Matt Dennis

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Matt Dennis (* 11. February 1914 in Seattle as Matthew Loveland Dennis ; † 21st June 2002 in Riverside , California ) was an American jazz - pianist , singer , arranger and songwriter , 1940 in the and 1950s known for songs like "Angel Eyes" or " Everything Happens to Me ".

Live and act

Matt Dennis' mother was a violinist and his father a singer; Dennis came into contact with the music scene at an early age through appearances in Vaudeville . 1933 was a vocalist and pianist in Horace Heidt's orchestra; then he founded his own formation with the singer Dick Haymes . Eventually he became arranger and accompanist for Martha Tilton and worked with the vocal group Stafford Sisters. When one of the sisters, Jo Stafford , switched to Tommy Dorsey's band in 1940 , she was able to convince the band leader to hire Dennis as arranger and composer. In one year alone, fourteen of Dennis' songs were recorded with the Dorsey band; most famous track was "Everything Happens to Me", which became an early hit for Frank Sinatra . During this time the first recording was made under his own name; with Gil Evans as arranger he recorded his composition "Relax" with the vocal group Six Hits and a Miss .

After three and a half years of military service in the United States Air Force during World War II, when he was arranger for Glenn Miller , Dennis worked again as songwriter and arranger for Dick Haymes, who made him musical director of his radio program; he wrote songs for Haymes' program with songwriter Tom Adair . At the end of the 1940s he settled in Los Angeles, where he made guest appearances as a soloist in clubs, later also in a duo with his wife, the singer Virginia "Ginny" Maxey.

Dennis recorded a total of six albums under his own name, on which musicians such as Jimmy Rowles , Don Fagerquist , Howard Roberts and Alvin Stoller participated. The best known were his songs "Angel Eyes" from 1953, which he wrote with the lyricist Earl Brent and later u. a. was sung by Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Sting , as well as the song "Will You Still Be Mine" interpreted by Miles Davis / Sonny Rollins ; In 1957 John Coltrane played his composition "Violets for Your Furs". On his 1958 RCA album Plays and Sings Matt Dennis plays and sings twelve of his most famous tracks. In 1991 he recorded the album Angel Eyes with Ginny Maxey .

For the author Will Friedwald , Dennis belongs to the group of singers influenced by Mel Tormé .

Songs by Matt Dennis

Discographic notes

  • Dennis, anyone? (RCA, BMG, 1955)
  • She Dances Overhead: The Songs of Rodgers and Hart (RCA / BMG, 1955)
  • Play My Melancholy Baby (RCA / BMG, 1956) with Don Fagerquist
  • Plays and Sings Matt Dennis (RCA / Universal, 1958)
  • Welcome Matt Dennis ( Jubilee Records , 1959)

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Web links

personal data
SURNAME Dennis, Matt
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dennis, Matthew Loveland (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz pianist, singer, and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH February 11, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Seattle
DATE OF DEATH June 21, 2002
Place of death Riverside (California)