Leslie Thompson Baxter was an American musician and composer. After becoming well known as an arranger and composer for swing bands in the 1940s, he developed his own style of world music-influenced easy listening music, known as exotica, during the 1950s and 1960s. Baxter, alongside Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman, is celebrated as one of the progenitors of exotica music. In his 1996 appreciation for Wired magazine, writer David Toop wrote that Baxter "offered package tours in sound, selling tickets to sedentary tourists who wanted to stroll around some taboo emotions before lunch, view a pagan ceremony, go wild in the sun or conjure a demon, all without leaving home stereo comforts in the whitebread suburbs."
According to Wikipedia, Les Baxter was born in Mexia, Texas, which is in Limestone County, Texas, the same county where Don the Beachcomber was born! It is not sure if Don the Beachcomber was born in Mexia, but he went to Mexia High School.
He married Patricia C. Fitzmaurice on 8 Dec 1951 in Los Angeles.
From marriage record:
"United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K9Z6-Q6Z : accessed 10 June 2018), Leslie T Baxter in household of James E Baxter, Councilmanic District 6, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Township, Los Angeles, California, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 60-460, sheet 12B, line 42, family 283, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 425.
"California, County Marriages, 1850-1952," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8DT-WF1 : 10 December 2017), Leslie Thompson Baxter and Patricia Constance Fitzmaurice, 08 Dec 1951; citing Los Angeles, California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 1,283,749.
"California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPZW-BXF : 26 November 2014), Leslie Thompson Baxter, 15 Jan 1996; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.
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Leslie is 28 degrees from Herbert Adair, 22 degrees from Richard Adams, 22 degrees from Mel Blanc, 26 degrees from Dick Bruna, 22 degrees from Bunny DeBarge, 35 degrees from Peter Dinklage, 21 degrees from Sam Edwards, 16 degrees from Ginnifer Goodwin, 22 degrees from Marty Krofft, 18 degrees from Junius Matthews, 17 degrees from Rachel Mellon and 21 degrees from Harold Warstler on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
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Categories: Texas, Notables | Notables | Jazz Musicians