What makes a jazz accordion a jazz accordion….
- Thread starter Elizabeth
- Start date
Ventura
Been here for ages!
and it did not hurt a bit that they played Excelsior
how nice to have accordions that you can just PLAY and they
don't hold you back in any way, shape, or form
maybe they even inspire, because the sound you are getting..
the nuance.. the response makes you fly higher
oh, and did anyone count the keys and answer that other thread about
what pressured Accordion makers to do that ?
how nice to have accordions that you can just PLAY and they
don't hold you back in any way, shape, or form
maybe they even inspire, because the sound you are getting..
the nuance.. the response makes you fly higher
oh, and did anyone count the keys and answer that other thread about
what pressured Accordion makers to do that ?
Art VanDamme said that if you wanted the know who the next jazz accordion phenom was going to be it was Julien Labro. So I suppose that if we play whatever Julien Labro plays we will be playing on a jazz accordion. He plays a Cavagnolo, but I don't know what configuration. He also plays jazz on a Marcel Dreux accordina.
AccordionUprising
Well-known member
Jazz accordionist Cornell Smelser met Gershwin in an elevator, toured with him, and was one of the first three artists given permission to perform "Rhapsody in Blue". It was presumed never recorded and lost, then a couple of years ago somebody noticed this outtake from an outdoor dance-rehearsal where he and a banjo player played a very upbeat take on "Rhapsody" as backup for acrobatic dancers!My never ending question "What exactly do you define as ...?"
My preference is New Orleans style parade/street music - Miles Davis' 'style' leaves me dead.
The beauty is in the perception of the listener/practitioner, so to speak
Pidgeonholing is the death of creativity - just think Paganini and his little recognised guitar music (he is said to have been an accomplised player).
I had an In-Law who played brass - anything from piccolo trumpet to euphonium and anything from Hummel to imitating Louis Armstrong to military marching music.
Handy on a honky-tonk piano, too.
One of our local Symphony orchestra clarinet/bassoon/oboe players, unfortunately now deceased, recorded a beautiful rendering of Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' on harmonica accompanied by members of that orchestra.
I was able to share this with his daughter and grandchildren, who'd never seen him play accordion.
Just the 1 min
fragment is here:Worth checking the "More" info on the video to see more about the dance troupe they were playing for on the top of a skyscraper in New York. Quite a show!
mtj
Member
You also asked about folk and all purpose.
Sometimes folk accordions are smaller and diatonic. But for me the thing that distinguishes them is tuning. Accordions on the treble side typically have low (L) medium (M) and high (H) reed sets. Accordions typically have two or three mediums. A standard accordion generally has LMMH reeds. The mediums are typically slightly detuned to get a musette effect. How much "out of tune" they are tuned depends on what sort of style or ethnicity you want. If there is only one M then the tuning is dry (no musette) this would be a reasonable tuning for jazz. Or jazz might be slightly out of tune (swing tuning). Scottish for example would be very very "out of tune". You can look at this, https://www.serenellini.com/piano-standard.aspx, web page and scroll down to the bottom for some examples of different tunings for different styles.
Sometimes folk accordions are smaller and diatonic. But for me the thing that distinguishes them is tuning. Accordions on the treble side typically have low (L) medium (M) and high (H) reed sets. Accordions typically have two or three mediums. A standard accordion generally has LMMH reeds. The mediums are typically slightly detuned to get a musette effect. How much "out of tune" they are tuned depends on what sort of style or ethnicity you want. If there is only one M then the tuning is dry (no musette) this would be a reasonable tuning for jazz. Or jazz might be slightly out of tune (swing tuning). Scottish for example would be very very "out of tune". You can look at this, https://www.serenellini.com/piano-standard.aspx, web page and scroll down to the bottom for some examples of different tunings for different styles.
stickista
Well-known member
perhaps I missed it above, but IMO one critical factor for a jazz sound is a dry tuning.
Joakim Monsen
Member
If the player plays jazz on accordion then it is jazz. If the player plays accordion-jazz then it is accordion-jazz, which is not jazz.
Every accordion can be used for both jazz and folk.
For some good accordion players that play folk and jazz, listen to Stian Carstensen and Mestrinho as an example.
If you are worried that the accordion is to big for the plane you can split the accordion in two pieces and send the right-side in the suitcase well protected and padded up and take the bass-side in the cabin with you in a bag. Because the bass-side is the least sturdy and can't take any punishment.
I use the Jet-Set - http://www.manifatturefuselli.com/AccordionBagsJetSet.aspx for my Bayan accordion.
That bag I can split apart also, see the link/picture! And I use it as an everyday bag also.
Attachments
Joakim Monsen
Member
Low reeds, like the L in LMMH tuning. It's actually been discussed here.
Joakim Monsen
Member
It's actually standard in English speaking countries. Generally understood tends to be 16', 8', 4' (and the very rare 2⅔'). Germany has OEPT ("Oktavchor", "Einzelchor", "Piccolo", "Tremolo") which is still used when "transliterating" the register symbols with the dots and calling the settings out to other players.
Joakim Monsen
Member
96Bass
Well-known member
Usually specs are sorted low to high. That makes LMLM inherently meaningless: I'd suppose that it would be used to indicate an instrument that has one L and M in cassotto and one outside as opposed to having both L in cassotto. But I doubt this to be "established" nomenclature.
Elizabeth
Active member
Well i didnt realize you could split the accordion in 2 pieces like that. I got educated!
Also dont know what “accordion jazz” is, if not jazz,which you said is not jazz,so i also got perplexed.
That flight that i was intending to take: they got a bigger plane, so i was able take it on the plane with me.
Thank you for your reply and for the link to your travel bag.
OuijaBoard
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You can play jazz on a factory-tuned Weltmeister 26/48 MM "Perle" model. It's the jazz player, not the accordion. Yes, there is conventional wisdom and biases regarding preferred timbres, registers, and tones. But where it counts, which is, the world of the music of the spheres, it's wide open, and it is all about the musician.
P.S.: It Don't Mean a Thing, If It Ain't Got That Swing
P.S.: It Don't Mean a Thing, If It Ain't Got That Swing
stickista
Well-known member
Yup… The player
Ignacchitti
Active member
When playing jazz I use the bassoon reed in chamber most of the time, but I like variety. I need a bit more diversity than just that.
So I have to admit that I really enjoy playing jazz with other registers too and to me it does sound jazzy. Bandoneon (LM) sometimes, and even master LMMH, dry tuned. Some of the jazz masters of the 50s and 60s (and more recently Ludovic Beier) once in a while did that or other variations (though it was not and still is not too common) and it brings a breath of fresh air. LMMH sounds great to me if right hand is not doing full heavy chords but rather melody.
LL (one bassoon in and one out of chamber) with sordino closed is also a lot of fun to me.
Jazz is not formulaic and can be more than what is usually portrayed.
So I have to admit that I really enjoy playing jazz with other registers too and to me it does sound jazzy. Bandoneon (LM) sometimes, and even master LMMH, dry tuned. Some of the jazz masters of the 50s and 60s (and more recently Ludovic Beier) once in a while did that or other variations (though it was not and still is not too common) and it brings a breath of fresh air. LMMH sounds great to me if right hand is not doing full heavy chords but rather melody.
LL (one bassoon in and one out of chamber) with sordino closed is also a lot of fun to me.
Jazz is not formulaic and can be more than what is usually portrayed.
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