Jan August Cha-Cha Charm [1959]

Mercury Records SR 60082

Jan August ‎Styles Great International Hits [1962]

Mercury ‎Records SR 60667 

Jan August Music For The Quiet Hour [1959]

Mercury Wing ‎MGW 12129 

It is well-documented that surf guitarist Dick Dale's career was revitalized by the inclusion of his 1962 recording of "Misirlou" in Quentin Tarantino's blockbuster film Pulp Fiction; what is less known is that the song was originally a major hit for a slender, elegant pianist from New York, who was paid less than $40 for the million copies of his version that made the song a fixture in American pop history. Pianist Jan Augustoff was born on September 24, 1904, the fifth and final child of middle-class immigrants in New York City. His siblings -- three sisters and a brother -- had all received music lessons while growing up, to dismal results; so when it came time for Jan to study, his parents decided he probably would be as incapable, and his music study was dropped. The youngster, however, had a natural inclination toward music -- he became fascinated with the player pianos at the local movie houses, and would come home and pick out the melodies on the family piano. He had a distaste for mathematics that gave him trouble in school, causing him to finally flunk his courses and drop out; with some natural talent as a cartoonist, he got a job working for Bud Fisher, the creator of the popular Mutt and Jeff series.