Looking for expert-readers who know North American Accordion History

[AccordionUprising]

Im preparing my long-suffering accordion-book for publication (2018). I need a few fact-checker readers who know mainstream North American accordion history. Ive got readers for various ethnic traditions, but could use some who can warn me of errors in my Golden Age (1920-1960) sections. (I need some Canadian-history readers too. See table of contents below)

If youre interested, drop me an email at <EMAIL email=accordion.noir@gmail.com>accordion.noir@gmail.com</EMAIL>

Thanks!

Bruce Triggs
Vancouver, Canada
www.AccordionUprising.org
<EMAIL email=accordion.noir@gmail.com>accordion.noir@gmail.com</EMAIL>


Table of Contents:

Accordion Revolution: The Squeezebox Heart of American Popular Music

History of an Imperialist Instrument
Early Accordion History
Minstrel Shows: the Accordion Takes the Stage in North America
The Golden Age 1920 - 1960
The Golden Age Dawns in America
Vaudeville
Polka and Ethnic in the Golden Age?
Jazzing the Accordion
The Closing Acts of the Golden Age: Accordions on Screen

American Roots Music, An Outsiders Canon
Acordeón: Mexican and American Roots-Accordion
Creoles, Cajuns, and Zydeco: French Music in the American South
Celtic Immigrant Accordions
Canadian Accordions
Quebec
Newfoundland: Squeezebox Rock
Inuit Accordion in Canadas Arctic
Métis
The Maritimes
Klezmer Restoration (Klezmering the Folk Revival)

American Wheeze: Pre-History of Squeezebox Rock
African Americans played accordion before they played the blues.
Country, Bluegrass, and Western Swing
The Folk Revivals Betrayal of the Accordion
The rise of Rock and Roll and the fall of the golden age
Rock and Roll Accordion
Accordion Exodus: the accordion into exile

 

[JIM D.]

Im not sure if you have one of these , but great reference books are --https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Age-Accordion-Ronald-Flynn/dp/0962589918/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qi ---
https://www.amazon.com/Accordion-Am...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=CP14R19SN9VAFH3QHX30 ---
& --- https://www.amazon.com/Squeeze-This...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=CP14R19SN9VAFH3QHX30

 

[AccordionUprising]

Thanks Jim, yup got those. When It's done I'll share my bibliography. Hopefully we can inspire more books!

 

[Zevy]

As a student of Charles Nunzio, I can try to enlighten you with whatever I can about the Golden age. I can also try to help you with my expertise in Klezmer. Just let me know.
BTW Shouldnt Vaudeville go before The Golden Age Dawns in America?
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[AccordionUprising]

Hi Zevy, drop me an email and I'll send you some chapters? <EMAIL email="accordion.noir@gmail.com">accordion.noir@gmail.com</EMAIL>

I include the big vaudeville accordionists within the "golden age," so I talk about vaudeville as part of that. There were pre-vaudeville accordions on the minstrel stage, and plenty of vaudeville history before the Deiros and them really broke it open in the early 1900's, but that's why I put it that way. Good question.

It occurs to me I need some jazz-accordion readers if anybody's interested.

 

[Alans]

Rudy Deflorio who is the son of Matt Deflorio who has run an accordion store in Toronto since the fifties (the only one still
operating)knows everything about the accordion in Canada. His father started the first accordion club in the city. And then
there is for the Canadian angle Joe Maccerollo, who has been playing the accordion since the fifties I would guess and
would know everything and everyone. The Deflorio's can be reached via their website-Musical Instruments of Canada and
they have a history page on their web site too.

 

[AccordionUprising]

Thanks for those tips Alans! I think I've been to the Deforio's shop, but haven't talked with them. Good ideas.

 

[Alans]

Not only does Rudy know everything about the Toronto scene's history-his father had a tv show where he played accordion
locally I believe in the late fifties or early sixties. Also the store is full of very old photos of players and there is a huge wall
of clippings, some dating back very very far. If you swing by this way-and I realize you're across the country, I'm sure you will want to spend time there. Rudy loves to talk accordion and as I said, he knows everyone and everything. There was this
very famous accordion teacher/player in the early sixties named Dixie Dean-he wrote several accordion methods of which
I have one-totally obscure stuff now-Rudy knew Dixie and has lots of stories about him. He was huge back then. Good luck!

 

[Alans]

One last thing-Rudy loooooooooooves to talk accordion history...and he loves recording everyone who comes into his
store for you tube videos. If you get him on email or by phone....he will talk to you for hours. I'm telling you this guy comes from a huge accordion family background and he's seen it all.The Toronto accordion club died probably in the very early
eighties, and Rudy knows the entire history from it's inception in his father's store, to the gatherings which had a very low
entrance fee and free food so people came and stocked up, to it's eventual demise, which is a very sad tale. I gather people were so wounded by the demise that there has never been a club in the city since then. Sadly,it happens.
I imagine you have spoken with Joan Grauman-the AAA historian.
There is another much older man named Paquale, I can't remember his last name. he also had an accordion store on
the same street as the Deflorios (this was decades ago a very Italian neighborhood). He closed his store last winter but
he can be reached by telephone. I think if you google accordion store eglinton and dufferin you can find an email address for him. He was in the business forever and is probably one of the last still standing teachers of that generation. His English is not exceptional, but he taught for decades and I'm sure he remembers a great deal too.
Finally-the only full accordion academy that I know of is Lowe's music school which was run for years by a guy named dave lowe-very very nice man but he is retired (he's not very old)and his school has been turned into a general music school.
He really doesn't like to take on students anymore but I'm pretty sure he ran the only lasting accordion school in the
city for the past few decades. He's also a wonderful person and very helpful. My own previous accordion teacher taught
at the same school for 55 years, she's 88 now...and she can remember and has tons of photos of concerts they used
to give in the old Eaton's store concert hall-huge accordion orchestra concerts and she has lots of glossies of that.
She told me there used to be an accordion school on almost every block of the city in the late fifties.

 

[AccordionUprising]

Toronto's lucky. Vancouver (pop 600,000+) hasn't had an accordion shop for years. With 1-room apartments going for $2,000/month it's almost impossible to see that changing. Still, we try.

Thanks for the tips! I may see if any of them want to read over what I've got.