Cocktail Nation Special-Les Baxter The Book- Full interview and all songs Les Baxter

A Cocktail Nation midweek special this week as I have a long chat with James Spencer and play some of the big songs of Les Baxter’s career as programmed by Mr Spencer himself!

LES BAXTER is the first published biography to examine a detailed history of composer and musician Leslie Thompson Baxter. One of Capitol Record’s most prominent artists, Les had 35 hits and 11 album hits in a career that expanded nearly fifty years. Les is one of America’s most influential, innovative and unique composers of of the 20th century. He is the father of Exotica, Space-Age Bachelor Music, and his experimental and innovative film scores set the standards for the genres of horror, sci-fi, westerns, and teen-age beach movies. The biography was researched over twenty years and includes rare interviews by Skip Heller, a protege who studied and was companion to Les during the last few years of his life. James Spencer, musicologist, concert pianist and recording artist became friends with Les Baxter in 1991 and documents the last five years of Les’ life until his death in January of 1996.

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1. “Quiet Village” [The Ritual of the Savage (1951)

2. “Oasis of Dahkla [Tamboo! (1956)

3. “The Enchanted Sea” [Jewels of the Sea (1961)

 4. “Moon Moods” [Music Out of the Moon (1948)] with Harry Revel

5. “Dream Rhapsody” [Midnight On the Cliffs (1957] 

6. “Nightmare Sequence” [The Fall of the House of Usher (1960)] 

 7. “Speak Low” [Thinking of You (1954)]  

8. “Joy” [ The Passions with Bas Sheva (1954)] 

 9. “Les Levres” from La Femme (Franck Pourcel and his French Strings)1956

10. “Adios”  from Caribbean Moonlight 1956