(Sir) Jimmy Shand

[murathan]

(Sir) Jimmy Shand
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Shand

Sir James Shand (28 January 1908 – 23 December 2000) was a Scottish musician who played traditional Scottish dance music on the accordion. His signature tune was "The Bluebell Polka".

 

[Dingo40]

Australia has a considerable number of people with a Scottish heritage and we would hear sir Jimmy Shand's music quite often on local radio . He was well known here, in the day.

 

[noelekal]

It is suppose to be Jimmy Shand playing the "Glasgow Highlander" in the closing credits to a Monty Python episode where Michael Palin bests a giant blancmange in tennis at Wimbledon.

I once developed a rendition of the tune, but haven't played it in years.

Tune commences at 6:10.

 

[OuijaBoard]

The once-iconic red Hohner Shand Morino model so dubbed in honor of Jimmy Shand was a 3-row semitone bisonoric B/C/C# on the treble side, with unisonoric PA basses. Paolo Soprani came to offer one too.

Jimmy Shand played 2-row semitone B/C bisonoric and developed the added 3rd semitone row with Hohner to add more notes falling on both push and pull giving more choice for long fluid phrases in one bellow direction, or choppier, bouncier phrasing with more bellows switches. A 2-row semitone box is technically already fully chromatic, but only has 2 "magic notes" falling in both directions. Adding the 3rd row expanded the doubles. The configuration came to be known as British Chromatic, not to be confused with CBA. Quite heavy.

Known as "mixte" system in France. The early bal musette ace Emil Vacher is believed to have played a mixte system, not CBA. Though the bisonoric treble rows would have been different scales than the Shand arrangement and were not a semitone apart like the Irish and Scottish 2-row 8-bassers or Shand 3- rows with Stradella bass.

 

[OuijaBoard]

Manfrini Accordions are a Scottish concern that purveys premium PA and bisonoric button accordions they spec with an Italian maker. They offered the Manfrini Aria, a deluxe model in the Shand/British Chromatic config with 80 Stradella basses for some years, though the model doesn't seem to be listed on their site currently.

 

[Dingo40]

Who's Daniel McPhee then, Brendan's brother, cousin?

 

[JeffJetton]

I mainly know Jimmy Shand from the Richard Thompson song "Don't Sit on My Jimmy Shands"...

 

[OuijaBoard]

Goodness, here is a vintage red Paolo Soprani "British Chromatic" for sale right this minute. "Local Pickup Only," Johannesberg, South Africa:

RARE Paolo Soprani Elite 3 row button accordion used | eBay

Good used condition RARE Paolo Soprani Elite accordion type is a British Chromatic 3 row Button key Accordion, Red, 80 Bass, 37 keys, Blue Badge, 4 Voice, BCC#, MMML, 9 Couplers - 2 on Bass, with Black Nylon Gig bag, padded and zipped plus Straps

www.ebay.com