Four full albums from the great Martin Denny – presented here with bonus tracks too! First up is the initial Exotica album – the birth of a sound and the birth of a legend – Martin Denny's first album in the Exotica series, and a record so great it named an entire genre! Denny certainly didn't invent the tropical style of easy listening that came to be known as "exotica" in the 50s – but with a record like this, he delivered the goods better than anyone else – by taking away all the too-sweet styles of Hawaiian music, and serving up a stripped-down, jazzy kind of sound! The album features Denny's classic original quartet – with Arthur Lyman on vibes and Augie Colon on bongos – and titles include "Stone God", "Jungle Flower", "Busy Port", "Lotus Land", and his hit recording of "Quiet Village". Exotica 2 is the second album in Denny's legendary Exotica trilogy – a set of records that provided the extreme definition of the small sub-genre that today has become the stuff of legend! Denny's still working here in his classic format – a small group with heavy piano lines, playful percussion, and some birdcalls sung by the members of the group! The set's a mix of strange songs from strange sources, all given the sublime Denny twist – and titles include "Singing Bamboos", "Escales", "August Bells", "Ebb Tide", "Rush Hour In Hong Kong", and "Soshu Night Serenade". Exotica 3 is sublime late 50s work from Martin Denny – his third album under the Exotica banner, and almost a deeper and weirder album than the other two! The sound here is extremely haunting – even more freed from conventional melody than the rest, and very fixated on the tonal possibilities that could be produced from Denny's unique grouping of percussion, piano, bass, and vibes. There's few tricks or gimmicks on the set – just a spare and other-worldly approach to music that's totally great! Titles include "Manila", "Mama Iti E Papa E", "Bamboo Lullaby", "Ringo Oiwake", "Moon Of Manakoora", "Congo Train", and "Beautiful Kahana". Quiet Village is an undisputed classic in the exotica genre – and the record that yielded Martin Denny his biggest hit! The title track "Quiet Village" was originally written by Les Baxter, but it was Martin Denny's approach that really managed to send the tune over the top – using spare percussion, rhythmic piano, and just the right amount of vibes and bird calls to give the track a really haunting feel. That approach is echoed throughout the set – with shifting instrumentation that includes celeste, bongos, marimbas, and marimbula as well! Titles include "Quiet Village", "Paradise Found", "Sake Rock", "Martinique", "Tune From Rangoon", and "Pagan Love Song". CD features bonus tracks too – "Llama Serenade" and "The Enchanted Sea" and more. CD

The second album in Denny's legendary Exotica trilogy – a set of records that provided the extreme definition of the small sub-genre that today has become the stuff of legend! Denny's still working here in his classic format – a small group with heavy piano lines, playful percussion, and some birdcalls sung by the members of the group! The set's a mix of strange songs from strange sources, all given the sublime Denny twist – and titles include "Singing Bamboos", "Escales", "August Bells", "Ebb Tide", "Rush Hour In Hong Kong", and "Soshu Night Serenade". LP, Vinyl record album

The second album in Denny's legendary Exotica trilogy – a set of records that provided the extreme definition of the small sub-genre that today has become the stuff of legend! Denny's still working here in his classic format – a small group with heavy piano lines, playful percussion, and some birdcalls sung by the members of the group! The set's a mix of strange songs from strange sources, all given the sublime Denny twist – and titles include "Singing Bamboos", "Escales", "August Bells", "Ebb Tide", "Rush Hour In Hong Kong", and "Soshu Night Serenade". Japanese CD features full stereo and mono mixes of all tunes on the set! CD

The second album in Denny's legendary Exotica trilogy – a set of records that provided the extreme definition of the small sub-genre that today has become the stuff of legend! Denny's still working here in his classic format – a small group with heavy piano lines, playful percussion, and some birdcalls sung by the members of the group! The set's a mix of strange songs from strange sources, all given the sublime Denny twist – and titles include "Singing Bamboos", "Escales", "August Bells", "Ebb Tide", "Rush Hour In Hong Kong", and "Soshu Night Serenade". LP, Vinyl record album

Wild stuff – and one of the oddest records we've ever heard! The work is truly a Symphony Of Birds – in that all the source material here was recorded in the field, out of the mouths of actual birds – but the overall execution is far different than just a bunch of birdcalls, and thanks to careful studio manipulation, Jim Fassett makes the whole thing sound like a record of analogue electronics! From what we can tell, the album involves Fassett manipulating and re-assembling his bird call recordings in ways that form a whole new kind of music – one that has some bird-like elements, but which sounds hauntingly electronic at most moments – and which comes across in a beautiful array of chirps and cheeps. The package features some notes in Japanese, others in English, lots of photos – and even a massive "disc guide", listing dozens of related albums of field recordings, bird calls, and even whistling! Titles include some initial "Explanatory Comments" by Fassett, plus different movements of the suite. The second half features more birdcall recordings, narrated by Fassett – but presented in a more straightforward way. CD