Iorio Question

[TonyChicago]

Who made Iorio accordions years ago? I saw one called Iorio Custom. It had an art deco type grill and the switches were small squares and labelled in Italian. If I remember correctly, it was a 3 reeder but not sure. The keyboard was not a waterfall type and was 20".

 

[TonyChicago]

This has been puzzling me (I've been under the weather and bored at home). I can't find any info. I remember seeing someone play this accordion in the late 80s in Cleveland. All I could find was one picture that looked similar on the internet. Not sure if this is the exact same model I saw years ago or not.

 

[Tom]

That's a very cool looking accordion. Sorry I can't help with information.

 

[TonyChicago]

That's a very cool looking accordion. Sorry I can't help with information.

Yeah to my memory that's what the accordion looked like years ago. I never played it so have no clue about its quality.

 

[TonyChicago]

That's a very cool looking accordion. Sorry I can't help with information.

This is what my Menghini looked like that got stolen. The absolute finest jazz accordion I have ever played.

 

[Tom]

This is what my Menghini looked like that got stolen. The absolute finest jazz accordion I have ever played.

Super nice! Do you still play some jazz?

 

[TonyChicago]

Yeah jazz is really all I'm interested in. I was lucky in a way because I never learned to play the "accordion". What I mean is my teachers never had me go through Sedlon or Palmer Hughes or play any sort of accordionistic stuff. I was already a gigging jazz musician (drums) and played with some major players so there would have been no way on earth I was going to do stuff like Accordiana or Pietro's Return at 18-21 years of age. I won't listen to that stuff. That's snobbish of me but that's the way it is.

I had to learn theory and did LOTS of finger and lifting exercises. Like tons of that stuff (Angelo DiPippo turned me on to Isidore Phillip exercises). The stuff Ronnie Moon and Jerry Cigler had me do was hardcore. It had its pluses and minuses. It was extreme. The problem with playing like that is it's hard to get it back both mentally as well as physically after a long, long layoff. When the initial goal was to do 5 part block inversions in all 12 keys at 400BPM (which I never could do) like Jerry Cigler for example, it's akin to bench pressing 700lbs for reps.

I do love ethnic music such as Slovenian Polkas and waltzes, French, Italian, Spanish, etc. Especially beautiful arrangements with great open chords.

 

[Tom]

That's cool. I wish I had started young. I started at 55 (?) or so and didn't know any better, started with a teacher who was into that accordion industrial complex stuff, lasted about 3 lessons. I'm still sort of stumbling around, trying to learn and memorize tunes I like, mostly stuff with good rhythm, polkas, Italian stuff in 3. Never played my accordion in a band, though I have done tons of volunteer type gigs. Hope to start a new band soon, looking at a bass with my friend on Friday, his girlfriend wants to sing again. Probably Americana type stuff. That's ok.

 

[TonyChicago]

Man there's loads of stuff right up your alley. Some of the most beautiful tunes ever written had the simplest and most elegant melodies imaginable. This over the top, flashy, finger gymnastics stuff gets tiresome and loses its musicality quickly.

Make note of this. Henry Mancini wrote Moon River the way he did because Audrey Hepburn did not have much of a vocal range. That song is one of the nicest ever written and is within everyone's reach to be playable. Not a lot of jumps and is just open to individual interpretation. There are many songs just like that. It's great to enter into that realm.

 

[Tom]

Yeah, Moon River is a good one. Wonderful World, Summertime, Georgia on My Mind, San Antonio Rose, Country Roads, That's Amore. So many good tunes, just need time. My learning curve is slow but I enjoy it.

 

[TonyChicago]

Let me know if you need a bodyguard on your busking gigs. I'll work for barbecue Fritos.

 

[Tom]

Sounds good, the crowd is pretty rough here. How about arancini and cannoli?

 

[TonyChicago]

If it's a Wednesday I can have the arancini. Any day is fine for cannoli.

 

[Valski]

That's cool. I wish I had started young. I started at 55 (?) or so and didn't know any better, started with a teacher who was into that accordion industrial complex stuff, lasted about 3 lessons. I'm still sort of stumbling around, trying to learn and memorize tunes I like, mostly stuff with good rhythm, polkas, Italian stuff in 3. Never played my accordion in a band, though I have done tons of volunteer type gigs. Hope to start a new band soon, looking at a bass with my friend on Friday, his girlfriend wants to sing again. Probably Americana type stuff. That's ok.

When I was a kid and learning accordion some of my friends were doing the Palmer-Hughes course and I couldn't understand why someone would even want to learn most of those songs. My first teacher was primarily an organist who was a school teacher and would choose songs for me to learn that gradually more challenging and were popular so that I would enjoy learning them.

To this day I choose my new songs according to my attraction to them. There are plenty of great song books out there with reasonable orchestrations and easy to learn.

 

[TonyChicago]

When I was a kid and learning accordion some of my friends were doing the Palmer-Hughes course and I couldn't understand why someone would even want to learn most of those songs.

Not only are those songs that most wouldn't want to learn, they are songs most wouldn't want to hear.

My first accordion teacher was a classical whiz. But I quit because he was so behind the times musically. He was one of the nicest guys in the world however and I told him on my last day to remember one thing; he didn't become a virtuoso by playing the crap Over the Waves stuff and Sedlon/ Palmer-Hughes/Deiro junk. Either teach me how you learned or I'm gone.

Edit: This was mid 1980s and to show how crazy it all was, when he did a playing job and someone asked for a "pop" tune, he played Venus by Frankie Avalon. It was truly an uncomfortable thing to see. And he hated when I would hear 9th chords or other extended chords. I told him I play with top jazz and other style musicians on the drums. They don't play these simplistic chord structures. He tried to entice me to stay by saying he'd write me an arrangement of Tea for Two. I told him he just doesn't get it.

 

[Tom]

If it's a Wednesday I can have the arancini. Any day is fine for cannoli.

Ok, next Tuesday, farmers market, 12 - 1, I'll bring the cannoli, hopefully it will be above 50 and less than 5 mph wind.

 

[TonyChicago]

Ha. I'm all worked up now over remembering this stuff.

I can't find the stuff from my first teacher but this is what happened. I was literally doing the simplest of the simple pure accordion junk/trash stuff. His last "lesson" for me was Mary Had a Little Lamb and I'm telling you it did not even have a 3 note chord!! So I met and started studying with Ronnie Moon who knew what I was capable of musically. Here is a copy of my first lesson tune I had to learn under him. Mind you, he also taught me DEEP theory and all that stuff.

 

[TonyChicago]

Ok, next Tuesday, farmers market, 12 - 1, I'll bring the cannoli, hopefully it will be above 50 and less than 5 mph wind.

Leave the gun.

 

[Tom]

Leave the gun.

It's in the violin case.

 

[Tom]

Ha. I'm all worked up now over remembering this stuff.

I can't find the stuff from my first teacher but this is what happened. I was literally doing the simplest of the simple pure accordion junk/trash stuff. His last "lesson" for me was Mary Had a Little Lamb and I'm telling you it did not even have a 3 note chord!! So I met and started studying with Ronnie Moon who knew what I was capable of musically. Here is a copy of my first lesson tune I had to learn under him. Mind you, he also taught me DEEP theory and all that stuff.

You were fortunate not only to run into some good teachers, but to know what you liked.