Armenian Jazz Sextet Explained

The Armenian Jazz Sextet was an Armenian-American musical group who had a minor national hit in the United States with the song "Harem Dance" in 1957.

History

The group was started in 1954, by a group of six Detroit, Michigan natives who were of Armenian descent. It was formed for the purpose of performing at Armenian dances and weddings. A friend of the group gave them an opportunity to make a record, and they waxed two original compositions, "Harem Dance", an instrumental, and "Pretty Girl", a vocal. At a local performance a Detroit disc-jockey asked the group if they had any records, and they provided a copy of their record. Upon receiving airplay the disc proved highly popular locally among teenagers, and Kapp Records bought the master and distributed it nationally across the United States.[1]

Chart success

Released on Kapp single 181, the "Harem Dance" was reviewed by Billboard as a "swingin' original weirdy" that would draw disk jockey attention.[2] The record entered the Billboard Hot 100 on April 29, 1957, and remained for six weeks, peaking at number 67.[3] The record performed exceptionally well in disparate regions of the United States, as it was among the top 10 sellers in Boston, Detroit, and Los Angeles.[4] [5] Ralph Marterie recorded a cover version on Mercury Records re-titled "Shish-Kebab".

At the time the group was receiving national exposure it was a regular Thursday night feature at Haig's Bar in Detroit.[6] [7]

Instrumentation and personnel

The instrumentation used by the group was a combination of American and Armenian. They used clarinet and saxophone on the American side, but used the Armenian instruments oud, two, and a tambourine.

The group consisted of:

Notes and References

  1. News: . Armenian Jazz Group Is Latest In Detroit . Arizona Republic . Phoenix, Arizona . June 16, 1957 . 45. newspapers.com.
  2. News: . Reviews of New Pop Records . Billboard . April 20, 1957 . 55.
  3. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Joel Whitburn

    . Joel Whitburn . Top Pop Singles 1955-1999. 2000 . Record Research, Inc. . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin . 0-89820-139-X . 21.

  4. News: . Territorial Best Sellers . Billboard . May 13, 1957 . 60.
  5. News: . Territorial Best Sellers . Billboard . May 6, 1957 . 48.
  6. News: . After Dark . Detroit Free Press . Detroit, Michigan . April 9, 1957 . 18.
  7. News: . After Dark . Detroit Free Press . Detroit, Michigan . May 14, 1957 . 16.