Why do Accordians get such a bum rap ?

[Mike Neer]

To answer the original question, I think it's because most players are not very good at it. Even some good piano players sound dreadful on it.

[Mitch Drumm]

A 6th grade accordion playing classmate of mine had one song in his repertoire--Lady Of Spain. Not that it could have been anything else.

Anyone of a certain age who had a radio was exposed to accordion by default, completely aside from Lawrence Welk.

It has always fit in with jazz and pop pretty well in my book. Art Van Damme made some cracking recordings with both Johnny Smith and Jo Stafford.

And the sainted guitarist Jimmy Wyble made a great guitar LP in the early 50s, "The Jimmy Wyble Quintet"--with a Carl Carelli on accordion. I can't find out a thing about Carelli.

Yeah, the accordion is about as un-hip as an instrument can be--just like steel is to 99.8% of humanity. Are you gonna hang up the steel because it's for squares only?

[AJ Azure]

yah it's funny I hear stuff like Tiger Rag and Hawaiian tunes and even some tangos on Welk but, it is so sanitized and vanilla-ized that I just don't hear it as the same music.

the 120 bass accordion is amazing in the right hands. You easily forget the cliches.

[Larry Miller]

Not country, but very interesting how Brian Wilson used the accordian on "Wouldn't It Be Nice"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofByti7A ... re=related

[Dave Mudgett]

I would have to say that 80% of the time I play my accordion on stage, someone makes a lame "Welk" remark. Usually something like "where is your bubble machine?"

Alvin, you're too cool for school. We get the same thing sometimes. They're weenies.

[AJ Azure]

see he needs a smoke mahcine. Be the Paganini of accordion

I guarantee you there's someone doing heavy metal accordion!

It's not the instrument. All the notes are the same. it's how you string them together. the instrument is just the catalyst.

[Billy Tonnesen]

In So. California we had three of the Accordian Greats to play with and listen to.

Pedro DePaul.
George Bambi.
Billy Liebert

[Skip Edwards]

The Curse of Welk...
Accordion is actually pretty dang cool. In one of my other incarnations I play with a swingin' zydeco band...(Grammy nominated, btw), and let me tell you, the accordion is the babe magnet for the new millenium.
check it... www.bluefiddle.com

[Richard Sinkler]

I have actually considered buying one of the types you see in most Zydeco or Cajun bands. I forget what they are called, but they aren't the full size accordians with all the keys.

I can handle the accordian if it is played well and not playing Polka music.

[Archie Nicol R.I.P.]

The introduction may not translate, but that aside, I love to listen to this stuff when I'm messing about in the kitchen. It's sort of...music to crack eggs by??!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMUjJ_biMn8

Arch.

[Alan Brookes]

Hank Williams and Gene Autry both had accordion players. Bill Haley had an accordian player in his group The Saddlemen, in the days when they were playing Western Swing, and he kept the accordian and steel guitarist in the line-up when they changed their name to The Comets and started playing Rock & Roll.

[Marc Stone]

Richard,

A lot of the Cajun and Zydeco players use diatonic button accordions, the single, double and triple row versions being decidedly smaller than a piano accordion and being diatonic to a given key or group of keys. However, some of the great Zydeco players use (or used) the piano accordion almost exclusively, such as the King of Zydeco Clifton Chenier, his son C.J. Chenier, and Buckwheat Zydeco, who was in Clifton's band for a time and whose Bluesy style owes much more to Clifton's than that of the button-box players (like John Delafose, Boozoo Chavis, etc). Nathan Williams of Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas also plays piano accordion. I don't ever recall seeing any Cajun players using the piano accordion, and the button-box is definitely the weapon of choice for Cajun bands as well the more contemporary, hard-driving "double beat" type Zydeco players like the late Beau Jocque, Keith Frank, Rosie Ledet, etc.

Heavy Metal accordion - I used to play with Dwayne Dopsie (often called "the Jimi Hendrix of the Accordion") and the Zydeco Hellraisers, and Dwayne can definitely get something of a hard-rock/heavy metal attack on his box. He plays some spectacular stuff on 3-5 row button accordions, as does his older brother Anthony, who I am currently playing with in Rockin' Dopsie Jr. and the Zydeco Twisters. They both have unbelievable chops on the instrument. Dwayne pushes the Rock thing much harder while Anthony stays more in the blues and Zydeco bag. I even got Dwayne's band to play "Anarchy in the UK" one night, and I think he still has "Voodoo Chile" and "Hey Joe" in his sets, and Buckwheat has been playing "Hey Joe" for years and had something of a hit with his version of Derek and the Dominos' "Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad", featuring Clapton on guitar. Not metal, but definitely Rock.

I have been fortunate to work with some really good Zydeco bands, and killer accordion players, although if you had told me when I was a kid that I would ever make part of my living backing accordion players, I would have laughed at you. But that was before I moved to Louisiana. Interesting to note, though - Zydeco may reign supreme as the dance music of young people in French SW Louisiana and have a very strong presence on the national festival circuit, but hipsters here in New Orleans, including a lot of musicians, routinely diss Zydeco. But most of them stumble and fall if they ever get called to play with one of the good bands, because as simple as the music may sound, if you don't know the structures, it's very easy to trip up, especially in the more modal, traditional type tunes where the few changes there are are based around the movement of the melody and not a strict bar structure (not unlike a lot of traditional music forms, Old Timey country, real Delta Blues, etc.)

That being said, i have seen a lot of younger, hip bands come up over the years in NO that prominently featured accordion outside of Cajun or Zydeco context, or in the case of a very good younger bands, the Zydepunks, C/Z music is only one of many reference points in a very eclectic sound. These bands did not play primarily or at all to the C/Z crowd, and the accordion was definitely not considered to be an "un-cool" part of the sound.

[Mike Neer]

One of the greatest accordian players today is Yuri Lemeshev. He is a friend of mine from Brooklyn and he plays with the Gypsy Punk band Gogol Bordello. I have done many gigs with him, mostly Klezmer, but once he was with another band on a gig somewhere in NY, and I was there with The Moonlighters. I got him to sit in for a set and it was remarkable.

[Alan Brookes]

I have an accordion but I've never learned how to play it. I bought it with the idea of recording some Cajun stuff, but I never got round to it. I think it's the hassle of having to climb inside the harness that puts me off. With a guitar, you just pick it up and play it.

[Jerry Hayes R.I.P.]

Billy T. mentioned Pedro DePaul. He was the great accordionist that you hear on all those old Spade Cooley and Tex Williams recordings. I think that Jeff Taylor with the TimeJumpers must have been a big fan of Pedro's as they do the same thing. Not neccessarily the same licks per se, but playing the instrument in a different way and style than what you'd expect from it.......

Pedro (and later Jeff) plays jazz chords, runs, and licks all over the place and make you like the instrument even if you didn't before!

Another fine player we used to hear with Lawrence Welk was the late Myron Floren. I guess you'd consider him a "west coast" artist as that's where LW was based for his TV shows and such. Myron was a true master of the instrument and had very fast fingering patterns. If you can ever catch him playing "Dizzy Fingers" it'll knock you off your feet! The guy's amazing to say the least.....JH in Va.

[Larry Rafferty]

As a person who has played the accordion in country, pop, and rock bands for over 50 years, I thought I would chime in on this topic. The accordion, steel guitar, and many fine instruments have been stereo-typed over the years by people with a one track mind.

I have probably played accordion lead on the Orange Blossom Special more times than most fiddle players have.

One of the things that always kept our band employed was the ability to be different. If we had a request to play a polka, I would have the steel guitar player take the lead on Beer Barrel Polka or the Pennslyvania Polka. If we played Steel Guitar Rag, the saxophone and accordion would take the lead. Our audiences loved it and we always got a great response. I always worked in 3 or 4 piece groups and every band member could play at least 2 or 3 different instruments. We often switched instruments during a set.
There was only one time when someone requested Lady of Spain.....and the lead guitar player did it flawlessly on his Stratocaster.

Keep and open mind and remember that Ricky Nelson hit the nail right on the head with his song Garden Party......"you can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself".

[Andy Greatrix]

Weird Al Yanakavic plays accordion.
One year at the Grammies, he played all the hits with a polka orchestra.
It was a riot!

[HowardR]

and let's not forget the accordion in Gypsy Jazz......



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqjJznHO ... re=related

[AJ Azure]

you missed my link to ludovic's trio earlier in the thread.

[Brint Hannay]

I'm surprised that amongst all these references to polka, cajun and zydeco music I've only seen one reference (Alvin B.) in this thread to the accordion in Tex-Mex music. I love that stuff, and it wouldn't be the same without the accordion. Texas Tornados, anyone?

[Dave Mudgett]

I'm surprised that amongst all these references to polka, cajun and zydeco music I've only seen one reference (Alvin B.) in this thread to the accordion in Tex-Mex music. I love that stuff, and it wouldn't be the same without the accordion. Texas Tornados, anyone?

Yeah, I love it. Two-step is cool. And two-step is - basically a polka. Polka can rock if it's done right. It all comes down to the preconceived notions one has. Musical style and instrumentation don't dictate musical quality. Anything can be great if it's done right. Of course, what is "right" is purely personal taste.

[Russ Tkac]

Here's a self-portrait in oil my brother painted, playing a four-stop. Accordions are synonymous with Newfoundland culture.

He's wearing Skip's hat!

[Andy Volk]

Art Van Damme, Frank Morroco and Guy Klusevic are three great players of the accordion. Morroc and Ray Pizzi did two out-of-print duo albums in the 80s that were terrific.

[tom anderson]

Here is a link to the finest accordionist in the world playing her chromatic accordion doing Ellin Polka. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8--FQM8rwGM I can listen to her stuff for hours.

[AJ Azure]

Here is a link to the finest accordionist in the world playing her chromatic accordion doing Ellin Polka. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8--FQM8rwGM I can listen to her stuff for hours.

she's good but, "the finest" how do you even begin to define that?!