Nice and smooth!

[Dingo40]

Smooth as velvet!

And...a different take:

 

[losthobos]

Now that's Sonola smooth....

 

[dunlustin]

Quite something to make Autumn Leaves sound fresh.

 

[Thomas N]

Really liked both of these. The purist in me really dislikes the fact that in the second video the bass buttons weren't touched. To me that's basically playing half the accordion. In other words, playing a keyboard but vertically.

I don't doubt she knows how to play the bass, and probably as aptly as the right hand, and that the backing guitars may conflict with the bass buttons - but it's an accordion. Play both sides.

 

[debra]

Very smooth indeed... but what is very clear from listening to the second video is that there is just no way that recording was made using the small welty shown in the video.

 

[Dingo40]

OK, Paul, well spotted!??

 

[debra]

Really liked both of these. The purist in me really dislikes the fact that in the second video the bass buttons weren't touched. To me that's basically playing half the accordion. In other words, playing a keyboard but vertically.

I don't doubt she knows how to play the bass, and probably as aptly as the right hand, and that the backing guitars may conflict with the bass buttons - but it's an accordion. Play both sides.

When playing solo I of course do use both sides. (and I sometimes use melody bass too, so you might say, it's an accordion so use the chord basses). But most of my work is geared towards groups of accordion players, and then it is very customary to have everyone play just the treble side, use a "fourth voice" for chords and a bass accordion for the base. Also with a band consisting of other instruments it's customary to just play the treble side of the accordion. There are exceptions though (I have played the Adios Nonino arrangement by Peter Kleine Schaars) with "wind band" and in that arrangement the accordion solo uses both hands. I make mostly arrangements for 5 accordion players and when 5 treble sides are not enough I do add the bass side.
The great advantage of *not* using both sides in a small band is that you can vary the dynamics between different notes (played simultaneously), something you can do solo on a piano, but not on an accordion. Let me show a small example (I have many): here is Träumerei, a piano solo piece by Robert Schumann. It requires that different dynamics of simultaneous notes all the time, which makes it much better suited for an ensemble all playing just the treble side than a solo accordion...


And here is another example: Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy. During sustained chords new bass notes need to come in (with some "attack"). You can do that on the piano but not on the accordion without disturbing the continuation of the chords. This is again where a group of accordion players (each playing only the treble side) comes in handy.

 

[Dingo40]

Very nice, Paul! You should enter these in the February contest!?
Thanks for sharing ??

 

[debra]

Very nice, Paul! You should enter these in the February contest!?
Thanks for sharing ??

They are not really videos, which is why I have not entered them in the contest. Besides, these are not the recordings I am most proud of. I am particularly proud of my Ouverture of Ruslan and Lyudmila () and several others. I only have a few real videos because it's too much work to create them, and my main goal is just to illustrate the arrangements I make. I did a few for fun, like a part of Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto opus 64 ().
Neither one would qualify for "smooth" in my interpretation of the term.

 

[Dingo40]

OK!?
Thanks for sharing, Paul ??

 

[Dingo40]

Another take ?

 

[nagant27]

That sonola is absolutely smooth. I‘Ve watched it several times in the past and it never gets old. Great playing and a super accordion. I’m usually very partial to a tone chambered accordion for jazz, but this accordion does not disappoint.

 

[Tom]

Very impressive as usual, Paul! I didn't notice it was a Welty.....

Thanks Dingo! Interestingly, the "tune of the month" this month in the accordion love forum is French, so I am looking at La Vie en Rose. There are so many versions.

 

[Ventura]

i used to do a shtick on "La Vie en Rosa" as a mid-set featurette for
Bastille day gigs

basically, impose upon yourself the imprint of :
a German driving his Mercedes in the fast lane of the Autobahn
an American condecendingly flitting from one place to another along the Champs
an Englishman properly observing and commenting on things he knows nothing about
a Belgian more or less sampling every Sweet the Moulin Rouge has to offer
etc etc

i would play one chorus of the song to reflect each those "attitudes"
but then flow into a lazy, comfortable La Vie en Rosa as the
great city co-opts all who Visit and turns their hearts, turns them French !