Art Van Damme - A Perfect Match

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:33
Size: 87,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:05)  1. Bye Bye Blackbird
(3:04)  2. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
(2:27)  3. Tickle-Toe
(3:45)  4. Gone with the Wind
(2:34)  5. Valse Hot
(2:28)  6. The Best Thing for You
(3:48)  7. Satan's Doll
(3:05)  8. Bluesy
(4:06)  9. Spring Is Here
(3:47) 10. Tangee
(3:15) 11. Poinciana
(2:04) 12. Nicollet Avenue Breakdown

Jammed with writing assignments this week, I spent yesterday working and listening to accordionist Art Van Damme. It makes no sense to tell you how much Van Damme swings, since all great jazz accordionists swing. What made Van Damme singular were his thick chord voicings and his groovy attack, which sounded almost vocal. So teaming with guitarist Johnny Smith on A Perfect Match (1962) was a brilliant pairing. Van Damme's meaty, sighing chords and Smith's ringing, bell-like guitar notes sound like five people instead of two. Van Damme was born in 1920 in Norway, Mich. He was classically trained on the piano and began playing accordion at age 9, performing regularly at a local theater. After his family moved to Chicago when he was 14, Van Damme added concerts for the Sante Fe Railroad between the Midwest and California. At age 18 in 1938, he became fascinated by swing and started a trio with accordion, bass and guitar. He was hired in 1941 for a few months by bandleader Ben Bernie and left to become a solo act before forming another trio this time with accordion, vibes and bass. Drums were added in 1944.

Van Damme's impeccable playing style and one-man band approach landed him a steady job with NBC Radio in 1945 a spot that lasted until 1960. Thanks to his ability to craft small-group arrangements on the fly, he played on more than 100 episodes of The Art Van Damme Show, a 15minute segment for NBC (I wish someone would haul these out for a fresh listen). He also appeared regularly on TV in the '50s on celebrity-hosted variety shows. His visibility on the radio in the post-war years inspired a generation of jazz accordionists. After NBC, Van Damme opened a music studio and store in suburban Chicago in 1960, moving to Northridge, Calif. in 1968, spending his spare time playing golf. From the 1970s on, Van Damme regularly toured Japan and Europe, where the accordion was a familiar instrument, Van Damme died in 2010 at age 89.~ Jazzwax By Mar4c Myers https://news.allaboutjazz.com/art-van-damme-a-perfect-match

Personnel: Accordion – Art Van Damme;  Guitar – Johnny Smith

A Perfect Match

---

Art Van Damme - So Nice!

Styles: Accordian Jazz
Year: 1979
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 38:00
Size: 87,6 MB
Art: Front

(2:46)  1. Perdido
(3:14)  2. Poka dots and moonbeams
(2:27)  3. Mountain greenery
(3:29)  4. We've only just begun
(2:55)  5. So nice (Summer Samba)
(4:11)  6. So what's new
(3:22)  7. On a clear day (You can see forever)
(3:47)  8. How insensitive
(2:35)  9. Work song
(4:01) 10. Moonlight in Vermont
(2:03) 11. A man and a woman
(3:05) 12. Quiet nights of quiet stars

Jazz accordion-master, Van Damme plays much more than cool/accordion mush. In fact, he was an innovator during 60s post-bop. He is an unsung hero.~ Michael G.Nastos https://www.allmusic.com/artist/art-van-damme-mn0000601311/biography

Personnel:  Art van Damme - accordion;  Siegfried Schwab - guitar;  Heribert Thusek - vibes;  Eberhard Weber - bass;  Charly Antolini - drums

So Nice!

---

The Art Van Damme Quintet - Blue World

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:32
Size: 81.4 MB
Styles: Accordion jazz
Year: 2015
Art: Front

[2:31] 1. Blue Lou
[3:07] 2. It's A Blue World
[2:26] 3. My Kind Of Love
[3:35] 4. Laura
[2:26] 5. Too Close For Comfort
[3:10] 6. When Your Lover Has Gone
[2:15] 7. The Song Is You
[3:34] 8. The Things We Did Last Summer
[2:39] 9. Cheek To Cheek
[3:39] 10. On The Alamo
[3:08] 11. Jim
[2:57] 12. Diane

The hippest cat ever to swing an accordion, Art Van Damme dared go where no man had gone before: jazz accordion. He started taking accordion lessons at the age of nine, and moved on to classical studies after his family moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1934. After leaving school. he played in a trio in local clubs under big band leader Ben Bernie hired him in 1941. He soon returned to Chicago, though, and continued to work the club circuit there throughout World War Two.

Van Damme was inspired by swing recordings, particularly Benny Goodman's, and in the late 1930s, he began experimenting, adapting Goodman solos to the accordion. Throughout his career, he would often be compared to Goodman, since the two were both classically trained, technical masters of their instruments, and versatile and creative jazz soloists. As time went on, Van Damme moved into more adventurous territory, closer to mainstream jazz. His later Columbia albums feature him at the lead of small, tight combos, and include a mix of standards and Van Damme's own slightly bebop-ish originals.

Although a number of other accordionists ventured into jazz territory after Van Damme broke the trail, he remains the acknowledged master. As one reviewer recently wrote, he dispatches "Right-hand runs with a velocity and lightness of touch that defied the presumed limitations of the instrument," while at the same time, "Consistently emphasizing the lyric contours of a melodic phrase rather than the lightning technical flourishes that led up to it."

He eventually retired to Florida. He announced at his 75th birthday party that he intended to hang up his squeezebox for good, telling one interview that he felt like he'd played enough for one lifetime, but he continued to perform occasionally, appearing at clubs throughout the U.S. until as late as 2008.

Blue World

---