Asia Minor (instrumental)

"Asia Minor" is a 1961

Wisner had previously had two albums out as part of the Jimmy Wisner Trio, but had the idea for adapting a famous classical piece into a boogie-woogie-style piano track.^[1] Even though Wisner had many connections in the music industry, no one was willing to take a chance on it;^[1] ten rejections later,^[3] including from Felsted Records that had released his previous two albums,^[1] Wisner decided to release the record on his own label, Future Records. To avoid alienating the jazz community, Wisner used the pseudonym "Kokomo".^[1] As a result, no interviews, photographs or performances as Kokomo were ever given in support of "Asia Minor".^[7]

Wisner has said the title came from the piece's key, A minor. When someone at the recording session asked in which key the piece is in, the reply was "Asia Minor".^[7]

The piece was recorded on a cheap, out-of-tune, piano bought for $50.^[3] Wisner had applied shellac to the hammers to achieve a jauntier sound.^[1] The record charted at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[4]

In the UK, the

Cub Koda of AllMusic said that “Asia Minor” was "a record much bigger than [Wisner's] jazz recordings, and the subsequent trips back to the well that followed on album and singles are all collected on a 21-track [CD] compilation [of the same title]. What Wisner came up with was a one-hit novelty sound, but he had enough music behind it to make subsequent knockoffs quite listenable."^[3]

Chart Positions

References