I don't think there's a best accordionplayer ever.
There are many very good players with a different style of playing.
It's amazing what some players can do on ten-buttons.
I like the playing of Octa Clark and Eddy Lejeune very much.
It's the way they are playing the tunes.
I keep on listening to all those very good players.
Why do we have to have a "best of" anything. Depends on who strikes that chord in you. For me it forever will be Iry Lejeune's original Lacassine Special regardless of whether he learned by listening to Falcone or Amede. Jeffrey Broussard and Wayne are the best "ever" at what they do also.
Horace Trahan rates very high up there for the younger players. Then don't forget Nathan Abshire in the old decesed group. He played in a beautiful simple style.
Those middle aged coke heads missed out on a lot. Their burnt brains will never be the same.
But we are just talking about the ones who have been recorded. There have been many many great musicians in every community who have never been recorded, especially in Amedé's day, and who know's before that.
Check out the DVD, Jai Ete Au Bal ( I went to the dance ) There are dozen's of "best accordionists" in Louisiana. I consider Marc Savoy the best of the best. This DVD highlights Marc's skill.
best accordion player we have never heard: Joyah Guidry
See this quote from Marc Savoy's piece, PONDERINGS OF A REINCARNATED NEANDERTHAL, at the Web site of the Savoy Music Center
There was black man working on our farm who would talk to me about another black man by the name of Joyah Guidry who was a great accordion player. He would tell me that when Joyah was a bit younger he was considered to be a better player than Amédé Ardoin and had taught Amédé how to play. When I found out that Joyah was still alive and lived in Ville Platte, I kept pestering the tenant until he finally consented to take me over to listen to him play. I was very familiar with Amédé's music, because I would spent hours winding up the crank on my grandmother's Victrola playing her 78s of Amédé Ardoin. Also my father would tell me stories about how he had known Amédé very well and had once hired him to play for a house party in our kitchen before I was born. So my black friend took me to Ville Platte to listen to Joyah Guidry. I met a very jolly old black man who was very excited to have someone visiting him but was sort of puzzled about why a young white boy wanted to hear him play. He went into some back room and returned with an old Monarch accordion in excellent condition and started playing the Eunice Two Step exactly like Amédé's record. It was note for note the same as the old 78 I had heard so many times. It was so close to Amédé's playing that I told him he sounded just like Amédé Ardoin. He shook his head and said, "no no son - Amédé sounded like me. I taught that tune to Amédé."
Re: Re: best accordion player we have never heard: Joyah Guidry
No No! I was quoting Marc Savoy. HE went see Mr. Guidry, I think even before he started building accordions. That would be over 40 years ago, so I doubt Mr. Guidry is still alive. If Guidry ever recorded, that would be news to me.
Re: Re: best accordion player we have never heard: Joyah Guidry
Nope, no one's ever heard of Joyah Guidry outside of the Ponderings of a Reincarnated Neanderthal. So far I've heard that Canray Fontenot's father taught or helped Amede Ardoin. Now I hear about this Joyah Guidry. One day Imma have to sit down and list all the accordion players born within a few years of Amede Ardoin.
Amede Ardoin-1898
Angelas Lejeune-1898 or 1899
Amede Breaux-1900
Joe Falcon-1900
Re: Re: best accordion player we have never heard: Joyah Guidry
Thanks Nedro. I will add them to the list I started the other night. I'm starting to see that Amede Ardoin didn't just appear on the scene and create all Cajun accordion music. It's starting to look like there were many unknown accordion players going back to the 1830's roughly. And I think they got their song repertoire from fiddle players both white and black. It is said that Dennis McGee had a song repertoire of close to 500 songs on fiddle. I would think that when the accordion made it to Cajun land, they tried to hunt and peck out these old fiddle songs on the accordion by memory.