Made in California

Various (Performer), The Mamas and the Papas (Performer), Beach Boys (Performer), Ritchie Valens (Performer), Buck Owens (Performer), Chet Baker (Performer), Jefferson Airplane (Performer), Jan & Dean (Performer), Percy Mayfield (Performer), Frank Zappa (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 22, 2000)
• Original Release Date: November 22, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Museum Music, Inc.
• ASIN: B000056H1Z
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #613,970 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. The Mamas and the Papas - California Dreamin' - From The Best of the Mamas and the Papas, courtesy of MCA Records

2. The Beach Boys - Surfin' Safari - From The Beach Boys vs Jan & Dean/The 15 Greatest Hits, courtesy of Timeless Treasures

3. Ritchie Valens - La Bamba - From Rockin' All Night: The Very Best of Ritchie Valens, courtesy of Bob Keane and Del-Fi Records

4. Charles Brown - Early in the Morning - From All My Life, courtesy of Rounder Records

5. Buck Owens - Streets of Bakersfield - From All Time Greatest Hits, Volume 1, courtesy of Buck Owens Enterprises

6. Dick Dale and the Del-Tones - Misirlou - From The Best of Dick Dale & His Del-Tones, courtesy of Dick Dale

7. Jefferson Airplane - Somebody To Love - From Live at the Monterey Festival, courtesy of Thunderbolt-Magnum Music Group

8. Percy Mayfield - Please Send Me Someone to Love

9. Jan & Dean - The Little Old Lady From Pasedena - courtesy of San Juan Music Group, Ltd.

10. Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant - Stratosphere Boogie - From Stratosphere Boogie: The Flaming Guitars of Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant, courtesy of Capitol Nashville, Under License from EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets

11. Johnny Otis - All Nite Long - From The Johnny Otis Rhythm & Blues Caravan, courtesy of Savoy Entertainment Group, Inc.

12. Chet Baker - Old Devil Moon - Courtesy of Original Jazz Classics/Fantasy Inc.

13. Al Jolson - California Here I Come - Courtesy of San Juan Music Group, Ltd.

14. Cal Tjader - Ritmo Caliente - From Huracan, courtesy of P 1990 Delta Entertainment Corporation

15. Frank Zappa and Moon Unit Zappa - Valley Girl - From Ship

16. Gene Krupa & Benny Goodman and His Orchestra - Hooray for Hollywood - From Hollywood Hotel Soundtrack. Performed by Dick Powell, Francis Langford, Johnny “Scat” Davis, Gene Krupa & Benny Goodman And His Orchestra. Courtesy of Turner Entertainment Co.

Editorial Reviews

Produced by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to celebrate the "Made in California" Exhibition, this CD is representative of the diverse musical styles that dervived from California. More than perhaps any other state, California evokes a plethora of images in the popular imagination. This can be partly attributed to the state’s great natural beauty as well as California’s portrayal in popular culture. It is precisely California’s broad range of cultural influences and great diversity that continues to amaze. Nowhere is this diversity more apparent than in the great variety of music created within its borders.

Environment certainly played a key role in the development of particular genres that can be said to be almost specifically Californian. The spectacular sun-drenched beaches of Southern California inspired “surf music,” a driving, guitar-heavy complement to the crashing waves, exemplified by such practitioners as Dick Dale. Also glorifying the surfer’s lifestyle, along with the hot-rods that brought them to the beach, were such sweet-harmonizing vocal groups as the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean. The “Bakersfield sound” arose in gritty surroundings far removed from California’s greener settings, forging a harder-edged, honky-tonk style that stood in stark contrast to the more saccharine product being released by Nashville’s producers. In San Francisco, ground-zero for the psychedelic revolution of the late 60s, groups such as Jefferson Airplane took all of us on a musical acid trip. And could the always-groovy Mamas and the Papas possibly have called a city other than L.A. home?

Of course, not all of California’s musical achievements were necessarily unique to the state. Movie and television soundtracks, while rarely exploring virgin territory, nevertheless managed to permeate the culture deeply; anyone who has ever sat around a campfire singing vintage TV themes can attest to this. While L.A.’s jazzers and participants in the “cool” school brought a certain laid-back ethos and plaintive tonal color to their music, the result was not radically different from their counterparts on the East Coast. Chet Baker always sounded “West Coast,” but he never seemed out-of-place with a New York rhythm section. The same holds true for many of California’s finest R&B, rock, blues and pop acts; they have built their styles on that of their influences, but they have done so in an unmistakably California fashion.

The influence of ethnic groups, particularly California’s sizable Latino community, has also been profound. The blending of traditional Latino musical elements with domestic influences has yielded much memorable music. Although the results have been as widely divergent as Ritchie Valens and Cal Tjader, Latino-influenced performers have contributed indelibly to California’s musical culture, and by extension, to America’s.

Diversity has always been California’s greatest feature; its geography, its peoples, its heritage, and its infinitely broad array of cultural influences combine to make it one of America’s (and the world’s) most fertile artistic regions. The creative outpourings inspired by California, both musically and in the visual arts, have enriched all of our lives immeasurably.