Jazz Composer Matt Dennis
Angel Eyes -- Everything Happens To Me -- Will You Still Be Mine -- Let's Get Away From It All -- Violets For Your Furs.
Outstanding songs which have been recorded time and again by the greatest jazz performers.
What these exceptional tunes have in common is the name of the composer: Matt Dennis (1914-2002).
This Seattle-born singer-songwriter came from a vaudeville background. During his youth Matt moved to California where he learned how to play the piano.
In 1932, the 18-year old Matt began working with his five-piece orchestra of San Rafael at the school gymnasium and the community houses circuit.
Also in the 30s the talented young man joined Horace Heidt Californians, formed an orchestra with singer Dick Haymes and was contracted by Tommy Dorsey.
For the latter he worked as arranger and vocal coach for Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford and The Pied Pipers.
During World War II he joined the U.S. Army Air Forces' Radio Production Unit as vocalist and arranger.
In the next decade, he had his own radio- and TV shows, played in the 1953 movie "Jennifer" and recorded several albums.
In the 60s and 70s Matt Dennis moved around the clubs and restaurants circuit.
Matt Dennis at the time was decribed as "a not-quite-young man with a dinner jacket, a husky voice, a delectable way with a piano and a talent for pleasing supper-club customers."
Here he is pleasing Rosemary Clooney in her own show, which was broadcast in Los Angeles on Friday April 12, 1957.
Have a nice Sunday, listening to his own introduction and performance of "Violets For Your Furs" with lyrics by Tom Adair (1913-1988).
In 2010, the Dennis-Adair team was honored in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Which is your favorite composer-lyricist duo?
