Discography

DISCOGRAPHY

THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF MUSIC - KORLA PANDIT'S MUSICAL LEGACY
Welcome to Korla Pandit's Universe of Music!

This discography features all of Korla's known releases, plus information about the record companies for which he recorded.

The main record companies Korla recorded for are:

VITA RECORDS Laurence H. Mead owned Perfection Plastic Products, a record pressing plant on North Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena, California (USA). The company pressed over 5,000 records a day, including Korla's Vita singles and albums. The other pressings were mostly black-artists doo-wop singles. Vita Records had the capability of producing 78s, 45s and LPs; all were delivered to the retail record stores in Hollywood. Mike Gradney managed the record plant. Labels owned by Laurence H. Mead included Kicks, Mambo, Dig and Vita. Korla began recording for the Vita label in 1950. On some Vita recordings, Korla was accompanied by vocalist Jette Satin. For more information about these recordings, please visit our Jette Satin page.

INDIA RECORDS was established in 1954 by its sole artist Korla Pandit, when he released his first independently-produced album series, The Universal Language of Music. So far parts 1, 2, 3 and 5 of this series have been identified. It is extremely likely that part 4 also exists, but so far any information is lacking. Recording facilities varied from album to album. Mailing addresses for these albums and, later, cassettes, which Korla would sell at his various concert and lecture appearances (therefore a great number of the records are signed and dedicated), ran the gamut from San Bernardino and Santa Cruz, to Palm Springs, Santa Rosa (all California, USA), and even British Columbia, depending upon where Korla was headquartered at the time. Since India Records used independent pressing companies, the quality of the discs is inconsistent. Often Korla would re-press the albums when they sold out. This accounts for minor differences in layout of the covers and label information.

FANTASY RECORDS was founded in San Francisco in 1949 by Max and Sol Weiss, who started out in the business by running a pressing plant, then ended up owning a record company. Their first artist was an Oakland pianist named Dave Brubeck, and when Brubeck's recordings began to sell, they went on to record Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Cal Tjader, Lenny Bruce, Odetta, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, and eventually, Korla Pandit. Saul Zaentz, who had joined Fantasy as a salesman in 1955, assembled a group of investors in 1967 and purchased the label from the Weiss brothers. The Fantasy 3000-series denotes high fidelity, mono, Fantasy 8000-series denotes stereo. Nearly all Fantasy records were pressed on regular black, blue and/or red vinyl. Some of the Fantasy records were re-released in the early 80's. They feature identical covers, but new brown or blue labels. Korla started recording for Fantasy in 1958.

This discography also features commercial releases Korla Pandit recorded as Juan Rolando. So far, two 78 RPM records by Juan Rolando have surfaced. Not listed here are transcription discs by Juan Rolando/Korla Pandit, as these were not available to the general public. For more information on the Transcription discs, please visit the appropriate pages. In 2007 a piano roll turned up on the internet featuring 3 songs by Korla to be played back on the pianola. It is unknown if Korla recorded more piano rolls.

Collecting records by Korla Pandit can be challenging. Some of his records are readily available on the second-hand market or in local thrift stores for next to nothing, other are amazingly hard to get and are often quite expensive. Should you have information about recordings missing from this list, please contact us with all the details. We love to hear from you!

Freek Kinkelaar, official Korla Pandit website discographer
Last update 16 February 2008

78 RPM 10" SINGLES:
1 LINDA MUJER / RIGHT AS THE RAIN (Cocktail hour CGE 115 released 1943)

Released by Korla Pandit under the pseudonym Juan Rolando.

2 TEMPTATION / CHIU CHIU (Cocktail hour CGE 116 released 1943)

Released by Korla Pandit under the pseudonym Juan Rolando.

3 I'LL ALWAYS BE IN LOVE WITH YOU / CACTUS SAMBA (JESUSITA EN CHIHUAHUA) (Vita 200)

4 TEMPTATION / PELON TELEFONE (Vita 202)

5 THEY SAY (TONIGHT YOU BELONG TO ME) / REMEMBERING (Vita 220)

Featuring vocals by Jette Satin.

6 THERE'S A STORY GOING ROUND / YOU BELONG TO MY HEART (Vita 230)

Featuring vocals by Jette Satin.

7 CHIU CHIU / BLUE TANGO (Vita V-236/237)

8 MOONLIGHT AND SHADOWS / WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES (Vita V-238)

78 RPM 10" BOXSET ALBUMS (4 shellac discs in each album):
1 THE GRAND MOGHUL SUITE (Vita V-101 released 1950)

2 KORLA PANDIT'S MUSICAL GEMS (Vita V-103 released 1950)

3 REMEM'BRING (Vita V-105 released 1950)

4 MERRY XMAS (Vita V-1 released 1950)

45 RPM 7" SINGLES:
1 I'LL ALWAYS BE IN LOVE WITH YOU / CACTUS SAMBA (Vita 45-200)

2 LOVER COME BACK TO ME / IT'S A SIN TO TELL A LIE (Vita 45-228)

Featuring vocals by Jette Satin.

3 THERE'S A STORY GOING 'ROUND / YOU BELONG TO MY HEART (Vita 45-230)

Featuring vocals by Jette Satin.

4 MOONLIGHT AND SHADOWS / WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES (Vita 45-238)

5 THE WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER / UNKNOWN (Vita)

6 BRASILLIAN BAIO / TURKISH DANCE (Fantasy 545 X red vinyl)

Also available as a white label promo on red vinyl.

Featuring an unknown vocalist on Brasillian baio.

7 BOMBAY / BAGHDAD (Fantasy 554 red vinyl)

Released by Korla Pandit under the pseudonym Koram Khris.

Bombay is in fact identical to Brasillian Baio and Baghdad is identical to Turkish Dance on the Fantasy 545 single.

8 KUMAR / KARTEKEYA (India 401 released 1971)

Featuring tablas by Santwant Singh.

9 BLAST OFF! / DON'T BLAST OFF! (Sympathy for the Record Industry SFTRI 386 released 1995)

45 RPM 7" BOXSET ALBUMS (4 vinyl discs in each album):
1 THE GRAND MOGHUL SUITE (Vita 45-101 released 1950)

2 KORLA PANDIT'S MUSICAL GEMS (Vita 45-103 released 1951)

3 REMEMB'RING (Vita 45-105 released 1951)

4 MERRY XMAS (Vita 45 V-1 released 1951)

33 RPM 10" ALBUMS:
1 THE GRAND MOGHUL SUITE (Vita VLP-10 released 1950)

Also available on red vinyl.

2 KORLA PANDIT'S MUSICAL GEMS (Vita LP-12 released 1951)

3 REMEMB'RING (Vita LP-14 released 1951)

4 MERRY XMAS (Vita LP-16 released 1951)

33 RPM 12" ALBUMS:
1 UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF MUSIC VOLUME ONE (India V-6814-400, released 1954)

Featuring narration by Dave Ballard.

Also available on red vinyl.

An overstock of this album which was produced in a white cover with gold KP-Production sticker and large autograph on front.

2 MUSIC OF THE EXOTIC EAST (Fantasy 3272/8013 released 1958)

3 LATIN HOLIDAY (Fantasy 3284/8027 released 1959)

Available in two different covers.

4 KORLA PANDIT AT THE PIPE ORGAN (Fantasy 3286/8018 released 1960)

5 TROPICAL MAGIC (Fantasy 3288/8034 released 1959)

6 SPEAK TO ME OF LOVE (Fantasy 3292/8039 released 1959)

7 AN EVENING WITH KORLA PANDIT (Fantasy 3304/8049 released 1960)

8 MUSIC OF MYSTERY AND ROMANCE (Fantasy 3320/8061 released 1960)

9 LOVE LETTERS (Fantasy 3327/8070 released 1960)

Featuring Arthur Bergman on guitar.

10 HYPNOTIQUE (Fantasy 3329/8075 released 1961)

Featuring Arthur Bergman on guitar.

11 MUSIC FROM HOLLYWOOD (Fantasy 3334/8086 released 1960)

12 MUSIC FOR MEDITATION (Fantasy 3342/8342 released 1961)

13 KORLA PANDIT IN PARIS (Fantasy 3347/8347 released 1961)

14 CHRISTMAS WITH KORLA PANDIT (Fantasy 3350 released 1961)

15 FANTASTIQUE! (National Custom Recording 12 574)

16 UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF MUSIC VOLUME TWO (National Custom Recording/India 12 574)

Overstock of Fantastique! in a different cover.

17 CHRISTMAS WITH KORLA PANDIT (India SR4S 4437)

Different recordings to the Christmas with Korla Pandit LP on Fantasy records.

18 KORLA PANDIT LIVE AT THE RIALTO THEATRE (India WR 4773 released 1968)

19 MERRY XMAS (India SR4S-4437)

Overstock of Christmas with Korla Pandit on India records in a hand-decorated sleeve.

20 UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF MUSIC VOLUME THREE (India Z4RS-7625 released 1969)

Produced by Verne Langdon, available with both song information printed on the back cover and with a totally blank back cover.

21 UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF MUSIC VOLUME FIVE - CHRISTMAS TRADITIONALS (India SR4S-4437)

Overstock of Christmas with Korla Pandit on India records in a printed cover.

22 THE GRAND MOGHUL SUITE (India KLP 1001 released 1971)

22 THE PIPES OF PAN (India KLP 1002 released 1971)

24 MUSIC FOR MEDITATION VOLUME ONE (India KLP 1003 released 1971)

25 EXOTICA 2000 (Sympathy for the Record Industry SFTRI 387 released 1995)

COMPACT DISCS:
1 EXOTICA 2000 (Sympathy for the Record Industry SFR 387 released 1995)

2 ODDYSSEY (Fantasy FCW 24746 released 1996)

Features the Fantasy albums Music From The Exotic East and Latin Holiday.

3 REMEMBERING KORLA PANDIT (Dejavu DJV 002-2 released 1999)

Features the India album Universal Language Of Music Volume Three and bonus material.

4 BURIED TREASURE / COCKTAIL HOUR (Dejavu 012-2 released 2007, double CD)

Features one CD with previously unreleased songs by Korla Pandit and one CD with previously unreleased songs by Juan Rolando).

5 MERRY XMAS (Dejavu DJV SPEC EDIT-MXM DJV-XT2 released 2007)

Features the original Merry Xmas 10 inch album as previously released on Vita records.

6 THE GRAND MOGHUL SUITE/THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF MUSIC VOLUME 1 (El ACMEM 128 CD released 2007)

Features The Grand Moghul Suite LP as released on India records and an abridged version of The Universal Language Of Music Volume 1 as released on India records.

CASSETTES:
1 MUSIC FOR MEDITATION VOLUME ONE (India IR-1000 released 1973)

2 MUSIC OF THE EXOTIC EAST (India IR-1001 released 1973)

3 GRAND MOGHUL SUITE (India 1001 released 1973)

8-TRACKS:
1 MUSIC FOR MEDITATION VOLUME ONE (India IR-1000 released 1973)

2 GRAND MOGHUL SUITE (India 1001 released 1973)

PIANO ROLLS:

1 THE LATIN TOUCH OF KORLA PANDIT (Play-rite 26-B released 1978)

Featuring 3 songs to be played back on a pianola.

COMPILATIONS:
1 MUSIC FOR NIGHT PEOPLE (Polygram PMP 012 promo CD released 1996)

Contains the exclusive track Diamond Head.

2 NOCTURNE (Camay CA 3039)

Contains exclusive recordings of Misirlou and The Swan.

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