Les Baxter

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Leslie "Les" Baxter (born March 14, 1922 in Mexia , Texas , †  January 15, 1996 in Newport Beach , California ) was an American orchestra conductor and arranger , who is known in particular by his million seller Unchained Melody in 1955 a wide audience has been. His compositions for over 120 film and more than 130 TV and radio programs were less well known.

Career

Member of bands

After studying piano at the Detroit Conservatory , he found a job as a tenor saxophonist and arranger with Freddy Slack & His Orchestra. Here he appears in the cast list for the first time on November 24, 1943 for the tracks Small Batch O'Nod , Furlough Fling and Ain't That Just Like a Man , the last time he is listed as a member of the band on May 20, 1944. From October 5, 1944 to November 1949, he sang sporadically on recordings with the Mel-Tones, the accompanying group of jazz singer Mel Tormé , for whom he had been a radio director since 1945.

Own recordings

His first own recording was the experimental pop LP Music Out of the Moon for Capitol Records in 1947 , for which he used cello, french horn and theremin in addition to a choir . According to the liner notes of this LP, the main idea and themes were from Harry Revel, while Les Baxter gave each track the appropriately unique tone by using harmonies of choir voices and unusual instrumental effects, sometimes without rhythm and some with a dominant beat.

This was followed by an album comprising 3 EPs under the title Perfume Set to Music (RCA 1948). At the end of 1950 he received a recording contract with Capitol Records, where he first arranged for Nat King Cole (for the first time in 1947 for his recording Nature Boy with the Frank DeVol orchestra ) and then accompanied him musically with his own orchestra, especially with the often-covered million-seller Mona Lisa (taken on March 11, 1950) and Too Young (February 2, 1951).

Les Baxter - Unchained Melody

The first single cataloged under his name with its own orchestra on the label is Tambarina (October 27, 1950, released November 1950). In the same orchestral instrumental style (often with choir accompaniment), he released over 40 singles, including eight top 10 hits in the US pop charts. His final breakthrough came with the million-seller Unchained Melody , recorded on January 17, 1955 , which was number one on the US hit parade for three weeks and sold over 1 million copies. The evergreen The Poor People of Paris , published in January 1956, was his second million seller and topped the US charts for 4 weeks. Further orchestral singles with choir accompaniment followed, but - after the advent of rock 'n' roll  - could no longer follow on from the successes. His composition Quiet Village from the 1952 album Ritual of the Savage (which is considered to be the birth of the Exotica musical style ) was later covered by Martin Denny and accompanied by jungle noises. This version came to number 4 on the US charts in March 1959. In 1962 he left Capitol Records to sign with Frank Sinatra's record label Reprise Records .

Film music

For the television series with the collie dog Lassie, which has been broadcast on US television ( CBS ) in 591 episodes since September 12, 1954 (in Germany only from February 8, 1960), Les Baxter wrote the well-known theme music of 57 seconds, which was played between 1958 and Was heard in the episodes in 1964.

In the sixties and seventies he specialized in the composition of film music. Including for the movies House of Usher (German title: Die Verfluchten ; US premiere on June 22, 1960), The Raven ( Der Rabe - Duell der Zauberer ; January 25, 1963), The Comedy of Terrors ( Ruhe Sanft GmbH ; 25 December 1963), The Dunwich Horror ( Voodoo Child ; January 14, 1970), Cry of the Banshee ( The death scream of the witches ; July 22, 1970), Frogs ( Frogs ; March 10, 1972) or I Escaped from Devil's Iceland ( Mutiny on Devil's Island ; September 1973). He is responsible for a total of 120 film music compositions. The ASCAP has copyrighted around 700 music tracks for him. Baxter is one of the most productive American composers. He is immortalized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame .

Discography Singles (selection)

Capitol Records :

  • Tambarina / Somewhere, Somehow, Someday (# 1299), November 1950
  • Because of You / Unless (# 1493), June 1951 (a # 4 on the US charts)
  • Blue Tango / Please, Mr. Sun (# 1966), February 1952 (a # 10 on the US charts)
  • Lonely Wine / Lost in Meditation (# 2106), May 1952
  • Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart / Padam Padam (# 2143), July 1952 (# 20 in the US charts)
  • April in Portugal / Suddenly (# 2374), April 1953 (a No. 2 in the US charts)
  • Ruby / A Little Love (# 2457), May 1953 (a # 7 on the US charts)
  • I Love Paris / Gigi (# 2479), June 1953 (a # 13 on the US charts)
  • The High and the Mighty / More Love Than Your Love (# 2845), July 1954 (# 4 on the US charts)
  • Unchained Melody / The Medic (# 3055), March 1955 (# 1 on the US charts)
  • Wake the Town and Tell the People / I'll Never Stop Loving You (# 3120), August 1955 (# 5 in the US charts)
  • The Poor People of Paris / April in Portugal (# 3336), January 1956 (# 1 in the US charts)
  • Tango of the Drums / Sinner Man (# 3404), April 1956
  • Giant / There's Never Been Anyone Else But You (# 3526), ​​October 1956
  • (What Happens In) Buenos Aires / The Left Arm of Buddha (# 3573), December 1956

Filmography (selection)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 87.
  2. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 94.
  3. The distinctive flute was played by Muzzy Marcellino
  4. ASCAP entry for Les Baxter

Web links