Ultra-Lounge, Vol. 12: Saxophobia (1996)

About this title: The lounge sounds of the '50s and '60s on this compilation are very much of a piece with the other volumes of the Ultra-Lounge series. But as you'd expect from the title, the emphasis is on vintage lounge at its jazziest, with the saxophone to the fore. This isn't the kind of jazz you're going to read about in Down Beat, despite the presence of some bona fide jazzers, like Count Basie (doing the "Goldfinger" theme) and Bill Perkins; the influence of soundtrack music, pre-'50s pop standards, Latin rhythms, and bongo percussion is too strong. When you want some light lounge-jazz hybrids to ... read more

Tracks:

1. I Dig [Baxter]
2. Street Scene [Newman]
3. All or Nothing at All [Altman/Lawrence]
4. Bernie's Tune [Leiber/Miller/Stoll]
5. Watermelon Man [Hancock]
6. Volare [Migliacci/Modugno]
7. Tanya [Liggins]
8. Samba de Orfeu [Bonfa/Maria]
9. Peter Gunn Twist/Tequila With a Twist [Mancini/Rio]
10. Goldfinger [Barry]
11. Caravan [Ellington/Mills/Tiz]
12. Speakeasy Blues [Riddle]
13. One Mint Julep [Toombs]
14. Ebb Tide [Maxwell/Sigman]
15. The Big Twist [Johnson]
16. Harlem Nocturne [Hagen]
17. The Misfits [North]
18. Bongo Bash/Sax con Ritmo [Black/Cano/Costanzo]
19. [Untitled Spoken Track]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.