Harry Owens Polynesian Holiday, Capitol Records. 1956 ...

For your listening pleasure today I have for you Harry Owens and his 1956 release Polynesian Holiday.

Harry Owens credits Hawaii with his rebirth in 1934 when he first sailed past Diamond Head on Matson's S. S. Mariposa. Owens came to the islands to lead the orchestra at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. He met several knowledgeable native Hawaiians and learned a great deal about their culture, embraced it as his own, and transcribed many ancient and 20th century Hawaiian songs which had never been written down before. Through the years, Owens became one of the grand cheerleaders for Hawai'i as he took his band and troupe, usually including Hilo Hattie featured in the You Tube clip, all over the mainland.

"All Hawaiian, all the time" was his philosophy and he followed it at regular engagements at Los Angeles's Ambassador Hotel Coconut Grove nightclub, the Mural Room at the St. Francis in San Francisco and on television with a regular hour-long program all through the 1950s. He wrote his biggest hit and signature song, "Sweet Leilani" upon the birth of his first child and, when used in the Paramount film Coconut Grove, his friend Bing Crosby made the song a worldwide hit. Over the years, Owens composed many hapa haole songs, many of which remain popular today. He is credited with composing some 300 songs and made over 150 records for Decca alone.



The Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts awarded Owens the 1987 Na Hoku Hanohano Lifetime Achievement Award for his substantial contributions to the entertainment industry in Hawaii.

The Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts awarded Owens the 1987 Na Hoku Hanohano Lifetime Achievement Award for his substantial contributions to the entertainment industry in Hawaii.

From 1956 this rather nice album of Pacific songs still sounds rather lovely today. Enjoy Harry Owens Polynesian Holiday.

Paul Whiteman - Hawaiian Magic. Grand Award Records. 1966 ...

Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz."

Using a large ensemble and exploring many styles of music, Whiteman is perhaps best known for his blending of symphonic music and jazz, as typified by his 1924 commissioning and debut of George Gershwin's jazz-influenced "Rhapsody In Blue". His popularity faded in the swing music era of the 1930s, and by the 1940s Whiteman was semi-retired from music. In his autobiography, Duke Ellington declared, "Paul Whiteman was known as the King of Jazz, and no one as yet has come near carrying that title with more certainty and dignity."

This release was originally released in 1956 with the rather more attractive sleeve below. The 1966 re-release featured what some vinyl websites describe as a "striking cover" ... I'd call it pre school collage but that's my opinion!

The record features "Lush strings, full and colorful, with bright guitar passages the reflect so splendidly the rich romance of the haunting music of Hawaii." My pick would be the Moon of Manakoora.

Enjoy - Paul Whiteman - Hawaiian Magic 1966.

Poss Miyazaki - Hawaiian Exotics. King Records Japan.1963 ...

During the war years of World War Two the playing of Hawaiian music was forbidden in Japan but at the end in 1945 steel guitarist Poss Miyazaki was the first to emerge. Today it is said that Hawaiian music is more popular in Japan than any country outside of Hawaii!

This 1963 release on King Records features lots of shimmering lap-steel guitar, some electone organ courtesy of Shiro Michi, a smattering of vibes and those Hawaiian all-stars singing some tasty choruses raise a smile. My personal favourites are his arrangements for Beyond the Reef and Hilawe.

Enjoy Hawaiian Exotics from Poss Miyazaki and the Hawaiian All-Stars.

Leroy Holmes - Hawaii with a Bongo Beat. MGM Records 1961...

The first thing that strikes you about this release is the cover, highly original it was created by El Cheapo Covers of Hollywood USA using genuine non Hawaiian fruit and flowers! Their motto is "a class cover in under 15 minutes or your fruit and flowers are free".

In this recording LeRoy Holmes has successfully blends two, individually distinctive types of music: the tropically melodious themes of the Hawaiian Islands, and what became known as the "Nashville" beat! The result is amazing! You hear the well loved Hawaiian melodies with a really modern (at the time of release!) backbeat.

Enjoy - Hawaii with a Bongo Beat.

Lalo Schifrin Gone with the Wave ...

Today's musical share from Lalo Schifrin is something of a departure from exotica, although it does have a definite exotic flavour. Lalo Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor, best known for his film and TV scores. You'd do well not to have watched a movie he has created the soundtrack for. He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations.

This 1963 release on Colpix Records was the official soundtrack for "Gone With the Wave," an obscure surf movie directed by Phil Wilson, son of Revue (later Universal) music director Stanley Wilson. The elder Wilson was a beloved mentor for many prominent composers, including John Williams and Lalo Schifrin. Schifrin gladly accepted Stanley Wilson's invitiation to score son Phil's surf picture, and recorded 31 minutes of original compositions with a top-flight West Coast jazz band.
While the film itself was barely distributed, the soundtrack album on Colpix received rave reviews, eventually becoming a collector's item for both the jazz and surfing crowds with its array of Schifrin grooves from the glorious mid-1960s.

Here's my favourite from the album - A taste of Bamboo...



Enjoy - Lalo Schifrin Gone with the Wave.

Leo Addeo and His Orchestra - Hawaii's Greatest Hits...

For your listening pleasure from the Secret Island Today I have for you Leo Addeo and his Orchestra performing Hawaii's Greatest Hits in RCA records back in 1971.

Leo Addeo was one of RCA's key house arrangers for most of the 1950s and 1960s. An Italian American from Brooklyn, Addeo's specialty was Hawaiian music. He studied violin as a child, but switched to clarinet and saxophone in his teens when he noticed these instruments were in greater demand for local dance bands. He gradually moved from performing to arranging, working with Gene Krupa, Larry Clinton, and Frankie Carle.

Hugo Winterhalter hired Addeo as an orchestrator and brought him along when he moved to RCA in the early 1950s. Addeo was a steady producer for RCA, backing vocalists such as Vaughan Monroe and Don Cherry, arranging and conducting on numerous credited and uncredited instrumentals, and writing an occasional song.

This album features some nice versions of exotica staples alongside some painfully catchy quirky stuff. Come on sing along everyone "One paddle, two paddle, threes paddles..."

Enjoy Hawaii's Greatest Hits.

Arthur Lyman - Yellow Bird. 1961

For your listening pleasure the Secret Island brings you the 1961 Arthur Lyman release Yellow Bird. Starting out as a member of Martin Denny's band Lyman wen't on to make his own name in the exotica genre. His signature tune was his cover of "Yellow Bird", which spent 10 weeks on Billboard's Top Ten chart in 1961, reaching #4. At the height of his fame a 1962 Time magazine article from described a typical performance:

"A conch shell wailed, the conga drums thump-thumped, the bamboo sticks clattered. The four men on stage were constantly on the move — clacking wooden blocks, scratching a corrugated gourd, flailing away at Chinese gongs, weaving rhythms that were insistent, sinuous and hypnotic. Occasionally, when the spirit moved them, they barked like seals or whooped like cranes. The happy audience at Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel rattled the rafters whooping back.

The album titled and featuring Yellow Bird was his ninth release. Most of Lyman's albums were recorded in the aluminum Kaiser geodesic dome auditorium on the grounds of the Kaiser Hawaiian Village Hotel on Waikiki in Honolulu. This space provided unparalleled acoustics and a natural 3-second reverberation. His recordings also benefited from being recorded on a one-of-kind Ampex 3-track 1/2" tape recorder designed and built by engineer Richard Vaughn. All of Lyman's albums were recorded live, without overdubbing. He recorded after midnight, to avoid the sounds of traffic and tourists, and occasionally on some releases you can hear the aluminum dome creaking as it settles in the cool night air. The quality of these recordings became even more evident with the advent of popular CD reissues, when the digital mastering engineer found he didn't have to do anything to them but transfer the original 3-track stereo masters to digital. The recordings remain state-of-the-art nearly 50 years later.

Enjoy - Arthur Lyman's Yellow Bird.