Johnny Spencer

Not to be confused with several other performers with this name including the trashy alternative rock bandleader, trumpeter Johnny Spencer came from the same Cedarville, OH, family as the drummer and singer O'Neill Spencer. The trumpeter did some playing in jazz, doo wop, dance bands, and other prevalent styles of the '40s and '50s, but seems to have really hit his stride once he waded into the waters of light, novelty pop instrumentals. The wet analogy seems particularly apt when considering Spencer's masterpiece, an Imperial LP originally released in 1959 and entitled S' Pacifica. "Monsoon" and "Maui Rain" were two of the dampest titles in this downpour of Hawaiian music from a label that was also having success with artists such as Slim Whitman and the presumably daffy Joe Loco & His Orchestra. Not to be one-upped by Loco, the trumpeter named his own band Johnny Spencer and the Kona Koasters. ~ Eugene Chadbourne