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Leslie Thompson Baxter (March 14, 1922 – January 15, 1996) was an American musician, composer and conductor. [1] . After working as an arranger and composer for swing bands, he developed his own style of easy listening music, known as exotica and scored over 250 radio, television and motion pictures numbers. [2] Early life.
Les Baxter was a visionary, innovative, composer, conductor, arranger, and conductor who recorded some of the most innovative popular music of his time, influencing countless artists across several decades ranging from Nat King Cole to Jefferson Airplane.
Les was born in 1921 in Mexia,Texas (birthplace of Anna Nicole Smith), and spent part of his childhood in Detroit, where he attended the local conservatory and was considered something of a prodigy. He appears to have been fluent at an early age on piano and most woodwinds.
Les Baxter. Soundtrack: Wild at Heart. Born March 14, 1922, at Mexia, Texas. He learned to play the piano at five years of age and studied at the Detroit Conservatory and at Pepperdine College in Los Angeles, California (his uncle was the college's first president).
Jun 19, 2019 · Unchained Melody (North-Zaret) by Les Baxter, his Orchestra and Chorus Posting the three very popular 1955 recordings of the ageless ballad “Unchained Melody” (see also Al Hibbler and Roy...
Nov 22, 2017 · Enjoy the exotic and enchanting music of Les Baxter, the master of exotica and lounge, in this full album of his greatest hits. From Celestial Nocturne to Quiet Village, you will be transported to ...
May 26, 2019 · The Poor People Of Paris (Monnot) by Les Baxter, his Chorus and Orchestra Baxter’s bright million-selling instrumental spent six weeks perched atop the Billboard Top 100 chart.
Les Baxter, far a field from his native Texas, was the most sophisticated of world travelers – being equally at home in New York, Paris, Rome, Buenos Aires, Rio, or Marakesh – and his music has always reflected the lavish and exotic colors and sounds found in the far-flung corners of the world.
Les Baxter. Exotica pioneer whose blend of Polynesian forms and orchestral arrangements appealed to the bachelor-pad set of the 1950s and '60s. Read Full Biography.
Les Baxter is a pianist who composed and arranged for the top swing bands of the '40s and '50s, but he is better known as the founder of exotica, a variation of easy listening that glorified the sounds and styles of Polynesia, Africa, and South America, even as it retained the traditional string-and-horn arrangements of instrumental pop.
