Arthur Lyman
1932 - 2002

Taboo - The Greatest Hits of Arthur Lyman

This album is available at the iTunes Store for $9.99, or you can download individual tracks from the iTunes Store for .99 each.

These cuts span Arthur Lyman's entire career.

Arthur Lyman, king of the Hawaiian Jungle Vibraphone, squawked, rattled, thumped, hooted and cawed his way to the top of the world of Polynesian mood music in the 1950's and early 1960's. His signature song, Yellow Bird, appeared 10 weeks on the 1961 Billboard's Top Ten chart, reaching number 4.

Lyman's first solo album, Taboo, released after splitting with Martin Denny, sold nearly two million copies. A 1962 article in Time magazine captured Mr. Lyman, then 29, at the peak of his fame.

''A conch shell wailed, the conga drums thumped, and the bamboo sticks clattered. The four men on stage were constantly on the move -- clacking wooden blocks, scratching a corrugated gourd, flailing away at Chinese gongs, weaving rhythms that were insistent, sinuous and hypnotic. Occasionally, when the spirit moved them, they barked like seals or whooped like cranes.''

Arthur dismantled his combo in 1968 and headed back to Hawaii where he went on to perform at Waikiki's most famous clubs, including Don the Beachcomber and the New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel.

Arthur was a much more accomplished instrumentalist than his typical relaxed playing style suggested. He usually played with four mallets at once, a much more difficult technique than the standard two-mallet approach. Martin Denny once called him "The best in the islands, maybe the best in the world."