Exotica (album)

Infobox Album |
Name = Exotica
Type = Album
Artist = Martin Denny

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Released = May 1957
Recorded = December 1956
Genre = Exotica
Length = 30:36
Label = Liberty Records
Producer = Martin Denny (uncredited)
Simon Jackson
Reviews =
Last album =
This album = Exotica
Next album = Exotica Volume II

"Exotica" is the first album by Martin Denny released in 1957. It contained Denny's most famous song, "Quiet Village", and spawned an entire genre bearing its name.

It was recorded in Webley Edwards' studio (not, as often reported, the Aluminum Dome at Henry J. Kaiser's Hawaiian Village Complex) in Waikiki in December 1956.

The original album was recorded in mono. It was re-recorded in stereo in 1958; by then, however, Denny's popular sideman Arthur Lyman had left the group (he was replaced by Julius Wechter). Denny preferred the original mono version: "It has the original spark, the excitement, the feeling we were breaking new ground." [cite album-notes
title = Exotica/Exotica II
albumlink =
bandname = Martin Denny
year = 1996
notestitle =
url =
first =
last =
pages = p.11
format = CD
publisher = Scamp Records
publisherid= R2 70774
location = New York
mbid = ] Only the mono version has been reissued on CD.

Track listing

# "Quiet Village" (Les Baxter) – 3:39
# "Return to Paradise" (Dimitri Tiomkin, Ned Washington) – 2:19
# "Hong Kong Blues" (Hoagy Carmichael) – 2:15
# "Busy Port" (Baxter) – 2:50
# "Lotus Land" (Cyril Scott) – 2:22
# "Similau" (Arden Clar, Harry Coleman) – 1:57
# "Stone God" (Baxter) – 3:07
# "Jungle Flower" (Baxter) – 1:46
# "China Nights" (Shina No Yoru) (Takeoka) – 2:01
# "Ah Me Furi" (Gil Baumgart) – 2:08
# "Waipo" (Francis Brown) – 3:11
# "Love Dance" (Baxter) – 2:29

Personnel

* Martin Denny – piano, arrangements
* Arthur Lyman – vibes, xylophone, percussion
* John Kramer – string bass
* Augie Colon – bongos, congas, Latin effects, bird calls
* Harold Chang – drums, percussion
* Bob Lang – engineer
* Sandy Warner – cover model

References