Matt Dennis

US-American Jazz-pianist, singer, arranger and songwriter.
Born: 11 February 1914 in Seattle, Washington, USA. Died: 21 June 2002 (age of 88) in Riverside, California, USA. Married to singer [a=Virginia Maxey]. Brother of [a4236952].

He was exposed to music early as his mother was a violinist and his father a singer in vaudeville. In 1933, stilll a teenager, he joined Horace Heidt's Orchestra as a vocalist and pianist. Later on, he formed his own band, with Dick Haymes as vocalist.
During World War II, Dennis served as a singer-vocalist and arranger for the U.S. Army Air Forces’ Radio Production Unit and played with the Glenn Miller Air Force Band after it returned from Europe.
Dennis charted 6 times on the U.S. charts between 1940 and 1981, with his highest charted song being "Let's Get Away from It All (Parts 1 & 2)" by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010. Dennis' chief collaborator was lyricist [a661120].
He was an accomplished jazz pianist and wrote two tutorials, "Introduction to the Blues" and "You Can Teach Yourself Piano", designed to teach as well as to encourage improvisation.