Finally today, our Global Hit takes us back to music first recorded in 1958. The album is called "Folk Songs for Far Out Folk." It's just been released on CD for the first time.

The album is a collection of American, Hebrew, and African folk tunes. These are traditional songs -- arranged in a very NON-traditional way.

The arrangements on "Folk Songs For Far Out Folk" are by California musician Fred Katz. He conducted three different orchestras on the album -- one for each musical tradition.

Katz has a background in both classical and jazz music. As a youngster he studied cello under classical master Pablo Casals. Later, Katz was the first to play the cello in a jazz band -- as a member of the Chico Hamilton Quartet.

But what Katz really wanted to do back in 1958 was go back to his classical roots.

Katz: "My approach to the folk music and to the African and to the Hebraic was to approach it as a classical musician, not as a jazz player."

The three cultures -- African, Hebraic and American -- captivated Fred Katz in the 1950s. They still do. He describes the album as a work of musical anthropology. For example, he says the African element represents the "oneness of man."

But Katz never went to Africa -- or Israel for that matter. He says he didn't need to.

Katz: “The music speaks to me in this pristine sense. I don't think that going there would have made me write it any differently.”

Fred Katz is 88-years old now. He says he doesn't leave his house much anymore. But he still plays the cello.

And the music on his "Folk Songs for Far Out Folk" can still sound...well, far out.