Martin Denny - Quiet Village (1959)

I recorded “Quiet Village” for my first album, Exotica, on Liberty Records in 1956. Years later, in 1959, “Quiet Village” was released as a 45 rpm single and hit the charts, thanks to a DJ in Detroit who liked it so much that he plugged it repeatedly. “Quiet Village” sold over 10,000 singles in one week, placing it at #4 on the charts. During an engagement at the London House in Chicago I was asked to appear live on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand in Philadelphia, where we broke into the Top 40. I was elated that the show was watched by millions of youngsters.
By June, Exotica had reached the #1 position on all the charts - Billboard, Cashbox and Variety. By the end of the year we had been voted “Most Promising Instrumental Group of 1959” by radio disc jockeys across the country as well as receiving Billboard’s prestigious Outstanding Achievement in Recorded Mu- sic award and a Silver Record for sales of over 400,000 LP’s. We made several TV appearances including the Dinah Shore, Johnny Carson, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Bob Crosby, and Bob Newhart shows.
Because of all this sudden airplay and attention, I was probably partly responsible for the Polynesian craze of tikis and luaus that soon invaded the patios and swimming pool backyards of homes across the country! Al Bennett, President of Liberty, and my producer Si Waronker were very excited and wanted me to do an album to capitalize on the single’s success as soon as possible.
We recorded the Quiet Village album while appearing at Chicago’s London House, a popular restaurant that featured jazz artists, the likes of George Shearing and Peter Nero. My group consisted of four men - myself, Augie Colon, Harvey Ragsdale, and Julius Wechter. We added three local musicians for the record- ing sessions. I even wrote the songs “Firecracker” and “Sake Rock” while in my hotel room on the 14th floor of the Executive House overlooking the Chicago River.
John Sturges, the director of The Old Man And The Sea, Gunfight At The OK Corral, Bad Day At Black Rock and others, was a great fan of mine and was kind enough to write the original liner notes for Quiet Village. John had visited me in Hawaii before shooting some background scenes for a film he was directing, called Never So Few, starring Frank Sinatra. He promised that, if the opportunity presented itself, he would send me some instruments from Burma, where the film’s main location would be.
While scouting locations in Burma, John and his crew climbed to the top of a mountain where there was a Buddhist temple. The monks greeted the crew and showed them the little open air stands where the gongs and drums used in their ceremonies were sold. John’s crew chief, who didn’t know any Burmese, started bargaining in his best Brooklyn manner with these merchants who didn’t know any English. Somehow they struck up a deal and John wound up with an amazing assortment of instruments. A procession of monks in saffron robes carried all the instruments down the mountainside. As all these instruments were classified as primi- tive art, John next had to get special permission from the Burmese Ministry of Culture to ship them out of the country. I was in New York at the time I when I got his cable saying “I’ve got you some goodies. I hope you like them.”
When I arrived back at the Liberty Recording Studio in Los Angeles, two huge packing cases were awaiting me. The cases were too big to be opened in the studio, so I had to have them shipped back to Don The Beachcomber’s in Honolulu. They were crammed with 8 large tuned gongs, 16 smaller gongs, 8 solid brass chimes, 21 tuned Burmese drums and clusters of cymbals, bells and wooden clappers. Each instrument weighed anywhere from 4 oz. to 72 lbs. The whole lot wound up costing me only $300, as John insisted on charging me only for the freight. Many of those instruments today are worth far more than that. I never was involved with the artwork for any of my albums so it was quite by surprise one day that I met Sandy Warner who posed for Quiet Village as well as most of my other covers. Following one of our shows at Don The Beachcomber’s, this stunning looking woman motioned for me to come to her table. When I approached she said “We have a lot in common.”

Now I was really puzzled, “How’s that?” I asked.

“I’m the model on your album covers!”

It suddenly dawned on me that this was Sandy Warner! She had come to the show with her husband while on her honeymoon. This was the one and only time I ever actually saw her.
Sandy had received so much attention from her modeling for my album covers that she was known as “The Exotica Girl.” Sandy was even asked to record an album which Steve Allen pro- duced called Fair And Warner, for which I wrote the liner notes. While her album never made any impact, there is no doubt that Sandy’s alluring look that graced so many of my album covers attracted the attention of many a record buyer.

– Martin Denny

QUIET VILLAGE
Recorded at Universal Studios, Chicago, 1959
Producer: Simon Waronker
Recorded in stereo
Martin Denny: piano, arranger
Julius Wechter: vibes, marimba, percussion
Harvey Ragsdale: string bass
Augie Colon: bongos, congas, Latin percussion, bird calls
Guest artists:
Raymond Alexander: drums, percussion
Jose Bethancourt: marimba
John Frigo: bass, violin

Tracklist:
01. Martin Denny - Stranger In Paradise (02:25)
02. Martin Denny - Hawaiian War Chant (02:18)
03. Martin Denny - Coronation (02:52)
04. Martin Denny - Sake Rock (02:04)
05. Martin Denny - Paradise Found (02:35)
06. Martin Denny - Firecracker (02:29)
07. Martin Denny - Martinique (03:00)
08. Martin Denny - My Little Grass Shack In Kealakekua Hawaii (01:59)
09. Martin Denny - Tune From Rangoon (03:07)
10. Martin Denny - Happy Talk (02:30)
11. Martin Denny - Pagan Love Song (02:31)
12. Martin Denny - Laura (02:59)
13. Martin Denny - Quiet Village (Edit) (02:58)