Abbey Lincoln - Abbey Is Blue (1959)

One of my absolute favorite vocal jazz records. Slow-burning, ethereal sounds for the late-night hours, addressing heartache and racial injustice in powerful, sorrowful terms.

Track listing:

1. Afro-Blue

2. Lonely House

3. Let Up

4. Thursday's Child

5. Brother, Where Are You?

6. Laugh, Clown, Laugh

7. Come Sunday

8. Softly, as a Morning Sunrise

9. Lost in the Stars

10. Long as You're Living

Sometimes I think maybe God's gone away

Forgetting his promise and the word he'd say

And we're lost out here in the stars

You'll probably also wanna hear:

Astrud Gilberto - I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do (1969)

Kimiko Kasai - Butterfly (1979)

Dominic Frontier and His Orchestra - Pagan Festival: An Exotic Love Ritual for Orchestra (1959)

Some good ol' fashioned exotica from Dominic Frontier, who I believe is best known, if at all, for his film scores. Lush, inviting, cinematic, and probably problematic by today's standards. Claims to be an "interpretation of ancient Inca rituals, superstitions, and the romance and mysteries of their colorful civilization," but I'm guessing that it's the end result of about 25 minutes of research.

Track listing:
1. Festival
2. House of Dawn (Paccar-Tampu)
3. Temple of Suicide (Ixtab)
4. Moon Goddess (Ixchel)
5. Time of Sunshine (Yaxkin)
6. Goddess of Love (X-Tabai)
7. House of Pleasure (Tampu-Anca)
8. The Harvest (Zax)
9. Corn Festival (Zabacil Than)
10. God of Seasons (Kuklkan)
11. Jaguar God (Balam)
12. Venus Girl (Ix-Koben)

Whence no traveler returns

Martin Denny -
Forbidden Island (1958)

The David Whitaker Orchestra -
Music to Spy By (1966)

Martin Denny - Forbidden Island (1958)

This is what working at a record store does to you. Try as you might, you end up saying things like, "Martin Denny is way better than he'll ever be given credit for," and mean it. I'm definitely a sucker for vibraphone, marimba, and the like, and those are all over this record, but it's more than that. I mean, who could resist such laid-back, oddly mysterious sounds? Not this guy.

Track listing:
1. Cobra
2. Port-Au-Prince
3. Exotica
4. Little China Doll
5. Bali Ha'i
6. Narcissus Queen
7. Goony Birds
8. Sim Sim
9. Primitiva
10. March of the Siamese Children
11. Sukara
12. Forbidden Island

Paradise found