One of the original progenitors of the lounge/exotica movement, the vibraphonist Arthur Lyman (unlike his fellow exoticist Martin Denny) was actually Hawaiian, and so could lay some claim as to the authenticity of his faux-Polynesian style. As a youth, Lyman taught himself his chosen instrument by copying jazz vibraphonist Lionel Hampton's solos with the Benny Goodman Quartet note for note. After a stint playing lounge jazz on the Honolulu club circuit, Lyman joined Martin Denny's combo in 1954, eventually collaborating with the pianist in the development of the new ethnically flavored genre. After the Denny combo had their first hit with the Les Baxter composition "Quiet Village," Lyman branched off and led his own successful small group in the same mode for more than a decade. In 1961, the Arthur Lyman Group had their own hit with "Yellow Bird," which eventually charted at No. 4 on the mainland.