Lotus Land

Hawaiian crooner Alfred Apaka, talent director at the Hawaiian Village Hotel, found vibraphonist Gene Rains’s quartet in a Honolulu bar and booked them into the Shell Bar — the same room that had hosted Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman. Apaka then steered them to Decca.

During a Decca junket at the Hawaiian Village in September 1959, Apaka had the label hear the quartet. Decca signed them and released Lotus Land in 1960 (DL 74064 stereo / DL 4064 mono). The debut lineup was Rains on vibes, Paul Conrad on piano, Archie Grant on bass and flute, and Alan Watanabe on percussion. Two more Decca LPs and a Vocalion compilation followed in the early ’60s.

The sound is vibraphone-led jazz phrasing and light percussion on Hawaiian and American standards — no bird-call gags competing with conversation. It is dinner-service music from the same Waikiki circuit as Denny, quieter on the novelty and steady for a home bar playlist.