Bob Romeo - his flute & jungle sextet LP - Jazz Exotica Grail-- Eden Ahbez RARE

$

37

    Hello All---you are looking at a nice copy of this rare exotica jazz LP on the Sunset Records label # SU 304,...   released in 1956.  ( Please scroll down to read a writeup someone did regarding the recording.)  As you can see by the foto, the cover is in VG shape......as the left spine and top seam have been taped, which has yellowed/coloured....but the cover has held together nicely, with only some rubwear on the bottom seam that is eventually creating a tear at center , which will eventually become a split.  An old small sticker and various other wear feature at top right of front cover.
The vinyl, however, is the sweet part. It is VG+ with only a few visual markings/superficial marks that do not affect the needle in a negative manner., ie, ... it sounds really clean and good all the way through with only the occasional lite pop/hiss sound. It definitely plays like a VG+ if not better....and i hope the sound will satisfy any bidder.  I am starting the bidding lower due to cover condition. Scroll down and thanks for looking! :)

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 If there is one record in my collection that evokes the sensual excitement of the '50s swarm of bohemian music, it's gotta be APHRODISIA by Bob Romeo, his Flute and the Jungle Sextet.

I haven't been able to find much about Bob Romeo on the internet or from phones calls to the Local 47, L.A.'s musicians union. However, a strong one-over of the LP cover can often lead to connecting the dots.

One thing I was able to find was a bootleg EP of James Dean pounding out a pair of bongo tunes, with our Bob Romeo responsible for the trance-like flute tones, the two men dishing it out with distrubing emotional abandon.

But back to APHRODISIA. The album was recorded in Hollywood and released on Sunset Records in 1956. On the cover is actress Anita Ekberg in a gypsy costume. Of interesting note, when a band of gypsies rolled into Paris in the late 1800s, the native Parisiennes thought they had come from the central European town of Bohemia, in the Czech Republic. And because the contingent of avant-garde artists, writers and those challenging traditional mores in Paris wanted to be closely associated with the gypsies, they called themselves "bohemians."

Above the title on the front cover, APHRODISIA says: "Music for delightfully uninhibited males and females only." A further warning graces the bottom left of the front cover -- "Caution! The primitive rhythms in this album are basic and explosive! Those unaccustomed (or accustomed) to dealing with aroused emotions are urged to listen with care!"

When you throw this LP on your turntable, it really takes you to another universe. 4:20 is never a bad time to play the album, but the persuasive combination of bongos, timbales and flute make this pulsating groove merchant the perfect all-natural high. Great mood albums like RITUAL OF THE SAVAGE by Les Baxter, B'WANA'A by Arthur Lyman, SOFT SAMBA by Gary McFarland or BLUE MARTINI by Plas Johnson might offer some reference points for the kind of free-flowing moodsong one could expect from APHRODISIA. But I swear, this sucker is the black & white voodoo experience all those who are in search of hypnotique have been waiting to hear. I could only hope that some great mood music artist like Cornelius or the High Llamas would get a hold of this LP, and find a way to make more music in this style.

Alas, with APHRODISIA and the James Dean EP, I have not been able to find any more music by Bob Romeo. No sessions where he played with other West Coast jazz combos. No live recordings. And in all of my research on the beatnik coffeehouses in L.A. from the '50s, I've never laid eyes on even so much as an advertisement declaring a Bob Romeo performance. It's just so unlikely that this guy would simply disappear.

First off, jazz flautists are a very rare breed. Bud Shank was something of a flute virtuoso, but cut many, many more albums as a tenor sax leader. You had Paul Horn, who cut a series of strong jazz flute LPs for labels like Dot Records, Columbia and Everest, and played with his trio at L.A. beat clubs like the Renaissance, Shelly's Manne Hole and the Blue Grotto (a coffeehouse on Fairfax Avenue featured in the 1958 flick "Night Tide"). You had Buddy Collette and Yusef Lateef, both of whom played in Chico Hamilton's West Coast bands. Herbie Mann was another fine jazz flute leader, as was Hubert Laws. And while Mann spent some time recording on the West Coast, he and Laws were mostly East Coast players. And of course Charles Lloyd was a prominent jazz flute name during the late '60s. But with so few jazz flute virtuosos in the '50s, why aren't there more jazz albums that feature Bob Romeo?

Hell, this guy also worked with two major West Coast jazz artists -- Eddie Cano and Laurindo Almeida, who played piano and guitar, respectively, on APHRODISIA. Furthermore, Romeo co-wrote three cuts on the album with Eden Ahbez (a Hollywood proto-hippie who wrote Nat King Cole's 1948 mega-hit "Nature Boy"). Bongo player Carlos Vidal was featured on Mongo Santamaria's 1960 percussion extravaganza, YAMBU. In other words, APHRODISIA is a veritable who's who in '50s bohemian and cool jazz recording.

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 NOTE: Due to past non received items with the Brazilian post, i will only ship there if i already know you or you must pay for registered post. Thanks :)
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