Yellow Bird

HiFi Records issued Yellow Bird in 1961 (L-1004 / SL-1004), again cut in Henry J. Kaiser’s aluminum dome at the Hawaiian Village with Richard Vaughn producing. The title single — Norman Luboff’s adaptation of the Haitian “Choucoune” — reached the Billboard top five and made Lyman a name beyond the exotica crate.

The LP surrounds that hit with vibes-led standards and novelties (“Havah Nagilah,” “Bolero,” “Autumn Leaves,” “Granada”) in the same small-combo language as Taboo: Lyman on vibes and marimba, John Kramer on bass and winds, Harold Chang on percussion, Alan Soares on piano and guitar. Bird effects stay in the arrangement without turning every track into a gag.

Taboo is the audiophile first stop; Yellow Bird is the one casual listeners already know. Keep both when the rotation needs the hit single and the dome sound across an evening.