Chaino and his African Percussion Safari “Jungle Echoes” on Omega.   (See Chaino Africana post for more)

(47 votes, average: 4.28 out of 5)

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“CHAINO AFRICANA” on Dot Records. “Spellbinding primitive rhythms by Chaino, percussion genious of Africa”. The music here and from other Chaino records is on a CD reissue called “Chaino Africana and Beyond”.

Chaino is one of the elusive figures of space age pop. After growing up in Chicago, Leon Johnson left home and lived a fairly wild life, eventually taking up the bongos and making a name for himself as “Chaino” (taken perhaps from the great Cuban conga player, Chano Pozo?) on the “chitlins” circuit of black nightclubs. In the late 1950s, he went to Hollywood and met producer Kirby Allan, who had recently been inspired by African tribal music during a trip to Kenya. Allan and Johnson went into the famed Gold Star studio in early 1958 to try to create an American-ized version. They eventually succeeded in getting jazz impresario Norman Granz to release some of these cuts on the luridly-titled, Jungle Mating Rhythms. At the same time, they were able to sell tracks to three different small West Coast jazz labels, Score, Tampa, and Omega, and all four albums were released virtually simultaneously. A few months later, Allan signed with the Silent Majority label, Dot (home to Lawrence Welk for a fifth album, Africana. A sixth album, Temptation, was recorded for Omega but was barely out the door before the label went bankrupt.   — Space Age Pop

(53 votes, average: 4.77 out of 5)

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This is beautiful.   A 1950’s piece of art from Bogota, Columbia and the Sonolux label.

(18 votes, average: 3.78 out of 5)

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Fred Elias and his Ensemble of Renown featuring John Tatasopoulas.

Excerpt from back cover notes: “Only the emotional depth of Fred Elias & His Ensemble of Renown and the bazooki of John Tatasopoulas, world’s greatest in this field, can capture the contrasts of tender emotion and resounding rhythms of MYSTICAL TEMPTATIONS.”

Check out lots of cool covers at Belly Go! Go!

(19 votes, average: 3.74 out of 5)

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An old Parlophone EMI 10″ from the UK. “Voix De L’Orient” Series.

(28 votes, average: 3.82 out of 5)

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“Rito Esclavo” by Pedro Laza y sus Pelayeros on Fuentes.

(28 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)

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Vocalist Bas Sheva was born Beatrice Kurzman to a wealthy and prominent Jewish family in Philadelphia. When Kurzman decided to go into show business she adopted the name “Bas Sheva” (i.e., the Biblical “Bathsheba”) in order not to embarrass her family. She formally studied the voice and developed an extremely powerful instrument with extraordinary dexterity, and probably got her start singing in the so-called “Borscht Belt” of Catskill Mountains resorts. Her recording career began around 1950 with a small number of obscure singles of standards, none of which sparked much interest.

In 1953 Bas Sheva was engaged by bandleader Hal Mooney as the principal voice on Soul of a People, a collection of traditional Jewish songs issued by Capitol. This was a very successful disc in the Jewish market, and Bas Sheva’s brassy, no holds barred delivery of this familiar material was an important element in making Soul of a People appealing. Nonetheless, Bas Sheva did not record again for another five years, and she may have felt somewhat typecast as a primarily Jewish entertainer.

Composer and Capitol Records producer Les Baxter came to her rescue by offering Bas Sheva the role of star vocalist on his suite The Passions. Bas Sheva’s performance on The Passions is quite amazing even 50 years on; she screams, wails, whimpers, howls, grunts, and even acts a little to the pulsating rhythms of Baxter’s dark, gritty, and complex musical score. While The Passions was the very embodiment of innovation in an era that encouraged musicians to stretch out, it was considered far too edgy, obscure, and over the top in its time and was not a success. Despite this great showcase of all the astounding things Bas Sheva could do with her voice, she was never to record again.

In 1960 Bas Sheva died at age 34 from a diabetic reaction suffered while entertaining on board a cruise ship. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis, All Music Guide

(14 votes, average: 4.14 out of 5)

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Here’s a nice one from a cool Jazz record blog called Orgy in Rythm. In the top right corner RCA Victor seems to put this in the “Savage Drums” category!

(21 votes, average: 4.14 out of 5)

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