Les Baxter

Biography

A stylish composer, conductor, and arranger, Les Baxter created the music for over 250 films, television, and radio programs. On television, his best-known theme is the haunting whistling soundtrack for the original Lassie series. Baxter's music can be heard on numerous low-budget films of the '50s and '60s, including entries in the Beach Blanket series starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, and in Roger Corman's Edgar Allen Poe series, which includes The Fall of the House of Usher (1960). Baxter started out playing sax at various Los Angeles jazz clubs. He gained a reputation as an excellent musician and began playing back-up for such singers as Billie Holiday and Mel Torme. Baxter was briefly signed to RCA Records, but then moved on to Capitol Records were he made a few successful albums. Baxter appeared in several films, including Untamed Youth (1957) with Eddie Cochran and Mamie van Doren. Les Baxter and His Orchestra continued appearing live until he died of complications from kidney failure. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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For The Record...

Born on March 14, 1922, in Mexia, TX; died on January 15, 1996, in Newport Beach, CA. Education: Attended Detroit Conservatory of Music, Detroit, MI; attended Pepperdine College, Malibu, CA. Performed as concert pianist as a teenager; during college played tenor sax and sang; joined the Mel-Tones, 1945; joined NBC radio as a singer for commercials; musical director for Bob Hope and Abbott and Costello radio shows; released first recording, Music Out of the Moon, 1947; began composing and arranging film scores, 1953; arranged and conducted recording sessions for Frank Sinatra, Bob Eberle, and Nat King Cole, 1950-60s; left Capitol Records, 1962; composed and arranged for television, mid- to late 1960s.

Composer

Les Baxter was one of the leading figures in a style of orchestrated music that developed in the 1950s. He is known as the "Godfather of Exotica," a type of lounge music characterized by Latin rhythms and other influences that range from Polynesia to Hawaii to South America. His prolific output of music spanned four decades and included the scores to more than 100 films. The popularity of his music faded for two decades, but by the mid-1990s exotica and other types of lounge music were enjoying a popular revival. Unfortunately, Baxter died before he had a chance to enjoy the full impact of that revival.

Baxter was born on March 14, 1922, in Mexia, Texas. His family soon moved from Texas to Detroit, Michigan. Baxter was considered a child prodigy at the piano, which he learned to play at age five. In addition to piano he also learned to play the clarinet and was a talented singer. He studied at the Detroit Conservatory of Music before leaving the midwest in the 1930s to attend Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, near Los Angeles. While studying composition at Pepperdine, he supplemented his income by playing backup piano and tenor sax in jazz clubs around Los Angeles.

Around 1945, Baxter tired of playing saxophone and joined jazz singer Mel Torme's singing group the Mel-Tones. Baxter performed with the Mel-Tones for a few years and sang on a recording by big band great Artie Shaw. Eventually he left the Mel-Tones and joined NBC Radio. There Baxter performed weekly as a member of a voice quartet that sang Pepsodent commercials for comedian Bob Hope's radio show. Not long afterward, Baxter began arranging and conducting music for the Bob Hope show as well as for the radio show featuring comedy duo Abbott and Costello. Soon enough he was musical director for those shows and others on NBC Radio.

By the end of the 1940s, Baxter was working for Capitol Records, arranging and conducting for the record company. He worked with many notable performers of the time. Probably his most famous work was on the album that produced Nat "King" Cole's hit "Mona Lisa." In addition to his assigned studio work, Baxter took advantage of the freedom he was given to record whatever he liked in the Capitol recording studios.

Baxter was incredibly curious and adventurous in his compositions and arrangements, experimenting with themes, instruments, and genres. His first release with Capitol was the album Music Out of the Moon in 1947. The album was a major style departure from the standard pop album of the time. On it Baxter used a choir, a cello and a French horn, a rhythm section, and one of the first electronic instruments ever invented, the theremin, which used an electromagnetic field over which the instrumentalist moved his hand to create sound. The album sold well enough that Baxter was encouraged to continue recording in a variety of styles.

His next notable work involved compositions and arrangements for noted Peruvian singer Yma Sumac. Sumac had a voice that covered five octaves and Baxter was able to utilize her voice to create the exotic sounds found on her debut album Voice of the Xtabay. Almost concurrently Baxter released the album Ritual of the Savage, which became the standard on which all future exotica albums were based. Described in the liner notes as a "tone poem of the sound and struggle of the jungle," Ritual of the Savage introduced the style and scope of music that would inspire later composers and arrangers such as Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman.

Throughout the 1950s Baxter had chart success with his arrangements of songs like "Because of You," "April in Portugal," and "The Poor People of Paris." In 1955 his "Unchained Melody" was number one on the Billboard charts for two weeks. In 1956 "The Poor People of Paris" hit number one for six weeks. His composition "The Quiet Village," which was originally released on Ritual of the Savage, was recorded by Martin Denny and became a hit for him in 1959.

In 1953 Baxter scored his first movie, a travelogue called Tanga Tika. He was billed as composer for such films as Untamed Youth (1957), Jungle Heat (1957), and The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (1958). By 1962 Baxter had scored more than 30 films, most of them eventually considered classics of the B-grade movie genre. That year he left Capitol Records and began focusing on movie composing.



Most of Baxter's work on film scores during this period was done at American International, the studio run by horror movie director Roger Corman. Baxter scored music for Corman's series of films based on the stories of Edgar Allen Poe, including The Pit and the Pendulum, Tales of Terror, and The Raven. In the mid-1960s Baxter became the arranger and composer for the series of "Bikini" movies that initially starred teen heart-throbs Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon. The films from this time period included Muscle Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Beach Blanket Bingo, and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.

The 1960s were Baxter's most prolific period. He scored a number of films, and also arranged and composed for television. He is responsible for the well-known whistling theme to the TV show Lassie. His other television work included Music of the Sixties (The Les Baxter Special), Buck Rogers in the 21st Century, The Milton Berle Show, and The Gumby Special.

Baxter's work for films slowed down significantly in the 1970s, and by the 1980s he was keeping himself busy scoring music for theme parks. He also conducted his own works on occasion. One of his last performances was in 1995 at the Century Club in Century City. On January 15, 1996, Baxter died at the age of 73, from a heart attack caused by kidney failure. The music Baxter pioneered had begun making a popular comeback in the 1990s, marked by the 1996 release of Capitol Records' The Exotic Moods of Les Baxter. Unfortunately, the artist did not live long enough to enjoy this resurgence of public acclaim for his musical style.

Selected discography
Music Out of the Moon, Capitol, 1947.
Perfume Set to Music, RCA Victor, 1949.
(With Yma Sumac) Voice of the Xtabay, Capitol, 1950; reissued, 1956.
Arthur Murray Favorites—Tangos, Capitol, 1951.
Ritual of the Savage, Capitol, 1951.
Thinking of You, Capitol, 1951.
The Passions, Capitol, 1954.
Arthur Murray Favorites—Modern Waltzes, Capitol, 1954.
Kaleidoscope, Capitol, 1955.
Tamboo!, Capitol, 1956.
Caribbean Moonlight, Capitol, 1956.
Skins! Bongo Party with Les Baxter, Capitol, 1957.
'Round the World with Les Baxter, Capitol, 1957.
Midnight on the Cliffs, Capitol, 1957.
Ports of Pleasure, Capitol, 1957.
Space Escapade, Capitol, 1957.
Selections from "South Pacific," Capitol, 1958.
Confetti, Capitol, 1958.
Love is a Fabulous Thing, Capitol, 1958.
African Jazz, Capitol, 1959.
Jungle Jazz, Capitol, 1959.
Wild Guitars, Capitol, 1959.
The Sacred Idol, Capitol, 1960.
Les Baxter's Teen Drums, Capitol, 1960.
Baxter's Best, Capitol, 1960.
Young Pops, Capitol, 1960.
Broadway '61, Capitol, 1961.
Jewels of the Sea, Capitol, 1961.
Wild Hi-Fi Drums, Capitol, 1961.
Sensational, Capitol, 1962.
Original Quiet Village, Capitol, 1963.
The Exotic Moods of Les Baxter, Capitol, 1996.

Sources
Periodicals
Daily Variety, January 19, 1996.

Online
"Les Baxter," Lycos Music, http://www.music.lycos.com/(January 14, 2004).
"Les Baxter," Space Age Pop, http://www.spaceagepop.com/baxter.htm (January 14, 2004).

• Genres: Easy Listening

Biography

Les Baxter is a pianist who composed and arranged for the top swing bands of the '40s and '50s, but he is better known as the founder of exotica, a variation of easy listening that glorified the sounds and styles of Polynesia, Africa, and South America, even as it retained the traditional string-and-horn arrangements of instrumental pop. Exotica became a massively popular trend in the '50s, with thousands of record buyers listening to Baxter, Martin Denny, and their imitators. Baxter also pioneered the use of the electronic instrument the theremin, which has a haunting, howling sound.

Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory and Pepperdine College in Los Angeles. After he completed school, he abandoned the piano and became a vocalist. When he was 23, he joined Mel Tormé's Mel-Tones. The group sang on Artie Shaw records, including the hit "What Is This Thing Called Love."

In 1950, he became an arranger and conductor for Capitol Records, working on hits by Nat King Cole, including "Mona Lisa." Around the same time, Baxter began recording his own albums. In 1948, he released a triple-78 album called Music out of the Moon, which ushered in space-age pop with its use of the theremin. Four years later, he began recording exotica albums with Le Sacre du Sauvage.

On his early-'50s singles Baxter was relatively straightforward, performing versions of standards like the number one hits "Unchained Melody" and "The Poor People of Paris," but on his albums he experimented with all sorts of world musics, adapting them for his orchestra. As he was recording his exotica albums, Baxter was also the musical director for the radio show Halls of Ivy, plus Abbott & Costello radio shows; he also composed over 100 film scores, concentrating on horror movies and teenage musicals and comedies, though he also did dramas like Giant.

Baxter's heyday was in the '50s and '60s. Although he continued to compose and record in the '70s, his output was sporadic. Nevertheless, a cult following formed around his exotica recordings that persisted into the '90s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

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