[78-L] Jack Denny, brief bio

[Stephen Davies]

        I had thought Denny was Canadian because he was mentioned in "The 
bands Canadians danced to" (19 but I can see now that he was an American.

        Denny was born in Indiana (1895-sep-25), and retired from the 
orchestra business c. 1944 to become a piano salesman.  He died in 
Sawtelle, Calif on 1950-sep-15, a few days shy of his 55th birthday. 
[courtesy of iMDB.com which lists his appearance in a handful of soundies]

        The tart George Simon describes his outfits as being "as musical 
as a submerged submarine", and that "his old fashioned style featured an 
accordion and dull arrangements".

        John Gilmore writes in "Swinging in paradise: the story of jazz in 
Montreal" (1988), p. 267 n. 3:
<<<
... Not surprisingly, society [orchestra] work in Montreal remained the 
exclusive domain of white musicians long after racial barriers were 
officially dismantled in the city.  It was common practice for hotels to 
import a foreign bandleader, who would then assemble a soceity orchestra 
of local musicians to play the leader's repertoire.  The Mount Royal Hotel 
provided lengthy engagements for a series of foreign leaders, beginning in 
the 1920's: Joseph C Smith, Jack Denny, Charlie Dornberger (formerly of 
the Paul Whiteman orchestra), Lloyd Huntley and Don Turner were all from 
the United States, while Rex Battle came to the hotel from Britain.
>>>

        Murray Pfeffer's dismantled Big Band Database has a Canadian entry 
for Denny:
                http://www.nfo.net/can/cd.html#JDenny
<<<
        Jack Denny had a wonderful society band with no brass section - 
just saxophones and strings - with lots of doubling in clarinets and 
double-reeds. He played the Mount Royal Hotel in Montreal and then the 
Waldorf-Astoria in NYC. While at the Mount Royal, his band had the unusual 
feature of three pianos.

        This band made records only in 1932 for RCA Victor. His other 
bands were more conventionally styled. 
>>>

        Most reviews mention his girl singer in a favourable light: 
Frances Stevens.

        There is a brief bio of Phil Lalonde who worked at the bilingual 
CKAC, where he "hosted the "remote" pickups of the Jack Denny Orchestra 
playing for the dinner dances 
'atop-Mount-Royal-Hotel's-beautiful-Normandy-Roof' on Saturday nights". ( 
http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/personalities/personalities.php?id=161 
)

        Denny was the house band at the Waldorf Astoria by 1931, when 
Xavier Cugat arrived as the subordinate orchestra.
        By 1934, Jack Denny was leaving the Hotel Pierre, NY, being 
replaced by the newly minted Shep Fields.

        Despite the modern sneering, typical when a sweet band is being 
discussed, Denny seems to have been a musical power in his own small way. 
Time magazine has a brief article (1937, 
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,757462,00.html ) 
describing the birth of Irving Mills' record label, and mentions that 
"[o]n the books of Mills Artists, Inc., are such dance orchestras as those 
led by Paul Whiteman, Edward Kennedy ("Duke") Ellington, Cabell ("Cab") 
Calloway, Jack Denny."  That's extremely honourable company.
        And in an entry on Harry Ruby, the book "Tin Pan Alley" by David A 
Jasen says "'Nevertheless' (1931) was made a hit by Jack Denny and his 
orchestra (Brunswick 6114)."

- Stephen D
Calgary


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