Sad Salamanders - Cigarettes and Fishnets
Sad Salamanders play retro jazz/lounge evoking images of martini lunches and cigarette girls. At first it may sound a bit like a joke but I can assure you this is fairly authentic to the stuff I was playing in smoky bars during the late 60s and early 70s even though the heyday for this sound was the late 50s. Sad Salamanders play it to the hilt with a seriousness that is matched by their talent on their instruments. Keyboardist Ed Martel can play with either the soulfulness of Jimmy McGriff or the exotic romanticism of Martin Denny. Accordion work is by the legendary Frank Marocco who may be the greatest accordionist in the world and certainly one of the most recorded. I also enjoy the saxophone of Don Markese which on the funkier numbers sounds like he’s looking for a bar table to strut on. There’s some nice variety here from the funky jazz “My Parents are Swingers” to the after hours title tune to the pretty and sexy “The Exotic Sandy Warner”. Whether you’re a lounge lizard or a party animal, these martini soaked tracks should lift your spirits.
The album is available from the artists’ last.fm page in 128kbps MP3. If you enjoy the music support the artists by buying the CD.
Marvin - thanks for the mention. Glad you like the CD. Even though there might be the occasional tongue in cheek strewn about on the CD, we’re all huge fans of lounge/bachelor pad/exotica music. If your readers want a better than 128kbps of the CD, try CD Baby or direct from me - because after all, one of the selling points of this style of music was that it was recorded with the best technology available and we tried our best to stay true to that. Bottoms up and tops down!
Comment by Scooter Pietsch — August 14, 2008 @ 5:27 pm