MARTIN DENNY - Latin Village LP (colour vinyl)

Limited edition floral swirl colour vinyl.

In 1964, Martin Denny looked beyond the Hawaiian and Asian influences of his previous records to find another place to plant his umbrella in the sand, as well as in your drink: the sounds of Latin America. With this new sound to hang his exciting arrangements on, Latin Village has long been considered one of Denny's high-water marks.

This is an album that rips through what was considered "The Now Sound From Overseas," a sophisticated mash-up of sambas, bossa novas, and Latin jazz. From the first track, "Angelito" (the hit song written by Réne y Réne, later to also be covered by Trini Lopez and Herb Albert), all the way through to its closer, "Flying Down To Rio" (a song which Roxy Music later referenced in their 1972 song "Virginia Plain”), the album is a hypnotic listen.

Latin Village also drops in some serious jazz numbers, with respected compositions such as "On Green Dolphin Street" by Kaper and Washington (which has been covered by Miles Davis, Bill Evans and Sarah Vaughn), "Malagueña" the sixth movement in Ernesto Lecona's Suite Andalucía and "Corcovado" by Antônio Carlos Jobim (who merged samba with jazz to create bossa nova).

Latin Village is comforting in its familiarity within Denny's sonic world, but steps refreshingly out of the smoke-filled Tiki bars of his previous records and straight into the sunlight where this music still strolls around in a listener's heart, soul, and mind.