Yer not gonna believe this ... but it's true!

A couple of years ago Songbooks Unlimited ran a holiday special, with
songbooks at practically give-away prices. I took advantage, and
bought enough books that when the carton came it must have weighed
around 50 pounds.

Some were technique books, others compilations, and still others
stylistic books with composers' and/or performers arrangements.

One of them was "the Elegant Piano Stylings of Matt Dennis", Elkay
Music. It contained jazz standards, with an original and a Dennis'
arrangement of each. When I got the books, I spent a week or so going
over through each one, then filing them on a shelf with the others.

Last fall, I pulled out the Dennis book, opened it, and began to play
through it. All at once, I had this tingling feeling come over me,
and it was quite unmistakable. The last time I had had a similar
feeling, was when my dad passed away. I had traveled out of state to
the ceremony, given a eulogy, and returned home. That night, and for
several nights afterward, I had the unmistakable feeling of him (his
spirit, I guess) dropping in and just kind of hanging around my shop
while I worked.

But this time, the feeling was more pronounced, and it came on quite
suddenly. I continued to play, and the tingling continued, stronger
the more I played. It was kind of like chills up and down your spine.
My thought was, could it possible be .... Matt Dennis??

After a while, I got up and went to my computer. I typed
'google.com', "matt dennis", and the word "died". I almost fell on
the floor when the first hit said, "Matt Dennis, a singer, pianist and
composer who wrote "Angel Eyes" and a handful of other standards
recorded by artists ranging from Ella Fitzgerald to Willie Nelson,
died of natural causes June 21(2002) in a Riverside hospital. He was
89."

I went back to my playing, doing only the Dennis arrangements, and
felt a little sheepish with every wrong note, or blurred phrase. I
have to admit, I even said a few things to the guy. I'd say that the
feeling lasted another 10 or 15 minutes, and then faded. I've had a
lot of time to reflect, and in retrospect I have no doubt I had a
visitor that night, and his name was Matt Dennis.

I've also wondered if anyone else has had a similar experience, either
performing or maybe just alone at the keyboard. I mean, we're
constantly playing pieces written by deceased composers, or in some
cases mimicking someone's playing style. Dick Hyman has them all down
pat.

It's taken me months before I had the guts to tell anyone about this,
and I guess it does sound a little weird. But hey, it happened!....
Also, did anyone out there know Matt, and is that the kind of thing he
might do!? This may have been the link that came up that night.

http://www.voy.com/45481/3/21501.html

Lee Bowman

I've had such experiences, but not in relation to piano music in
particular. Actually, this story would be more on topic for one of the
"psychic" newsgroups.
Congratulations...

--
Alan
http://www.hummingbear.net/~aayoung/Jazz/jazz.html

I dreamed of a life that was pure and true
I dreamed of a job only I could do...

---Monk's Dream