Art Van Damme (1920-2010) may not have been the first jazz accordionist (Buster Moten took short solos with his brother Bennie’s band in the 1920s), but he was one of the most influential. The accordion, due to its connection with polka music and many cornball performers through the years, was the butt of jokes for decades. One of the best: “How is an accordion like an artillery shell? Once you hear it, it’s already too late!”
Despite the jokes, the accordion has found a home in zydeco, cajun, tango, choro, tango music, and to a small extent modern jazz. When he started recording regularly in 1947 (there were two earlier numbers cut in 1945), Art Van Damme showed that it could also fit into swinging jazz if played by the right person. Van Damme led a quintet for years that also included vibraphonist Charlie Calzaretta (who is consistently impressive), Red Roberts or Claude Schneider on guitar, bassist Lew Skalinder, and drummer Max Manash. The instrumentation, which matched his accordion in the frontline with vibes and guitar, slightly preceded the George Shearing Quintet with its trademark piano-vibes-guitar sound.
Van Damme became a popular attraction with his group, working as a staff member of NBC radio in Chicago, being featured on his own 15-minute radio series (The Art Van Damme Show), appearing frequently on television in the 1950s, and recording quite a bit for Capitol during 1947-51 and Columbia during 1952-63. Due to his prolific activity in the 1950s and ’60s and his accordion instruction books, Art Van Damme’s success resulted in quite a few young people getting (and often suffering through) accordion lessons during that era.
The two-CD set The King Of Jazz Accordion has most of Van Damme’s recordings from 1947-54, music originally released on the albums Cocktail Capers, More Cocktail Capers, Martini Time, The Van Damme Sound, and Manhattan Time. While the ballads are mostly recommended to those who really love the sound of the accordion, Van Damme’s playing on the uptempo tunes includes many dazzling double-time runs. Inspired by Benny Goodman and the jazz soloists of the 1930s and ’40s, the accordionist primarily plays standards and really swings well on these 48 concise performances. Anyone wanting to explore his music (or think that the accordion does not belong in jazz) is advised to acquire this two-CD set.
Art Van Damme Quintet
The King Of Jazz Accordion
Acrobat ADDCD 3565
www.acrobatmusic.net and www.mvdb2b.com
Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
