David Seville, aka Rostom “Ross” Sipan Bagdasarian, was the son of Armenian immigrants who grew up in Fresno, California. He was an actor, musician, composer and voice actor who was very successful writing music scores for movies. He actually invented Alvin and the Chipmunks in the mid 1950s and was a pioneer in altering tape speeds to change singing and speaking voices for many of his projects!

“Armen’s Theme”, is a nice, bright slice of rare 78rpm lounge from 1956; featuring some killer organ and tastefully delayed guitar; this is what I would call a “snazzy number.”

 

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This virtually forgotten release from 1956 on Chicago’s Argo Label is a classic Mike Simpson, on tenor sax, doing a snazzy spy lounge snapper with JUST the right amount of 007 meets Sammy Davis, Jr. and that 50s space-age boozy vibe.

 

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