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MusicRitual of the Savage

Les Baxter – Ritual of the Savage cover

Exotica · 1951

Ritual of the Savage

Les Baxter

Cinematic jungle

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Why it belongs in a home tiki bar

Where Denny is a lounge combo, Baxter is the wide shot. The 1951 charts still sound like a studio jungle picture, which is useful when you want the bar a little darker than a hotel lanai.

History

Capitol released Ritual of the Savage (Le Sacre du Sauvage) in 1951 after sessions at Capitol Studios in Hollywood on May 10 and May 17. Baxter was a concert pianist and Hollywood arranger who wrote imaginary travelogues: strings, Afro-Cuban percussion, and film-score drama instead of a hotel combo.

He called the LP a “tone poem of the sound and the struggle of the jungle.” Liner notes asked the listener to picture native drums and far-off Congo rituals — Hollywood fantasy, not ethnography. The program includes “Quiet Village,” “Jungle River Boat,” “Love Dance,” and “Stone God,” the orchestral templates Denny’s Exotica would later shrink into a Waikiki hotel combo.

Martin Denny’s small-combo take on “Quiet Village” became the radio hit; this is the wide-screen original. Where Denny is vibraphone and bird calls in a lounge, Baxter is full orchestra and mid-day heat. It sits earlier in the timeline than most tiki-bar crates and still sounds like a studio jungle picture.

Spotlight track

Quiet Village

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