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.
Much to our delight last year
a piano roll recorded by Korla Pandit turned up! This is the first one we’ve
ever seen. It features three recordings by Korla and was released by Play-Rite
(the home of the golden roll) in 1978. The recording date is unknown. It is
also unknown if more piano rolls were made.
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
June 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, released 1951)
Featuring vocals by Jette
Satin.
6 THERE'S A STORY GOING ROUND
/ YOU BELONG TO MY HEART (Vita 230, released 1951)
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 1951)
2 KORLA PANDIT'S MUSICAL GEMS
(Vita V-103 released 1951)
3 REMEM'BRING (Vita V-105
released 1951)
4 MERRY XMAS (Vita V-1
released 1951)
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, released 1951)
Featuring vocals by Jette Satin.
3 THERE'S A STORY GOING
'ROUND / YOU BELONG TO MY HEART (Vita 45-230, released 1951)
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 1951)
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 1951)
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
was made available 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)
An overstock of Fantastique!
made available 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)
An overstock of Christmas
with Korla Pandit on India records made available in a hand-decorated sleeve.
20 UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF MUSIC
VOLUME THREE (India Z4RS-7625 released 1969)
Produced by
21 UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF MUSIC
VOLUME FIVE - CHRISTMAS TRADITIONALS (India SR4S-4437)
An overstock of Christmas
with Korla Pandit on India records made available in a different, 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 complete Fantasy
albums Music From The Exotic East and Latin Holiday.
3 REMEMBERING KORLA PANDIT
(Dejavu DJV 002-2 released 1999)
Features the complete 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 complete Vita
album Merry Xmas.
6 THE GRAND MOGHUL SUITE/THE
UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF MUSIC VOLUME 1 (El ACMEM 128 released 2007)
Features the complete India album
The Grand Moghul Suite and the majority of the India album The Universal
Language Of Music Volume 1.
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)
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.
3 FANTASY HIGH FIDELITY
SAMPLER (Fantasy FS 654)
It is highly likely that this
album features Korla Pandit, though it is unknown what track(s) were used.
4 FANTASY STEREO
DEMONSTRATION DISC (Fantasy FS 655)
This album definitely contains
a Korla Pandit contribution, though it is unknow what track(s) were used.
PIANO ROLLS:
1 THE LATIN TOUCH OF KORLA
PANDIT (Play-Rite 26-B released 1978)
Contains exclusive recordings
of La Borrachita, A Day In The Life Of A Fool and Spanish Eyes.
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