Let's go back to the swinging '60's and sultry '70's. The genre known as "easy listening" became popular during that period, and whilst never as dominating in the charts as pop and rock, has nevertheless continued to entertain. Aficionados of other genres are inclined to dismiss easy listening as nothing of importance, but I grew up with a number of famous performers and bands, and continue to enjoy it. This morning I've selected half a dozen examples of the genre with which to kick back and relax.
Let's start with James Last and his orchestra. Here's "Jezebel" from their album "Guitar A Gogo".
Next, Paul Mauriat and his orchestra with "Love Is Blue".
Richard Clayderman with "La Vie En Rose".
Bert Kaempfert and "The Happy Trumpeter".
Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass with "South Of The Border".
And last but by no means least, Roger Whittaker with "I Don't Believe In 'If' Anymore".
I remember all those pieces, and all those performers. Pleasant memories.
Peter
8 comments:
I don't remember all of the performers and I will catch up.
I really, really, remember the Tijuana Brass album cover with the young lady and whipped cream!
There's a show on NPR called the Retro Cocktail Hour where they play some music like that. You don't have to tune into the station. You may listen here.
https://www.retrococktail.org/
Some others;
Dennis Coffey and the Detroit Guitar Band - The Horse
Young & Holt - Soulful Strut
Hugh Masekela - Grazing in the Grass
Mason Williams - Classical Gas.
A great documentary about that time frame and the music is "The Wrecking Crew". It's about the making of all that music.
A lot of this was my parent's generation (late WW2 and Silent). I would say that smooth jazz is our generation's version of "easy listening".
@kurt9: My parents, too. I think the first music I heard as a child was either classical, or "easy listening", including most of the artists mentioned above.
I remember having an Easy Listening station on my clock radio to wake up to. The DJ(?) on the station had such a soft, mellow voice. It would get unintentionally funny when he would read the (bad) news and it wouldn't sound all that bad.
One of my first jobs out of college was across the street from H.Alpert's business office.
Herb Albert founded A&M Music with Jerry Moss. Became a multi-zillionaire.
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