I first heard him some years back when Ultra-Lounge, Vol. 1: Mondo Exotica was released.
It's still one of my favorite CDs!
RIP to a true original.
Posted on 03/04/2005 10:13:16 AM PST by Chi-townChief
The man who brought the name "exotica" to this genre. The King of the Tiki Hut. Denny not only brought exotica its biggest hit of all time with his #2 single of Les Baxter's "Quiet Village,", he gave two other key figures in exotica--Arthur Lyman and Julius Wechter--their starts, and influenced several generations of lounge performers. Denny studied classical piano as a child in New York City. He began working professionally at a young age and spent four years touring South America with the Don Dean Orchestra before serving in the Air Force in World War II. Afterward, he attended at the Los Angeles Conservatory and studied composition with Wesley La Violette, who influenced many West Coast jazz composers and arrangers. He continued to work in clubs with small combos when he was hired to play at Don the Beachcomber's, the most popular club in Honolulu, in January 1954. Soon, he was hired by steel and shipping magnate Henry J. Kaiser to play in the Shell Bar, the night club of his new resort on Oahu, the Hawaiian Village.
At first, Denny was heavily influenced by the piano/vibes combo sound of George Shearing, particularly Shearing's highly successful MGM album, You're Hearing George Shearing. Other than the Waikiki setting, there wasn't much exotic about it. But bandmate Augie Colon introduced him to Les Baxter's landmark album, Ritual of the Savage, and Denny adapted several numbers--most famously, "Quiet Village." Over the course of his career, Denny would record over two dozen Baxter tunes.
Denny came across the trademark of his recordings--animal noises in the background--quite by accident while performing at the Shell Bar. As Denny related with an interview in Re/Search magazine's Incredibly Strange Music,
The Hawaiian Village was a beautiful open-air tropical setting. There was a pond with some very large bullfrogs right next to the bandstand. One night we were playing a certain song and I could hear the frogs going [deep voice] "Rivet! Rivet! Rivet!" When we stopped playing, the frogs stopped croaking. I thought, "Hmm--is that a coincidence?" So a little while later I said, "Let's repeat that tune," and sure enough the frogs started croaking again. And as a gag, some of the guys started spontaneously doing these bird calls. Afterwards we all had a good laugh: Hey, that was fun!" But the following day one of the guests came up and said, "Mr. Denny, you know that song you did with the birds and the frogs? Can you do that again?" I said, "What are you talking about?" -- then it dawned on me he'd thought that was part of the arrangement. Denny broke with Kaiser in 1956 over a contractual dispute, and toured the West Coast before taking extended bookings with the Sands and Flamingo Hotels in Las Vegas. He also won a recording contract with Liberty Records, then just starting out in Los Angeles. Denny recorded a set of his Shell Bar favorites, including "Quiet Village," in mono for Liberty, but the album--"Exotica"--had little success.
As attention in the rest of the U.S. began to turn to Hawaii as it neared its induction as the 50th state in 1959, Liberty brought Denny back into the studio to re-record "Exotica" in stereo. This time, the record found a receptive audience and became a huge favorite among "sophisticated" listeners. "Quiet Village" was released as a single and reached #4 on the Billboard Top 40 pop chart.
Not everyone appreciated Denny's approach, though. R.D. Darrell, a reviewer for Hi Fi magazine groused about Denny's album, "Quiet Village,"
Denny's little ensemble ... has been so successful with a whole series of exotic pops divertissements that mine must be a crabbed minority opinion of his particular blend of cocktail-hour sentimentality with a liberal spiking of pseudojungle sound effects. But except for the leader's own vivacious originals, "Firecracker" and "Sake Rock," the present examples strike me as merely innocuously dull or ridiculously fancy, despite the bright purity with which every jingle-jangle and bird-of-paradise yawp has been recorded. (August, 1959 issue) Time magazine also noted the noisy nature of Denny's records, commenting that Augie Colon could "caterwaul like a turkey buzzard., croak like a frog, or shriek like a cheetah." But it also observed that, "Blended with Buddhist bells, Burmese cymbals and the West Indian guiro, these noises so far this year have helped sell 60,000 Denny albums, all labeled like bargain-counter perfumes —Exotica, Hypnotique, Afro-Desia." Soon after the first release of "Exotica," Kaiser hired Denny's vibes player, Arthur Lyman, to take over his old gig at the Shell Bar. After Denny's single of "Quiet Village" started its climb up the Top 40 charts, Lyman was hired by another fledling LA label, Hi Fi Records, and began recording his own string of albums, all heavily influenced by Denny's sound. Denny replaced Lyman with percussionist Julius Wechter, who stayed with him until 1964, when he quit to form the Baja Marimba Band for Herb Alpert's new label, A&M.
Although Denny only placed a few singles in the pop charts as he rode the wave of popularity of the exotica sound and interest in the new state of Hawaii, he continued to record for Liberty until 1969. He moved back to Oahu but toured in the States and appeared on a number of network television variety shows throughout the 1960s.
Most of Denny's recordings feature his trademark animal sounds and exotic percussion instruments, but a number of his mid-1960s albums featured what Liberty termed his "honey" sound. These are standard easy-listening fare and are likely to disappoint those seeking that special Tiki Hut sound.
Although Denny often used authentic musical instruments of indigenous people in his recordings, he was never too concerned about the authenticity of his material or interpretation. As he told one interviewer, "My music has always been like fiction, no authenticity; I didn't want to make African music--I only wanted to suggest how African music might sound."
Denny continued to perform for decades after the initial exotica fad passed. He announced his retirement in 1985 but then reunited with Lyman, Colon, and Chang for a short club tour. In 1990, he toured Japan and recorded a live CD, Exotica 90, and soon after, he was recognized by the Hawaiian Association of Music's Hoku Award for lifetime achievement. Indeed, he survived long enough to see a revival in the mid-1990s that brought an extensive CD reissue of his original albums by Scamp Records.
He continued to perform on occasion and was a tremendous supporter of the younger generation of musicians inspired by his music. Kit Ebersbach and Lloyd Kandell created Don Tiki, one of the better lounge music groups in his honor, and Denny played on several tracks of their 1997 CD, The Forbidden Sounds of Don Tiki.He appeared at Arthur Lyman's memorial service and made a brief guest appearance at a 2004 Jimmy Buffett concert in Honolulu. His final public performance, for a tsunami fundraiser at the Hawaii School for Girls, came less than three weeks before his death.
So mix yourself a Mai Tai, drop a little umbrella into your glass, kick off your shoes, and put a Martin Denny album on the turntable. Take a trip to the Hawaii of your mind. Aloha!
PING
Exotica is fantastic to listen to in the backyard on a summer's night with the Tiki torches going. However, I've discovered that it freaks out party guests pretty quickly. I tried playing "Quiet Village" and "Taboo" back-to-back and just about everyone either threatened to leave or smash my CD player.
That's how the Blue Hawaiians got started-- a friend of the lead guitarist opened the Lava lounge and wanted a house band
It's still one of my favorite CDs!
RIP to a true original.
Good Grief! Not Martin Denny! I lost my cherry to the music of "Quite Villiage". More then once. I have this music on my "road tapes" and my horse stable tapes. Peace be unto you, Martin.
I had the pleasure many times seeing Mr.Denny play at the hotels here on Maui. He was very friendly to the listeners and would take any request. RIP
Sad to hear this. His music was appreciated here.
....a fire in the fire pit. True American multiculturalism is enjoying exotic Hawaiian music in a Western setting while digesting a steak and sipping an Irish Guinness.
. I tried playing "Quiet Village" and "Taboo" back-to-back and just about everyone either threatened to leave or smash my CD player.
You too? I wear a sidearm, and invite those who want to leave, peaceably, to do so.
;^)
Thank you very much. A real blast from my past.
Whats the update? That he's still dead?
That's one of the reason's I always drive. Driver gets to choose the music. Lounge is normally on the CD. I guess I come by my appreciation naturally. My next door neighbor had a group that played at one of their friend's places. I would try to visit when he practiced the organ. When I was a kid in the mid to late 60's, my dad got the big idea to have a huge Hawaiian party in the back yard. The next door neighbor got someone to fill in that weekend and the brought his huge Wurlitzer. The party was supposed to end at 10:00pm but you know how parties go I remember listening to the music and the singing till the wee hours of the morning. Since most of the people there have passed on it is truly one of my favorite memories.
Sorry to hear he passed; and that goes for Arthur Lyman, too.
" True American multiculturalism is enjoying exotic Hawaiian music in a Western setting while digesting a steak and sipping an Irish Guinness. "
How about an American enjoying exotic music while digesting some barbecued tuna steaks and sipping Guinness in his backyard in ...Japan ?
Exactly. It's not a recipe, it's a state of mind.
Enjoy.
I only heard about it just now. Sad news. I am a big Martin Denny fan, owning all of the "recent" CD reissues of his classic Exotica music, as well as a couple of his post-exotica LPs. He lived a good, long life, and he made a lot of people happy with his work. May he rest in peace.
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