The Marketts "Surfin' and Stompin'" 2001

The Marketts weren't a band in the standard sense, but a collection of veteran Los Angeles session players assembled by producer Joe Saraceno to capitalize on the emerging surf music scene of the early '60s……Loosely known as "the wrecking crew," and including, among others, guitarists Tommy Tedesco and Rene Hall, sax player Plas Johnson, bassist Jimmy Gordon, and drummers Earl Palmer and Ed Hall, the so-called Marketts really had more in common with 1940s jazz than they did Dick Dale, and this charming collection of shuffles, stomps, and trippy lounge jazz is really a genre all its own. The group's first single, 1962's "Surfer's Stomp" b/w "Balboa Blue," is indicative, featuring a lazy, sax-led shuffle on the A-side, reprising the same rhythm on "Balboa Blue," only with a different melody line (again led by Johnson's sax) that generates a leisurely, joyous, and infectious groove. This is wonderful stuff, and while this version of the Marketts (they were really more a brand than a group) was marketed as a surf outfit, their gentle merging of R&B and small combo swing is really something else again, a style that -- for lack of a better term -- might be called "surf jazz." This fine set includes the group's entire 1962 album Surfer's Stomp (also known as The Surfin' Scene) from Liberty Records, 1967's Sun Power album (in which every cut has the word "sun" in the title) from World Pacific, and a handful of singles from Arvee Records. That the group was largely a side project for most of the musicians involved is obvious here, since most of the rhythms are subtle variations on the "Surfer's Stomp" and "Balboa Blue" template, but that big, lazy, kicked-back groove works so well and the group itself is so unassuming that the same set of tricks goes over time and time again, with the end result being a wonderfully cohesive and completely satisfying set. - AllMusic Review by Steve Leggetttrax:
01 Surfers Stomp 02 Balboa Blue 03 Survival Stomp 04 Let's Go Trippin' 05 Stompede 06 The Bristol Stomp 07 Stompin' At  The Savoy 08 Surfin' 09 Stomp Look And Listen 10 If you Gotta Make a Fool Of Somebody 11 Here Comes The Ho-Dads 12 Stompin' Room Only 13 Start 14 Canadian Sunset (1) 15 Beach Bum 16 Sweet Potatoes 17 California Summer 18 Groovin' Time 19 Sun Power 20 House Of The Rising Sun 21 San Remo Sunset 22 Sunshine Superman 23 Mexican Sunset 24 We'll Sing In The Sunshine 25 Summer Sunset 26 Sunshine Girl 27 California Sun 28 You Are My Sunshine. 30 Come To The Sunshine