When Arthur's father, a riveter, lost his eyesight in an accident on Kauai, the family settled in Makiki, a subdistrict of Honolulu.

[1] Arthur's father was very strict with him, each day after school locking him in a room with orders to play along to a stack of Benny Goodman records "to learn what good music is.

"[2] "I had a little toy marimba," Lyman later recalled, "a sort of bass xylophone, and from those old 78 rpm disks I learned every note Lionel Hampton recorded with the Goodman group.

In fact he became good enough to turn professional at age 14 when he joined a group called the Gadabouts, playing vibes in the cool-jazz style then in vogue.

"[4] After graduating from McKinley High School in 1951, he put music on hold to work as a desk clerk at the Halekulani hotel.

Denny, who had traveled widely, had collected numerous exotic instruments from all over the world and liked to use them to spice up his jazz arrangements of popular songs.

The stage of the Shell Bar was very exotic, with a little tropical garden pool of water right outside the bandstand, and rocks & palm trees growing around.

[5] When Denny's Exotica album was released on record in 1957 it became a smash hit, igniting a national mania for all things South Pacific during the lead-up to Hawai'i becoming a state, including the stage play, the movie, tiki-themed restaurants like Don the Beachcomber's and Trader Vic's, luaus, Oceanic art, exotic drinks, aloha shirts, and straw hats.

[6] Although the Polynesian craze faded as music trends changed, Lyman's combo continued to play to tourists nearly every Friday and Saturday night at the New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel in Honolulu throughout the 1970s.

[10] He recorded after midnight, to avoid the sounds of traffic and tourists, and occasionally you can hear the aluminum dome creaking as it settles in the cool night air.