Martin Denny was an American pianist, composer, and arranger.
16 Facts About Martin Denny
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2.
Martin Denny studied classical piano and toured South America for four and a half years in the 1930s with the Don Dean Orchestra.
3.
Martin Denny collected a large number of ethnic instruments from all over the world, which he used to spice up his stage performances.
4.
Martin Denny later studied at the University of Southern California.
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Martin Denny 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.
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Martin Denny's daughter, Christina was born a few years later.
7.
Martin Denny described the music his combo played as "window dressing, a background".
8.
Martin Denny built a collection of strange and exotic instruments with the help of several airline friends.
9.
Martin Denny's music was a combination of ethnic styles: South Pacific, the Orient and Latin rhythms.
10.
Martin Denny thought it was a coincidence at first, but when he tried the tune again later, the same thing happened.
11.
The next day, someone approached Martin Denny and asked if he would do the arrangement with the birds and frogs.
12.
Martin Denny did the frog part on a grooved cylinder and the whole thing became incorporated into the arrangement of "Quiet Village".
13.
Martin Denny had as many as three or four albums on the charts simultaneously during his career.
14.
Martin Denny's combo spawned two successful offshoots: Julius Wechter and exotica vibist Arthur Lyman.
15.
Martin Denny's recordings are prominently featured in the 1999 film Breakfast of Champions, based on the Kurt Vonnegut novel.
16.
Martin Denny's music is a recurring theme in the Sandman Slim series of fantasy novels by Richard Kadrey, where his music is always playing on the jukebox in the Bamboo House of Dolls, "LA's only punk tiki bar".