The Creed Taylor Orchestra

Artist: The Creed Taylor Orchestra

LP: Shock Music In Hi-Fi
Song: "Haunted House"
[ listen ]

Here's a little something special just for today. Creed Taylor (pictured below, left, at age 29 when this record was made in 1958) later founded Impulse! Records and CTI Records and was pretty influential in the American jazz scene. He's especially known for bringing major bossa nova talent from Brazil to record in the USA in the 1960s. All songs on this record were written by composer Kenyon Hopkins (pictured below, right) and each song includes a descriptive blurb. The one for "Haunted House" is this: "Groans, rattles and unknown sounds fill a haunted house with the echoes of the supernatural." I beg you, don't dare listen to this music alone. Here is a segment from the humorous and extensive notes on the backside of the record:

Prepare yourself... This record will give you a shock!

DO YOU SHOCK EASILY? In one way or another, just about
everyone does. The great folk heroes of shock, Dracula and
Frankenstein, have never been in more popular demand than today.
On motion picture screen and television sets, the ogres of shock
carry their bizarre appeal to millions of Americans. A new rite,
the "Shocktail Party" has swept the country. Throw one yourself—
it will put you in company with history, and you may finally be able
to settle the score with those shocking neighbors next door.

Happy Halloween!