A Taste of Honey, Liberty LRP-3237/LST-7237 (1962)He lived in paradise playing lush music to a fresh group of eager tourists each night. He is considered the chief exponent of "exotica," his ardent pop fans remain plentiful, and at least Hypnotique is a masterpiece. But with a few missteps in his long career, Martin Denny's primacy in exotica is debatable. Much is owed to Les Baxter and Arthur Lyman, among many others.
The Martin Denny group's initial recipe for success was ideal. Take Les Baxter's best compositions, replace the strings with hipper, "native" instrumentation (which conveniently fit into tiny Hawaiian nightclubs), and wrap albums in the most enticing jackets the Liberty art department could produce. This worked for a dozen or so marvelous LPs cranked out at maximum pace. Apart from its subsidiaries, Liberty owed much of its solvency --and probably a vacation-- to Martin Denny. (Liberty's ability to hire talent never did live up to the production standards, however.)
