Exotica master stretches out with inventive arrangements

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.1963's "Cotton Fields," Lyman's thirteenth album, followed much the same song pattern he'd established on earlier albums, but in addition to the film scores, show tunes, popular hits, bossa novas and Hawaiian melodies, there are also titles drawn from the then-current folk revival. The album opens with the superb exotica of Ernesto Lecuona's "Jungle Drums," replete with guiro, bird calls and flowing vibraphone. Dating back to the 1930s, "Jungle Drums" was a popular melody in the space age bachelor pad canon, with dozens of covers that include versions by Sid Bass, Al Caiola, David Carroll, Xavier Cugat, Ferrante and Teicher, Marty Gold and Martin Denny's percussionist, Augie Colon. Turning to a jazzier style, Lyman's arrangement of Elmer Bernstein's film title "Walk on the Wild Side" is a tremendous slice of late night moody blues, and Meredith "The Music Man" Wilson's "I Ain't Down Yet" (from the 1964 film "The Unsinkable Molly Brown") is rendered in a march tempo. Show tunes include a contemplative take on Robert Wright and George Forrest's "This is My Beloved" (from 1953's "Kismet") and Hart and Rogers' "Little Girl Blue" (from 1935's "Jumbo"), and native melodies are heard in a bossa nova arrangement of the classic "Hawaiian War Chant" and a gently flowing take on Maddy Lam's "Singing Bamboo." Pop music hits include a winsome, flute-led version of the standard "Scarlet Ribbons," and a percussive bossa nova treatment of Chubby Checker's "Limbo Rock" featuring Lyman's vibes gliding along a Calypso-styled steel drum. The folk revival provides "Greensleeves," wonderfully realized on vibraphone, guitar and celeste, and Leadbelly's "Cotton Fields," lightened with a swinging go-go beat.Lyman's next album, "Blowin' in the Wind," was released later the same year and includes a similar song lineup, though with a few more inspired selections. The folk revival provides the jaunty "I've Been Working on the Railroad," Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" rendered as a warm tropical breeze, and a tremendously moving take on the Appalachian spiritual "He's Gone Away." The bossa nova was still hot, and Darius Milhaud's "Brazilleros" gives the quartet a chance to break out the dance beat. The band also hits a hard downbeat for a short take on Herbie Hancock's signature "Watermelon Man." From the Broadway stage, Lyman adapted Ebb and Kander's "My Coloring Book" (which had three contemporaneous covers: hits by Kitty Callan and Sandy Stewart, and a non-charting single by Barbra Streisand), and from the silver screen he selects Aaron Copland's "Fantasia Mexicana," originally featured alongside Ricardo Montalban's debut in 1947's "Fiesta." The album's exotica moments belong to a cover of Eden Ahbez's "Eden's Island," and an arrangement of the Korean melody "Arri Rang" that transitions from gentle to fierce and back. The album closes with the jazzy moving-and-grooving of "Suzy's Waltz."Though both albums follow the template of earlier releases, and despite the folk-revival implications of their titles, this pair includes some of Lyman's most inventive song selections. The arrangements are fetching, inventive and varied to match the breadth of material. The sound is crisp (though, as on many of these discs, there are hints of clipping on Lyman's vibraphone) and the stereo imagery (particularly the panning maracas of "Brazil") is broad. This pair is a great pick among the original albums to hear what Lyman could do with his ears, his arranger's pen and his mallets. [©2008 redtunictroll at hotmail dot com]