Martin Denny ‘Father of Exotica’ – Phantom Dancer

Martin Denny studied classical piano.

He toured South America for four and a half years in the 1930s with the Don Dean Orchestra. This tour sparked Denny’s fascination with Latin rhythms. Denny collected a large number of instruments from all over the world, which he used to spice up his stage performances.

After serving in the United States Army Air Forces in World War II, he studied piano and composition under Dr. Wesley La Violette and orchestration under Arthur Lange at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. He later studied at the University of Southern California.

In January 1954, Don the Beachcomber brought Denny to Honolulu for a two-week engagement. He stayed to form his own combo in 1955, performing under contract at the Shell Bar in the Hawaiian Village on Oahu and soon signing to Liberty Records.

The original combo consisted of Augie Colon on percussion and birdcalls, Arthur Lyman on vibes, John Kramer on string bass, and Denny on piano.

“We traveled a lot on the Mainland, but we came back every 12 weeks because the guys had their families here [in Hawaii],” recalled Denny.

Denny described the music his combo played as “window dressing a background”. He built a collection of exotic instruments with the help of several airline friends. They would bring Denny instruments back and he would build arrangements around them. His music was a South Pacific, the Orient and Latin rhythms.

During an engagement at the Shell Bar, Denny discovered what would become his trademark and the birth of “Exotica”.

The bar had a very exotic setting: a little pool of water right outside the bandstand, rocks and palm trees growing around, very quiet and relaxed.

As the group played at night, Denny became aware of bullfrogs croaking. The croaking blended with the music and when the band stopped, so did the frogs. He thought it was a coincidence at first, but when he tried the tune again, the same thing happened. This time, his bandmates began doing all sorts of tropical bird calls as a gag. The band thought it nothing more than a joke.

The next day, someone approached Denny and asked if he would do the arrangement with the birds and frogs. He agreed. At rehearsal, he had the band do “Quiet Village” with each doing a bird call. Denny did the frog part on a grooved cylinder and the whole thing became incorporated into the arrangement of “Quiet Village”. It sold more than one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

The Exotica album was recorded in December 1956 and released in 1957. In 1958, Dick Clark hosted Denny on American Bandstand. “Quiet Village” reached #2 on Billboard’s charts in 1959 with the Exotica album reaching #1.

Denny had as many as three or four albums on the charts simultaneously during his career. He had national hits with “A Taste of Honey”, “The Enchanted Sea”, and “Ebb Tide”.

26 September PLAY LIST