Exploresspage

The Explorers

The Explorers were (was?) a singing group formed by Pete Morrow, the son of the well known band leader and trombonist Buddy Morrow. Initially, we got together, rehearsed for many weeks, and did a demo which was shopped around until we got a deal with Coral records and producer, arranger Dick Jacobs. We did a lot of local "gigs," including the Brooklyn Paramount - often with Maury Baker, my good friend and drummer (later with the band Ars Nova - (they can be found at Ars Nova - full album) Judy Collins and Janis Joplin) and occasionally with my good friend Clement Barnes standing in for whomever couldn't make it to that gig. The Explorers were myself, Pete Morrow, Larry Alpert, Nick Rudd and Tito Carballo -

At the time I was known as Dennis Lowell (my late stepfather's last name)

We made three recordings:

"Vision of Love" / "On a Clear Nite"
"Don't be a Fool"/ "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" (with Mike Schisteman subbing for Larry Alpert)
"Remember"

"Every Road" (Dennis singing lead, Pete singing backup and duets, with a professional group of backup singers including "Noah" the bass voice heard on Clyde McPhatter's "It's A Lover's Question"))

Another recording made in the studio at Coral Records, but unreleased was

"This is a Lovely Way to Spend an Evening" and "Cupid's Love Machine"

Unfortunately, the masters of all these recordings are gone, and as a consequence, the fidelity of the recordings here are not good. However, they're fun to listen to anyway. You can find "Vision of Love," "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning'" and "Remember" on a CD called Coral Vocal Groups Vol. 1. "Don't Be A Fool" can be found on Vol. 2 of the same series - these are re-issues that we didn't know about until recently - On the lable is "Coral 1001 - Barcelona - Spain" and "Coral 1002 - Barcelona - Spain.

Due to the interest of Ed Engle and Crystal Ball Records

A CD is available from

Crystal Ball Records #1068-

called "Vision of Love" The Explorers (featuring Dennis Lowell)

And you can find all the stuff the Explorers did plus some of my later songs. Hope you like them! You can also find them at various vendors on the net
You can find the entire CD for sale on iTunes under "Vision of Love - The Explorers (Feat. Dennis Lowell)" -
You can also look on YouTube for selections from this CD.

our early demos

"Vision of Love", "On a Clear Night", "Don't Be a Fool" and "I'm Simply Asking You" were my songs - Pete and I split the credits on all the Explorers songs, no matter which of us wrote the song. Pete wrote the lyrics to "Cupid"s Love Machine" and I wrote the melody: he also wrote Every Road - words and music. I do not know who wrote "The Letter" or "China Girl" and Irving Berlin was the composer on the others. For some reason, I remember that the drummers on two of our Coral sessions were "Panama" Joe Francis and "Phily" Joe Jones. "Judy" was written by a friend of my mother (I don't remember who) The producer of all the Coral sessions was the well known Dick Jacobs.