Baja Marimba Band
Encyclopedia
The Baja Marimba Band was a popular musical group led by marimba
player Julius Wechter
, initially intended by producer Herb Alpert
to cash in on the "south of the border" craze started by his own Tijuana Brass. However the Baja Marimba Band outlasted the Tijuana Brass by several years, thanks largely to producer Chuck Barris
featuring the Baja Marimba Band music on his game shows through the mid 1970s.
and marimba. At age 21 he released his first solo album, called Linear Sketches (1956). The album was a straight-ahead jazz date billed as the Julius Wechter Quartet.
In 1958 Julius joined Martin Denny
's band where he played marimba (replacing Arthur Lyman
) as well as numerous other percussion instruments. Four years later he was paid $15 as a session man on Herb Alpert's debut album, The Lonely Bull. Wechter soon composed the popular song "Spanish Flea
" for Alpert, who saw his potential and encouraged him to form his own group for A&M Records
.
In 1964 the Baja Marimba Band was born, using session men to supplement Wechter. These musicians included, at one time or another, Roy Caton, Pete Jolly
, Lew McCrary, Nick Ceroli
, Hal Blaine
, Tommy Tedesco
, and Leon Russell
. The band hit the charts with its first single "Comin' in the Back Door" and recorded a dozen albums for A&M, as well as being Alpert's support act. The main lineup from 1965-1971 was Bernie Fleischer on reeds, Ervan "Bud" Coleman on guitar (replaced upon Coleman's death in 1967 by Charlie Chiarenza), Frank DeCaro on rhythm guitar, Dave Wells on trombone, Lee Katzman on trumpet, Curry Tjader on percussion, Mel Pollan on Fender bass, and Frank DeVito on drums. Most, if not all, of the band's musicians were seasoned jazz musicians who performed with such artists as Woody Herman
, Stan Kenton
, Don Ellis
, Terry Gibbs
, Buddy DeFranco
, Charlie Parker
, and Dizzy Gillespie
.
The group would appear on stage dressed in sombrero
s and old clothes, with fake mustaches, smoking cigars, and drinking beer, all of which was stereotypical
Mexican behavior. Although this brought criticism from Mexican-American advocacy group
s, for most Americans it was acceptable "bad boy" behavior, which was part of their image. The group appeared in goofy group photos on their album covers, stylishly created by Peter Whorf Graphics, and added a comedic allure (every one of their album covers had a man in the background appearing to be urinating.)
Seen by many as a marketing gimmick, the group rode the wake created by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass and Sérgio Mendes
and Brasil '66 in the musically fertile mid 1960s. The albums were cross marketed successfully by A&M, with images of Baja Marimba Band albums appearing on the record sleeves of other A&M products. All three acts were the staple of A&M during this period. The content was considered "adult contemporary" or "easy listening" and consisted mainly of standards, originals and pop covers. Despite the humorous album covers, the music inside was a light and sophisticated mixture of bossa nova, jazz, and pop elements.
All three groups lost momentum by the end of the 1960s as the genre faded away. By the late 1960s, Alpert's Tijuana Brass disbanded, but the Baja Marimba Band stayed together for one more album on A&M in 1971 called As Time Goes By. They had a brief reunion in 1973 with an album called The Baja Marimba Band's Back on Bell Records. During the 1970s, Julius and his wife, Cissy, collaborated on film scores and musicals.
One last reunion took place in the 1980s which lasted a couple of years and produced an album called Naturally in 1982. It featured Julius Wechter
on marimba and three band alumni, Bernie Fleischer on reeds, guitarist Charlie Chiarenza and trombonist Dave Wells. New to the band were: Carmen Fanzone on horns, Jules Greenberg on 2nd marimba/percussion, Harvey Newmark on bass, and Kim Stallings on guitar. Original drummer Frank DeVito toured with the group during this time, but retired and was replaced for the recording by drummer Ed Roscetti. Still later, Julius Wechter formed a new group in the early 1990s called The Baja Marimbas with marimbaist Jules Greenberg, and they released one album, called New Deal.
Wechter died from lung cancer
in 1999, ending the Baja Marimba Band.
Marimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
player Julius Wechter
Julius Wechter
Julius Wechter was an American musician and composer who played the marimba and vibraphone. He also played various percussion instruments. He composed the song "Spanish Flea" for Herb Alpert and was leader of the The Baja Marimba Band.Born in Chicago, Wechter played vibes and percussion for the...
, initially intended by producer Herb Alpert
Herb Alpert
Herbert "Herb" Alpert is an American musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, or TJB. He is also a recording industry executive — he is the "A" of A&M Records...
to cash in on the "south of the border" craze started by his own Tijuana Brass. However the Baja Marimba Band outlasted the Tijuana Brass by several years, thanks largely to producer Chuck Barris
Chuck Barris
Charles Hirsch "Chuck" Barris is an American game show producer, film director and presenter best known for hosting The Gong Show and creating The Dating Game. Barris, a survivor of lung cancer, is also an author and claims to have worked for the CIA.-Early career:Barris was born in Oakland, New...
featuring the Baja Marimba Band music on his game shows through the mid 1970s.
Background
Julius Wechter took up several percussion instruments as a youngster, including the vibesVibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
and marimba. At age 21 he released his first solo album, called Linear Sketches (1956). The album was a straight-ahead jazz date billed as the Julius Wechter Quartet.
In 1958 Julius joined Martin Denny
Martin Denny
Martin Denny was an American piano-player and composer best known as the "father of exotica." In a long career that saw him performing well into his 80s, he toured the world popularizing his brand of lounge music which included exotic percussion, imaginative rearrangements of popular songs, and...
's band where he played marimba (replacing Arthur Lyman
Arthur Lyman
Arthur Lyman was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. His group popularized a style of faux-Polynesian music during the 1950s and 1960s which later became known as exotica...
) as well as numerous other percussion instruments. Four years later he was paid $15 as a session man on Herb Alpert's debut album, The Lonely Bull. Wechter soon composed the popular song "Spanish Flea
Spanish Flea
"Spanish Flea" is a popular song written by Julius Wechter in the 1960s with lyrics by Cissy Wechter.The song is best known from an instrumental version by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, released as a single and on their 1965 album Going Places, both of which were No.1 hits in America...
" for Alpert, who saw his potential and encouraged him to form his own group for A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
.
In 1964 the Baja Marimba Band was born, using session men to supplement Wechter. These musicians included, at one time or another, Roy Caton, Pete Jolly
Pete Jolly
Pete Jolly was an American West Coast jazz pianist and accordionist....
, Lew McCrary, Nick Ceroli
Nick Ceroli
Nick Ceroli , was an American jazz drummer.Ceroli was born in Warren, Ohio. He did a tour of Central and South America in 1963 with Ray Anthony, and that same year recorded with Jack Teagarden and played with Gerald Wilson at the Monterey Jazz Festival...
, Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine is an American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in California. Blaine played on numerous hits by popular groups, including Elvis Presley, John Denver, the Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, the Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, and...
, Tommy Tedesco
Tommy Tedesco
Thomas J. Tedesco was an American master session musician and renowned jazz and bebop guitarist.Tedesco's credits include the iconic brand-burning accompaniment theme from television's Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, Vic Mizzy's iconic theme from Green Acres, M*A*S*H, Batman, and Elvis Presley's '68...
, and Leon Russell
Leon Russell
Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....
. The band hit the charts with its first single "Comin' in the Back Door" and recorded a dozen albums for A&M, as well as being Alpert's support act. The main lineup from 1965-1971 was Bernie Fleischer on reeds, Ervan "Bud" Coleman on guitar (replaced upon Coleman's death in 1967 by Charlie Chiarenza), Frank DeCaro on rhythm guitar, Dave Wells on trombone, Lee Katzman on trumpet, Curry Tjader on percussion, Mel Pollan on Fender bass, and Frank DeVito on drums. Most, if not all, of the band's musicians were seasoned jazz musicians who performed with such artists as Woody Herman
Woody Herman
Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...
, Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
, Don Ellis
Don Ellis
Don Ellis was an American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer and bandleader. He is best known for his extensive musical experimentation, particularly in the area of unusual time signatures...
, Terry Gibbs
Terry Gibbs
Terry Gibbs is an American jazz vibraphonist and band leader.He has performed and/or recorded with Tommy Dorsey, Chubby Jackson, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Louie Bellson, Charlie Shavers, Mel Tormé, Buddy DeFranco, and others...
, Buddy DeFranco
Buddy DeFranco
Boniface Ferdinand Leonard "Buddy" DeFranco is an American jazz clarinet player.-Biography:DeFranco began his professional career just as swing music and big bands — many of which were led by clarinetists like Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and Woody Herman — were fading in popularity...
, Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
, and Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
.
The group would appear on stage dressed in sombrero
Sombrero
Sombrero in English refers to a type of wide-brimmed hat originating in Mexico. In Spanish, however, it is the generic word for "hat", which originates from "sombra", meaning "shade"....
s and old clothes, with fake mustaches, smoking cigars, and drinking beer, all of which was stereotypical
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
Mexican behavior. Although this brought criticism from Mexican-American advocacy group
Advocacy group
Advocacy groups use various forms of advocacy to influence public opinion and/or policy; they have played and continue to play an important part in the development of political and social systems...
s, for most Americans it was acceptable "bad boy" behavior, which was part of their image. The group appeared in goofy group photos on their album covers, stylishly created by Peter Whorf Graphics, and added a comedic allure (every one of their album covers had a man in the background appearing to be urinating.)
Seen by many as a marketing gimmick, the group rode the wake created by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass and Sérgio Mendes
Sergio Mendes
Sérgio Santos Mendes is a Brazilian musician. He has released over thirty-five albums, and plays bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk....
and Brasil '66 in the musically fertile mid 1960s. The albums were cross marketed successfully by A&M, with images of Baja Marimba Band albums appearing on the record sleeves of other A&M products. All three acts were the staple of A&M during this period. The content was considered "adult contemporary" or "easy listening" and consisted mainly of standards, originals and pop covers. Despite the humorous album covers, the music inside was a light and sophisticated mixture of bossa nova, jazz, and pop elements.
All three groups lost momentum by the end of the 1960s as the genre faded away. By the late 1960s, Alpert's Tijuana Brass disbanded, but the Baja Marimba Band stayed together for one more album on A&M in 1971 called As Time Goes By. They had a brief reunion in 1973 with an album called The Baja Marimba Band's Back on Bell Records. During the 1970s, Julius and his wife, Cissy, collaborated on film scores and musicals.
One last reunion took place in the 1980s which lasted a couple of years and produced an album called Naturally in 1982. It featured Julius Wechter
Julius Wechter
Julius Wechter was an American musician and composer who played the marimba and vibraphone. He also played various percussion instruments. He composed the song "Spanish Flea" for Herb Alpert and was leader of the The Baja Marimba Band.Born in Chicago, Wechter played vibes and percussion for the...
on marimba and three band alumni, Bernie Fleischer on reeds, guitarist Charlie Chiarenza and trombonist Dave Wells. New to the band were: Carmen Fanzone on horns, Jules Greenberg on 2nd marimba/percussion, Harvey Newmark on bass, and Kim Stallings on guitar. Original drummer Frank DeVito toured with the group during this time, but retired and was replaced for the recording by drummer Ed Roscetti. Still later, Julius Wechter formed a new group in the early 1990s called The Baja Marimbas with marimbaist Jules Greenberg, and they released one album, called New Deal.
Wechter died from lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
in 1999, ending the Baja Marimba Band.
Discography
Note: All of the band's albums are out of print. Only two, Baja Marimba Band (the first album) and Fresh Air, have been reissued on CD (in Japan).Original LPs
- Baja Marimba Band, A&M LP-104 (mono) or A&M SP-104 (stereo) (1964)
- Baja Marimba Band Rides Again, A&M LP-109 (mono) or A&M SP-4109 (stereo) (1965)
- For Animals Only, A&M LP-113 (mono) or A&M SP-4113 (stereo) (1965)
- Watch Out!, A&M LP-118 (mono) or A&M SP-4118 (stereo) (1966)
- Heads Up!, A&M LP-123 (mono) or A&M SP-4123 (stereo) (1967)
- Fowl Play, A&M SP-4136 (1968)
- Do You Know The Way To San Jose, A&M SP-4150 (1968)
- Those Were The Days, A&M SP-4167 (1968)
- Fresh Air, A&M SP-4200 (1969)
- Greatest Hits, A&M SP-4248 (1970) (compilation)
- As Time Goes By, A&M SP-4298 (1971)
- Foursider, A&M SP-3523 (1973) (compilation)
- The Baja Marimba Band's Back, Bell 1124 (1973)
- A Treasury of the Award-Winning Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass plus selections from the Baja Marimba Band, Longines Symphonette LWS-500-505 (1974)
- Naturally, Applause APLP-1008 (1982)
- New Deal (credited to "The Baja Marimbas"), Bay Cities BCD-2001 (1990)
CD reissues
- Digitally Remastered Best, A&M POCM-1575 (Japan) (1998) (compilation)
- The Best of The Baja Marimba Band, Collector's Choice Music CCM-203-2 (2001) (compilation)
- 36 All-Time Favorites, Timeless/Traditions Alive (2002) (compilation)
- Fresh Air, A&M (Japan) (2006) (reissue)