Search - Squeeze Me-the Jazz & Swing Accordion Story :: Squeeze Me-the Jazz & Swing Accordion Story

You'll be surprised . . .

James Walsh | Cleveland | 05/22/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I know what you're thinking -- accordions, the amateur hour, and terminal geekiness.



I thought the same thing, which is why I avoided buying this for a long time despite a policy of buying most of the Proper Box sets. Then I saw it marked down at Half Price Books on a day I was flush with cash, so I went ahead and bought it. Smart move.



Disc one opens in the US in 1929-30 with pop and jazz cuts. The pop cuts are more or less what you'd expect, fairly interesting if you like 1920s pop. The jazz cuts are better--Bennie Moten and, of all people, Duke Ellington. How can you go wrong? Then things really get interesting.



The rest of disc one and all of disc two move to Europe in the 1930s and during WWII. If you're familiar with Django Reinhardt, you know the territory--swing with violins and guitars, occasionally mixed with musette and gypsies. Most of the music is first rate, and there's some hellaciously good instrumental work along the way. Many of the groups are French, but there's groups from Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, Hungary, Norway, and Spain, too. Many of the recordings were made sub rosa during the Nazi occupation and are a fascinating piece of history.



Disc three finishes off the war years, then moves to some of the best music on the set--the Joe Mooney Quartet and the Quintet Johnny Meyer. Despite an aversion to late 40s/early 50s pre-rock pop, Joe Mooney won me over. He played stuff that went down easy with the record buying public, but it melded bop harmonies, perfect arranging, a sense of humor, and superb swing into a whole that's impossible to dislike. Johnny Meyer, from the Netherlands, is the best accordionist I've ever heard. He's tasty, technically awesome, and has fingers faster than I can think. The whole set is worth buying just for Mooney and Meyer. Disc three also includes a couple of nice live Benny Goodman cuts and some decent George Shearing . . . plus one oddball late hit from the Harry James Orchestra with accordion.



I've only heard disc four once so far. Tito Burns is a sextet that sounds bigger, more or less in line with the Charlie Ventura "bop for the people" project. I can take or leave it. Art van Damme is good cocktail jazz, but cocktail jazz nevertheless. The high spot of disc four is Mat Matthews, in company with such folks as Julius Watkins, Oscar Pettiford, Kenny Clarke, Herbie Mann, Art Farmer, and Gigi Gryce. Those names alone should tell you that what you'll hear is first rate.



I wasn't expecting to like this much, and I was pleasantly surprised. Okay, it's not essential to your jazz collection. But if you like the Django Reinhardt/Stephan Grappelli sound, if you're curious about what was going on in Europe in that era, or if you just want to hear some good stuff that you won't get anywhere else, this is for you."