The Spirit of Cape Accordion 2012
September 4, 2012"The Oaks" welcomed accordion friends again this year for Cape Accordion 2012. The hosts James Gerke and Dave Magliozzi made sure every one had a memorable experience. While keeping the event informal and friendly the organizers managed to pack a number of useful workshops on topics spanning from swing musette techniques and improvisation, accompanying a vocalist, "Medical School for Accordionists", accordion maintenance, the accordion tonal character explained etc.
Skype video conferencing added a whole new dimension to this years event. We shared our music across three continents.
I would like to express my gratitude to the hosts and all participants for their inspiring performances and to share some photographs with all our accordion friends. I am sure you will feel the spirit of Cape Accordion.
| Don McMahon and Leslie Alexandra - The Art of Accompanying a Vocalist. |
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| Dallas Vietty
accepts Don's challenge to transpose in real time for a singer who
likes a "difficult key" :-) Left to Right: Dallas Vietty, Dan Mackowiak and Janet Borelli |
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| Lou Borelli (trumpet) joins Leslie (vocal) and Don (accordion) |
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| James Gerke and Don McMahon: "Take the A Train" |
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| Don and Leslie's
workshop smoothly transitioned into a jazz improvisation session... Left to Right: Janet Borelli, Ian Blair Fries, Dave Magliozzi, and Doug Makofka |
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| Dan Mackowiak, Dave Magliozzi, and Lou Borelli |
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| Late evening: Don, Dallas, Dan, and Ian
sight-reading from Janet's "treasure book" ... |
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| ... followed by Jazz Time with the soft music by Lou, Janet, and Ian |
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| Dave and
James impressed us all with their improvisations on stage (the fabulous
deck at The Oaks) and in the kitchen. The pancakes were delicious. Much
appreciated! |
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| Imagine the taste of home-made pancakes under
the morning sun, a cup of coffee,
and
live music with Dallas Vietty ...
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| Dr. Ian Blair presents Medical
School for Accordionists What looks like a chain of garlic handing from the umbrella is a real human spinal chord |
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| Neapolitan songs followed by Roberto's passionate tango style - Dallas Vietty, Roberto Cassan, Lou Borelli ... |
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| ... James Gerke,
Dave Magliozzi, and Tony D'Eramo |
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| Guenadiy Lazarov
revealing some secrets of the art to maintain and repair accordions |
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| Playing music by request, from video games tunes
to The Flight of the Bumblebee, any idea the iPhone can give :-) Leslie, Dallas, Nick, and Don |
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| Dallas, Nick,
James, Leslie, and Don |
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| Parallel jam sessions - Lou, James, and Dave are deep into "Everything Happens To Me", while Janet and Ian can't have enough of Dallas' swing musette style - I wish we had a tripod with a camcorder in each room ... |
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| It feels great to be among new friends and great musicians like Lou and Janet Borelli. |
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| Lou kept us entertained not only with his trumpet and flute performances but also with many interesting stories about famous jazz musicians he has worked with. |
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| Any place and any time is good for accordion music at
Cape Accordion James and Dallas on Friday morning - if we could stay another day ... |
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| A week past like a day. The inspiration remains. We are
already looking forward to Cape Accordion 2013. Dave, thanks for the help with the "big chords". I will keep practicing ... |
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