Listen To:


Selected MP3s of guitar instrumentals, jazz, big band, and classic easy listening from the original vinyl.

Welcome to Guitars & All That Jazz

Welcome to Guitars & All That Jazz

Guitars & All That Jazz was a radio station that webcast via Live365 for 11 years, ending in June 2011. The playlist consisted of guitar instrumentals, jazz, big band, early rock 'n' roll, lounge music and classic easy listening.

I hope to share some of this music with you via this blog. Most of it will be taken from the original vinyl (LPs and 45s) , cassettes and the occasional commercially unavailable CD.

Here's hoping you'll find something to enjoy. Please note files are available only for a limited time.

I urge you to purchase the digital version of the albums featured, either on CD or via download, wherever possible.

Listen to the Music
There are now two music streams. Click the appropriate player to the right.
1. Guitars & All That Jazz: Five hours of the best in jazz, guitars and other instrumental gems. New songs are added weekly.
2. Tiki Shores: Music to sweep you away to a tropical isle, a South American dance floor or a bossa nova on the beach at Rio. About 4.5 hours of classic exotica music, Latin rhythms and bossa nova.
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Saturday, June 14, 2014

Various Artists - South of the Border (Reader's Digest box)


The supply of LP box sets put out by Reader's Digest in the 1960s and '70s seems endless. Most of these can be bought for peanuts at garage sales and thrift stores, so you can safely ignore the mostly ridiculous prices being demanded online.

These recordings may be cheap to obtain, but don't make the mistake of thinking they are substandard in quality. For the most part the Reader's Digest boxes are excellent technically. Musically most of them tend to stick to easy listening and background music, with occasional forays into light classical and jazz. Many of the tracks were repackaged, often several times, in different box sets. This continued into the CD era.

Like many of the sets South of the Border (1968) mines the vaults of RCA Victor. The majority of the tracks on the four LPs were recorded by RCA in Mexico and their release by Reader's Digest was their first appearance in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

Among the Mexico-recorded tunes is Cachita by Tonio Rivera and His Orchestra. This name does not seem to exist outside the Reader's Digest releases and is likely a moniker assigned to a studio group.

Cachita



Since the music on Reader's Digest box sets has been endlessly repackaged, both on LP and CD, it's difficult to tell what, if anything, is available from South of the Border. Best bet, as I said at the start, is to watch the garage sales and thrift stores for the vinyl.

One of the most common Reader's Digest boxes is Mood Music for Listening and Relaxation (1963). This must have been a pretty big seller, judging from the number of copies still around. Here's a sample track, which was likely recorded in England.


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