Matt Dennis

Matt Dennis (February 11, 1914 – June 21, 2002) was an American singer, pianist, band leader, arranger, and writer of music for popular music songs.

Biography

Dennis was born in Seattle, Washington, United States. His mother was a violinist and his father a singer, and the family was in vaudeville, so he was early exposed to music. In 1933 he joined Horace Heidt's orchestra as a vocalist and pianist. Later on, he formed his own band, with Dick Haymes as vocalist. He became vocal coach, arranger, and accompanist for Martha Tilton, and worked with a new vocal group, The Stafford Sisters. Jo Stafford, one of the sisters, joined the Tommy Dorsey band in 1940 and persuaded Dorsey to hire Dennis as arranger and composer. Dennis wrote prolifically, with 14 of his songs recorded by the Dorsey band in one year alone, including "Everything Happens to Me", an early hit for Frank Sinatra.

After four years in the United States Air Force in World War II, Dennis returned to music writing and arranging, getting a boost from his old friend Dick Haymes, who hired him to be the music director for his radio program. With lyricist Tom Adair he wrote songs for Haymes' program.

The Sidewinder

The Sidewinder is a 1964 album by the jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan, recorded at the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood, New Jersey, USA. It was released on the Blue Note label as BLP 4157 and BST 84157.

The title track, "The Sidewinder", was one of the defining recordings of the soul jazz genre, becoming a jazz standard. An edited version was released as a single.

The album became a huge seller, and highly influential - many subsequent Morgan albums, and other Blue Note discs, would duplicate (or approximate) this album's format, by following a long, funky opening blues with a handful of conventional hard bop tunes. Record producer Michael Cuscuna recalls the unexpected success: "the company issued only 4,000 copies upon release. Needless to say, they ran out of stock in three or four days. And 'The Sidewinder' became a runaway smash making the pop 100 charts." By January 1965, the album had reached No. 25 on the Billboard chart. The title track was used as the music in a Chrysler television advertisement and as a theme for television shows.

The Sidewinder (song)

"The Sidewinder" is a composition by Lee Morgan. It was first recorded for Morgan's Blue Note album of the same name, on December 21, 1963, and has become a jazz standard.

Composition and recording

The name of the composition, according to Morgan, came from "the 'bad guy' on television", not the snake. Bars 17–18 of the 24-bar composition feature a surprise change to a minor chord.

Trumpeter Morgan recorded the track with tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, pianist Barry Harris, double bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Billy Higgins. It was released as part of Morgan's album The Sidewinder, as well as on both sides of a single (BN 1911). The single entered Billboard's Hot 100 chart at No. 93 on December 19, 1964 and rose in subsequent weeks.

Reception

The track was an immediate commercial success. It became the biggest success that producer Alfred Lion had up to that point. It helped make Morgan more prominent in the minds of jazz fans internationally.

The Penguin Guide to Jazz described the original recording as "a glorious 24-bar theme as sinuous and stinging as the beast of the title. It was both the best and worst thing that was ever to happen to Morgan before the awful events of 19 February 1972", a reference to the date of Morgan's murder.