Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Lounge music
Lounge music is a type of easy listening music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. This music is meant to evoke in the listeners an emotion, or the feeling of being in a place with a tranquil theme such as a jungle, an island paradise or outer space. It emerged from Dixieland jazz, Latin dance, the croon, experimental music, and the gimmick song. The range of lounge music encompasses beautiful music–influenced instrumentals, and modern electronica (with chillout and downtempo influences), while remaining thematically focused on its retro–space age cultural elements. The earliest type of lounge music appeared during the 1920s and 1930s, and was known as light music.[citation needed]
Exotica, space age pop, and some forms of easy listening music popular during the 1950s and 1960s are now broadly termed "lounge". The term "lounge" does not appear in textual documentation of the period, such as Billboard magazine or long playing album covers, but has been retroactively applied.[citation needed]
While rock and roll was generally influenced by blues and country, lounge music was derived from jazz and other musical elements borrowed from traditions around the world. Exotica from such artists as Les Baxter, Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, and The Three Suns sold millions of records during its heyday. It combined music that was popular outside the United States, such as various Latin genres (e.g., bossa nova, cha-cha-cha, mambo as in Cal Tjader's fine Latin jazz efforts), Polynesian, French, etc. into a relaxed, palatable sound. Such music could have some instruments exaggerated (e.g., a Polynesian song might have an exotic percussion arrangement using bongos, and vocalists imitating wild animals). Many of these recordings were portrayed as originating in exotic foreign lands, but in truth were recorded in Hollywood recording studios by veteran session musicians. Another genre, space age pop, mimicked space age sound effects of the time and reflected the public interest in space exploration. With the advent of stereophonic technology, artists such as Esquivel used spatial audio techniques to full effect, creating whooshing sounds with his orchestra.
A good deal of lounge music was pure instrumental (i.e., no main vocal part, although there could be minor vocal parts). Sometimes, this music would be theme music from movies or TV shows, although such music could be produced independently from other entertainment productions. These instrumentals could be produced with an orchestral arrangement, or from an arrangement of instruments very similar to that found in jazz, or even rock and roll such as the Hammond organ or electric guitar.[citation needed]
"Swinging" music of the era is also considered "lounge" and consisted of a continuation of the swing jazz era of the 1930s and 1940s, but with more of an emphasis on the vocalist. Soft and gentle vocalists such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Dooley Wilson, Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, Jackie Gleason, Wayne Newton, Louis Prima, Sam Butera, Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Sammy Davis Jr., Louis Armstrong and Bobby Vinton are notable examples of lounge music. Female lounge singers include Julie London, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, Keely Smith, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Etta James, Mrs. Miller, Lesley Gore, Rosemary Clooney and Blossom Dearie. The music of Burt Bacharach was soon featured as part of many lounge singers' repertoires. Such artists performed mainly at featured lounges in Las Vegas casinos. Documented pioneers of the Las Vegas lounge scene, the Mary Kaye Trio were first on the scene in the early 1950s.
Lounge singers have a lengthy history stretching back to the decades of the early twentieth century.[citation needed] In any event, these lounge singers, perhaps performing in a hotel or cocktail bar, are usually accompanied by one or two other musicians, and they favor cover songs composed by others, especially pop standards, many deriving from the days of Tin Pan Alley.[citation needed]
Many well-known performers got their start as lounge singers and musicians.[quantify] Billy Joel worked in a piano bar for six months and penned the song "Piano Man" about his experience.
Lounge emerged in the late 1980s as a label of endearment by younger fans whose parents had listened to such music in the 1960s. It has enjoyed resurgences in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s, led initially by figures such as Buster Poindexter and Jaymz Bee. In Japan, producer Yasuharu Konishi became popular for his work with Pizzicato Five, and is often considered "the Godfather of Shibuya-kei," a genre mostly derived from 1960s lounge music.
Hub AI
Lounge music AI simulator
(@Lounge music_simulator)
Lounge music
Lounge music is a type of easy listening music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. This music is meant to evoke in the listeners an emotion, or the feeling of being in a place with a tranquil theme such as a jungle, an island paradise or outer space. It emerged from Dixieland jazz, Latin dance, the croon, experimental music, and the gimmick song. The range of lounge music encompasses beautiful music–influenced instrumentals, and modern electronica (with chillout and downtempo influences), while remaining thematically focused on its retro–space age cultural elements. The earliest type of lounge music appeared during the 1920s and 1930s, and was known as light music.[citation needed]
Exotica, space age pop, and some forms of easy listening music popular during the 1950s and 1960s are now broadly termed "lounge". The term "lounge" does not appear in textual documentation of the period, such as Billboard magazine or long playing album covers, but has been retroactively applied.[citation needed]
While rock and roll was generally influenced by blues and country, lounge music was derived from jazz and other musical elements borrowed from traditions around the world. Exotica from such artists as Les Baxter, Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, and The Three Suns sold millions of records during its heyday. It combined music that was popular outside the United States, such as various Latin genres (e.g., bossa nova, cha-cha-cha, mambo as in Cal Tjader's fine Latin jazz efforts), Polynesian, French, etc. into a relaxed, palatable sound. Such music could have some instruments exaggerated (e.g., a Polynesian song might have an exotic percussion arrangement using bongos, and vocalists imitating wild animals). Many of these recordings were portrayed as originating in exotic foreign lands, but in truth were recorded in Hollywood recording studios by veteran session musicians. Another genre, space age pop, mimicked space age sound effects of the time and reflected the public interest in space exploration. With the advent of stereophonic technology, artists such as Esquivel used spatial audio techniques to full effect, creating whooshing sounds with his orchestra.
A good deal of lounge music was pure instrumental (i.e., no main vocal part, although there could be minor vocal parts). Sometimes, this music would be theme music from movies or TV shows, although such music could be produced independently from other entertainment productions. These instrumentals could be produced with an orchestral arrangement, or from an arrangement of instruments very similar to that found in jazz, or even rock and roll such as the Hammond organ or electric guitar.[citation needed]
"Swinging" music of the era is also considered "lounge" and consisted of a continuation of the swing jazz era of the 1930s and 1940s, but with more of an emphasis on the vocalist. Soft and gentle vocalists such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Dooley Wilson, Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, Jackie Gleason, Wayne Newton, Louis Prima, Sam Butera, Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Sammy Davis Jr., Louis Armstrong and Bobby Vinton are notable examples of lounge music. Female lounge singers include Julie London, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, Keely Smith, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Etta James, Mrs. Miller, Lesley Gore, Rosemary Clooney and Blossom Dearie. The music of Burt Bacharach was soon featured as part of many lounge singers' repertoires. Such artists performed mainly at featured lounges in Las Vegas casinos. Documented pioneers of the Las Vegas lounge scene, the Mary Kaye Trio were first on the scene in the early 1950s.
Lounge singers have a lengthy history stretching back to the decades of the early twentieth century.[citation needed] In any event, these lounge singers, perhaps performing in a hotel or cocktail bar, are usually accompanied by one or two other musicians, and they favor cover songs composed by others, especially pop standards, many deriving from the days of Tin Pan Alley.[citation needed]
Many well-known performers got their start as lounge singers and musicians.[quantify] Billy Joel worked in a piano bar for six months and penned the song "Piano Man" about his experience.
Lounge emerged in the late 1980s as a label of endearment by younger fans whose parents had listened to such music in the 1960s. It has enjoyed resurgences in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s, led initially by figures such as Buster Poindexter and Jaymz Bee. In Japan, producer Yasuharu Konishi became popular for his work with Pizzicato Five, and is often considered "the Godfather of Shibuya-kei," a genre mostly derived from 1960s lounge music.