The Matt Dennis Transcriptions, Plus a Bonus

Nearly a decade ago, I posted a set of 12 transcriptions that singer-songwriter-pianist Matt Dennis made for the C.P. MacGregor company circa 1947. They were derived from a Tops budget LP from the 1950s.

Today I am revisiting those 12 songs and adding 11 more from the same source. Nine of the new items came from a Glendale LP from the 1970s; two are from a MacGregor 78 that I cleaned up from a lossless post on the Internet Archive.

As I wrote on the occasion of another Dennis post (a compilation of his six Capitol singles), "These days, Matt Dennis is mostly known for his compositions - 'Angel Eyes,' 'Violets for Your Furs,' 'The Night We Called It a Day,' 'Everything Happens to Me,' all available in superb Sinatra renditions - but he also was one of the finest singers of the post-war era."

For today's post, in addition to this augmented Dennis collection, we have a new compilation from David Federman, "It's a Great Life If You Don't Weaken." More about both sets below.

The Matt Dennis Transcriptions

Dennis had the good fortune of working with the Tommy Dorsey band relatively early in his career. A young singer named Sinatra also was in residence there, and it so happened that Dennis' songs were perfectly suited to The Voice. For Frank, Dennis wrote "Everything Happens to Me," "Violets for Your Furs," "Let's Get Away from It All," "In the Blue of Evening" and "There's No You." Meanwhile, Connie Haines had a hit with his "Will You Still Be Mine."

Matt Dennis

This successful interlude was interrupted by World War II and the armed services. At the end of the war, Dennis became a single act. His first recordings - dating from mid-1946 to mid-1947 - were with Paul Weston for the Capitol label, as noted above.

At about the same time, Dennis recorded at least 23 songs for MacGregor transcriptions, one of the outfits that supplied recorded music to radio stations. I haven't been able to find a MacGregor discography, so I don't know exactly how many songs Dennis did for them.

Whatever the total, I suspect all the recordings date from about 1947. In this collection, two of the songs were introduced in that year: "A Fellow Needs a Girl" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's show Allegro and "Lazy Countryside" from Disney's film Fun and Fancy Free. Author Will Friedwald has speculates that some of the recordings may come from the 1950s, because Dennis' "Angel Eyes" wasn't introduced until the 1953 film Jennifer. However, the song was actually written in 1946 or 1947 (sources differ), so I believe the MacGregor version included here comes from that period.

Beside "Angel Eyes," this transcription collection includes Dennis' "Everything Happens to Me" and "The Night We Called It a Day," among the songs previously mentioned. Also from his pen are "Natch," "Tonight Is Ours" and the excellent seasonal composition "Hitch Up the Sleigh."

Dennis wrote "Tonight Is Ours" with Eddie Skrivanek, whom  Friedwald identifies as a MacGregor bandleader. Presumably Skrivanek conducts the orchestra that is heard on a few cuts. He also was responsible for the final two songs, "Birth of the Blues" and "Yes Sir, That's My Baby," interpreted by his "Sextette from Hunger" Dixieland ensemble with vocals by Dennis.

Dennis performs the other songs solo or with a rhythm section. The sound on these sides is at least serviceable. The best are the Sextette recordings, which came directly from the 78 transcriptions. The worst are a few songs from the Tops LP that have had reverb added.

The Sextette from Hunger, Skrivanek at center

Bonus: 'It's a Great Life If You Don't Weaken'

David Federman's latest compilation takes its title from a 1930 George Olsen record, one of the 32 in this set. Included are many of my favorite artists - Duke Ellington, Sue Raney, Mildred Bailey, Jack Teagarden, Jackie Paris, Buddy Clark, Chet Baker among them.

David writes, "This is an unapologetic exercise in optimism that celebrates the merriment to be found in the monastic lives we've been forced to live the last 15 months and may resume if deviant Covid strains start counterpunching the vaccines we've developed to fight them. In short, the purpose of this 32-song mix is to savor the moment and various forms of relief for doing so." And that it does very well.