SALLY MORRIS: SUNDAY WITH ART VAN DAMME
It’s late on a Sunday afternoon and I’ve been thinking about some laid-back jazz. It has me thinking about my first date with my eventual husband. He was a great jazz fan. We went out after play rehearsal one evening for a drink at a local establishment and he said something like . . . “You like jazz?” Of course I did. He asked if I’d like to join him to hear an accordionist who, he said, sounded a lot like Art Van Damme. I had to admit that the name was not all that familiar to me, to say nothing of his music. We did go, and the music was great, so I had to find out more about the guy he sounded just like. Art Van Damme. And he was great. In those days I couldn’t just google him and had only a couple of vintage LPs to go by. Still - great.
I thought some of you might like to hear his artistry again and if you, like me, were unaware of this accordion virtuoso let me introduce you. Van Damme was born in Norway, Michigan, April 9, 1920. He died in Roseville, California February 15. 2010, just shy of his 90th birthday, of pneumonia. In between he made a huge contribution to the world of jazz through his un-jazzy seeming instrument. He stood alone as the preeminent jazz accordionist of all time, recording in the neighborhood of 50 albums.
Van Damme first heard the accordion on his parents’ Victrola and loved it. He began to play at age 9. When his family moved to Chicago in 1934 he began to study music in earnest and eventually formed a trio with two others - a guitarist and a bass player - with whom he began performing in local clubs. He was strongly influenced by the music of the great Benny Goodman, incorporating the “hot” jazz elements of Goodman’s swing style into his own, playing Goodman’s clarinet parts on the accordion. He subsequently formed a quintet and made his first recording in 1944. Eventually he found himself drawn to more traditional jazz forms. In 1960 he opened a studio in Chicago and continued to tour, playing concerts in Australia and Europe as well as the US. He often turned up, playing “for free” at parties and weddings of friends. He was featured occasionally on NBC variety shows such as The Dinah Shore Show and the Tonight Show.
“Satin Doll”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWzxtFiivzs
“After You’ve Gone”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWiq13r8Fh0
Art Van Damme and Steve Homan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYUwYkAoVLA
“All of Me”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mw3qNx7akI
“Ecstasy”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auXpg2yxAT0
Art Van Damme Quintet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODqjzXvPHhU
“All the Things You Are”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNCM_dBeWQk
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