

Descriptors: lounge, rhythmic, percussive, instrumental, vintage

Tracklist

  1. The Girl Behind The Bamboo Curtain
  2. Lord, What A Morning
  3. Coffee Bean And Calabash Annie
  4. Sunrise At Kowloon
  5. Which Doctor?
  6. Mai Tai
  7. A Day In Rio
  8. River Of Dreams
  9. Nina
  10. Shadow Of Love And The Enchanted Reef
  11. Jacaranda
  12. Ceremony

Credits

  • Les Baxter & His Orchestra - primary artist
  • Sid Avery - cover
  • Les Baxter - written-by
  • Mike Clough - written-by
  • Ira Cook - written-by

More from Les Baxter: full discography