Dennis Plies

 

Artist: Dennis Plies

LP: Marimba Melodies

Song: "Springs of Living Water"

[ listen ]

I was feeling a little under the weather this morning, but a sip from Dennis and Jan's bubbly "Springs of Living Water" quickly put things right again. Originally from California, Dennis Plies was a young man of only 15 when he and his marimba took first place at the local, state, regional and national musical contests sponsored by Youth For Christ. According to the internet, Plies now teaches at Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon, where he's been since 1979—and according to Dennis himself, this record was released in 1963. Some friends and I took a weekend road trip getaway down to Portland just this past weekend; if I'd known Dennis was there, I'd have invited him to join us for some delicious chocolate cake at the Rimsky-Korsakoffeehouse, where he could have signed his LP for me while we enjoyed the cafe's live classical piano music provided by a lovely Brazilian woman named Diana.