Leslie Thompson Baxter (March 14, 1922 – January 15, 1996) was an American musician, composer and conductor. After working as an arranger and composer for swing bands, he developed his own style of easy listening music, known as exotica and scored over 250 radio, television and motion pictures numbers. Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory of Music before moving to Los Angeles for further studies at Pepperdine College. From 1943 on he played tenor and baritone saxophone for the Freddie Slack big band. Abandoning a concert career as a pianist, he turned to popular music as a singer. At the age of 23 he joined Mel Tormé‘s Mel-Tones, singing on Artie Shaw records such as “What Is This Thing Called Love?”

Baxter then turned to arranging and conducting for Capitol Records in 1950, and conducted the orchestra in two early Nat King Cole hits, “Mona Lisa” and “Too Young“. He also recorded Yma Sumac‘s first album: “Voice of the Xtabay”, which can be considered one of the first recordings of exotica. In 1951 he made the original recording of “Quiet Village” which years later became a hit for Martin Denny. In 1953 he scored his first movie, the sailing travelogue Tanga Tika.