Percy Faith and His Orchestra • Malagueña: Music of Cuba [1958] Columbia Records CS 8081

 

In 1959, the year Fidel Castro and his rebel army gained control of Cuba, mood music mastermind Percy Faith released his tribute to the music of this tiny island nation. Malagueña travels familiar territory for Faith, who explored the music of Mexico on his 1958 album Viva! Faith's arrangements are not re-creating the Cuban dance band sound, although he did take pains to include examples of popular Cuban dance styles such as the rhumba and the samba. Instead, Faith sets a Cuban mood via Americanized interpretations of Cuban music already well known in popular culture. His selections include many famous tunes, from "El Manisero (The Peanut Vendor)" and "Andalucía (The Breeze and I)" to "Para Vigo Me Voy (Say, Sí Sí)." The melodies are rendered in a lush string fantasia with buoyant passages of horns and Latin percussion that alternate with pretty, moody passages colored with tinkling xylophones or delicately plunked guitars and violins, during which the listener may forget that he or she is supposed to be in Cuba. Regardless, the point of the album is not to present Cuban music per se, but to use Cuban music as a launching point for orchestral flights of fancy that tickle the ear with a surprising array of exotic and familiar sounds. In that regard, Malagueña is a success, with varied orchestrations and enough Cuban flavor to show that Faith understood his source material well. 

Tracklist: 

01 Malagueña

02 Quiéreme mucho (Yours)

03 El manisero (The Peanut Vendor)

04 Danza negra

05 Andalucía (The Breeze and I)

06 El bodeguero

07 Damisela encantadora

08 Siboney

09 La cumparsa

10 Tumbando cana

11 Marta

12 Mama Inez

13 Para Vigo me voy (Say, Sí Sí)

14 Tabú

Credits 

Photography By [Cover] – Leo Stashin 

The Percy Faith Strings Exotic Strings [1962]

Columbia Records CS 8702

Exotic Strings by conductor, composer and arranger Percy Faith (1908–1976) might well be seen as his only entry in the world of Exotica, with Malagueña (1958) serving as a second choice just in case. If a second choice is not allowed for whatever reason and if one insists on either the name-dropping of some exotic term in the title or various interpretations of genre gold standards, then Exotic Strings is rightfully in the limelight. And what a lucky coincidence, for both the exotic title and various oft-considered Exotica classics merge on this album.

Percy Faith and His Orchestra Shangri La! [1963]

Columbia Records CS 8824

Liner notes
“There’s a magic in the distance, where the sea-line meets the sky,” wrote the poet Alfred Noyes. And in this enchanting collection of music inspired by faraway horizons of the world, Percy Faith applies his matchless touch to a dozen songs that take on a nostalgic glow even for those who have never journeyed to mysterious India, the fabulous Orient or found peace and contentment on a sun-drenched Pacific isle.

Percy leads his orchestra (sometimes augmented by a wordless vocal chorus) in shimmering evocations of a mythical Himalayan utopia, Shangri-La; a delightfully languid version of Kashmiri Song, suggestive of all the seductive charm of pale hands beside the Shalimar, and songs of Siam (Richard Rodgers’ beloved March of Siamese Children), Persia (Stranger in Paradise, And This Is My Beloved), Japan (Percy’s own composition, Cherry Blossom, and Irving Berlin’s Sayonara), China (Mountain High, Valley Low) and the Pacific region (Beyond the Reef, The Moon of Manakoora, Return to Paradise).

As he has unforgettably demonstrated in his superb series of recordings of Latin American music, popular ballads, favorite standards, and Broadway hits, Percy Faith can color a melody as no other conductor-arranger-composer can. The sounds of SHANGRI-LA! Make it abundantly clear that the music of distant realms—real or imagined—has inspired the Maestro’s palette to glow more brilliantly than ever.

Percy Faith and His Orchestra Tara's Theme From 'Gone With The Wind' and Other Themes [1961]

Columbia Records CS 8427

"In his arrangements, Percy Faith follows a composer's intentions so sympathetically that he never distorts a melody.  In fact, he enhances it, adding exotic color with instruments, creating constant surprises with counterpoint of tunes or intricate rhythms.  In his performances, the sound of the massed strings, the lustrous brasses and impeccable tempos have made "The Fabulous Faith Touch" world famous."  [Excerpt liner notes]