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| Hobby Forum Index » Music - Reviews » CD Review: Arthur Lyman “Isle of Enchantment / Pol... |
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 Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 4:29 pm |
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Arthur Lyman "Isle of Enchantment / Polynesia" (Collectors' Choice)
Hawaii-born Arthur Lyman joined with Martin Denny to invent "exotica"
on the latter's 1957 debut album. Exotica combined the melodic sounds
of the islands with unusual percussion (notably the scratching sound
of the guiro), pop changes, and human-voiced bird calls to create a
soundtrack to the late '50s fascination with all things tiki. As a
vibraphonist, Lyman's jazz background added an element of cool to
Denny's classical training. Splitting after their debut release, Lyman
created a new quartet and recorded dozens of exotica-inflected albums
for the Hi-Fi, Life and Crescendo labels. Collectors' Choice latest
series of reissues gathers eighteen of Lyman's releases from Hi-Fi and
Life, fits them two per CD, includes full-panel reproductions of both
album covers, adds a full-panel back cover and new liner notes from
Scram's Kim Cooper and David Smay.
Lyman began 1964 with Isle of Enchantment, his fifteenth album in
seven years. As the title suggests, his attention returned from the
folk revival excursions of 1963's Cotton Fields and Blowin' in the
Wind LPs to world music and exotica. The album opens with the rumble
of a conch shell, bird calls and a shimmering minimalism that
escalates by song's end into the two-fisted piano chords emblematic of
many exotica arrangements. As on most of Lyman's albums, there are
excursions into film themes, including the mystery-laden title of
1963's "Charade" (alongside the film's "Orange Tamoure") and the Oscar-
nominated title of 1954's "The High and the Mighty," as well as a
demonstration of the quartet's jazz chops on the flute-and-bass led
"Swingin' Shepherd Blues." But unlike many of Lyman's earlier 1960s
releases, there's also a deep helping of traditional island melodies,
including a brilliant, melancholy version of the Fijian farewell song,
"Isa Lei." Lyman's biggest hit, "Yellow Bird," is recalled by "The
Proposal," and the dreamy "Lei Aloha Lei Makami" drifts along
blissfully like a blossom in a slow-moving stream. Further afield,
Lyman makes a playful march from the Japanese children's melody "Sho
Joji" and turns Pepe Guizar's "Guadalajara" into a nighttime fiesta.
Closing the album is a lightly swinging rendition of "Et Maintenant,"
the original French melody of Frank Sinatra's vocal hit, "What Now My
Love."
Skipping past 1964's Call of the Midnight Sun and 1965's Hawaiian
Sunset, Vol. II, this two-fer serves up 1965's Polynesia, his
eighteenth album. The title and cover promise more songs of the
islands, and there are several, but Lyman also falls back on stage and
screen, and ventures around the world for folk songs. The disc opens
with an exotica-spiced arrangement of "Afro Blues" that hews more to
Mongo Santamaria's Cuban-styled original than John Coltrane's later
jazz exploration. From the worlds of film and theater, Lyman creates a
jazzy bossa nova from "Don't Rain on My Parade" (from 1964's "Funny
Girl"), and pianist Alan Soares plays a florid, Ferrante & Teicher-
like arrangement of "More" (from 1962's "Mondo Cane"). Traditional
melodies from around the world include the unofficial Australian
national anthem "Waltzing Matilda," which builds from a gentle vibe-
led introduction to a rousing climax, and a dramatic reading of the
Mexican folk tune "Malaguena Salerosa." Closer to home, the languid
"Kamakani Kaili Aloha" features Lyman's most gentle tones, and the
faux-traditional "Hawaii Tattoo" provides a kitschy album closer.
Polynesia has a few bright spots, but Isle of Enchantment is the more
coherent and listenable spin, and a real sleeper within Lyman's vast
catalog. [(c)2008 redtunictroll at hotmail dot com] |
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