Martin Denny

Pianist, composer and lounge-music deity Martin Denny exemplified the woozy musical “exotica” that infused suburban America and space-age bachelor pads during the ’50s and ’60s. Born in New York in 1911, Denny studied composition at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. In 1954, he relocated to Hawaii, where he developed his signature sound at the Shell Bar in Oahu's Hawaiian Village Hotel. His original combo, which included percussionist Augie Colon and vibraphonist Arthur Lyman, added (human-produced) bird calls and frog sounds to Denny’s soft jazz. He released exotica’s first hit, a downtempo cover of Les Baxter’s “Quiet Village”, in 1957. Among his more than three dozen releases, albums such as Forbidden Island, Afro-Desia, and Primitiva eschewed authenticity in favour of Denny’s inventive interpretations of music from the South Pacific, Asia and Latin America. Japanese synth-pop pioneers Yellow Magic Orchestra were ’70s Denny acolytes, and his sultry style was rekindled by arty combos like Pink Martini and Combustible Edison during the ’90s lounge revival.