Accordion

A local accordion ensemble, which returned this month from performing at the White House, is practicing to defend its reputation as perhaps the country's best student accordion group. The nine musicians, who specialize in jazz, spent a recent evening perfecting arrangements they will play at the Accordion Federation of North America's prestigious competition, which takes place in August.

June is sorely lacking in days your employer will give you paid time off to celebrate. But that doesn't mean it's without its notable holidays and anniversaries. We honor the flag on June 14, fathers on June 18. And June 19 is Juneteenth, which marks the day in 1865 when African Americans in Texas learned of the Emancipation Proclamation--more than two years after Lincoln signed the document ending slavery in the United States.

What's the difference between a Russian bayan accordion and the conventional piano accordion that Lawrence Welk popularized? The bayan , which has five rows of buttons where the American accordion has piano-style keys, is "like a small pipe organ," explained professional American bayan player Jon Persson.

During the last two years, Smithsonian/Folkways Records has built rather quietly the beginnings of an impressive album catalogue, much of it drawn from the historic Folkways Records collection. Now that the company has nearly 60 titles in circulation, it is planning to move more aggressively into promotion--so expect to read a lot about the albums and see more displays of Smithsonian/Folkways product in stores. Matt Walters, director of operations for the Cambridge, Mass.

For people whose only association with the word "accordion" consists of "Lady of Spain," "Pancordia: the two-fisted accordion weblog" (www.ookworld.com/pancordia) is a glimpse of broader musical horizons. Recent entries on the intermittently updated journal of "accordion resources, information, ideas and enthusiasm," suggest a world of possibilities: March 27: " ... the Raymond Scott Orchestrette's first album, Pushbutton Parfait, has been available for a while now.

Imagine what might befall the art of Mexican cookery if some blight suddenly eradicated the world supply of hot peppers. Nearly that much spice went out of the Tejano music of Little Joe & La Familia after a button accordion was lost or stolen Thursday during a bus ride through Texas, leaving Lalo Torres without an instrument for the opening set of the band's show Friday at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana.

Verne Meisner, 66, whose accordion-propelled polka tunes kept the upper Midwest dancing for 57 years and who won an international following for his musical skill, died June 10 of cancer at St. Luke's Hospital in Milwaukee. Meisner was considered one of the giants of polka, and his Slovenian -- or Cleveland-style -- polka featured infectious melodies that were widely popular in taverns, dance halls and festivals where the music was a standard celebration of the week's end.

"Use an accordion, go to jail--it's the law!" While this bumper-sticker slogan reflects the modest esteem in which the accordion is generally held, composer Gina Leishman has sufficient self-confidence to embrace it as her favorite among the many instruments she plays. "Well, it is a much-maligned instrument," Leishman said in her clipped British accent. "But it's one I adore.

Pete Jolly, a jazz pianist and accordion player known for his disciplined work as a studio musician as well as his improvisational keyboarding in live performances, has died. He was 72. Jolly, whose composition "Little Bird" was nominated for a Grammy in 1963, died Saturday at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena of complications of bone marrow cancer and an irregular heartbeat.

Early one morning last November, Emilio Franco and his wife awoke to the noise of men breaking into their Downey home. When the two intruders burst into the couple's bedroom, Franco was prepared. Years earlier, someone had threatened to kidnap his son, and ever since he'd kept a loaded .45-caliber pistol by his bed, his attorney says. According to family members, Franco scuffled briefly with the strangers before gunfire erupted. Police arrived to find one of the intruders critically injured and Franco dead from a gunshot wound to the chest.