First, I compliment Jacinto for exoressing his opinions about accordion players. His opinions certainly are thought-provoking.

Second, I'm sure that most know about the expression about "opinions." Third, I probably don't know enough about the technical aspects of playing the accordion to know who is "best." I like all of them.

But I do think that it is worth knowing more about as many Cajun accordion players as possible. There are many who deserve recognition - Lawrence Walker, Nathan Abshire, Octa Clark, Aldus Roger, Ally Young, Marc Savoy, Jason Frey, Paul Daigle, Ray Abshire, Steve Riley, Ambrose Thibodeaux, Jesse Lege', and many, many more. All of these accordion players are great...worth listening to and learning from. To limit recommendations for learning about accordion-playing to just two people seems to me to be a mistake. There is a lot to be learned from all of them.

Jack Bond

A very wise person once told me that recordings are only three minute snap shots of musician's life, and if you spend all of your energy trying to learn the recordings note for note without trying to understand the emotions of the musician at that moment, you will miss out on the true essence of the music. With that said, you could actually write dissertations on the playing styles of Amede' Ardoin and Iry LeJeune, but I feel strongly that the technicality of their playing is not as important as the emotion. Someone else once suggested to me that ALL songs in the Cajun repertoire are derived from the works of Ardoin and LeJeune, and the variations come from different levels of interpretive skills. I don't know if I agree with that, but I do believe that some of the most moving songs have come from musicians who aren't as skilled. If you can find a way to transfer your emotions from your fingers through your accordion to the listener's ears, then you have succeeded.

Let's not forget the vocals. Both Ardoin and LeJeune had the whole package. They played well, and they sang well. This is where many, many players are lacking.

As a sidebar, many people find those original recordings to be too difficult to learn from for various reasons. It helps to find someone who has done a good job of emulating the originals. A few people who come to mind that do a very good job are Chris Miller, Jesse Lege, Marc Savoy and Steve Riley. Your ear should forever be improving. I often find that I play many songs different than I did twenty years ago, because I hear them differently.

All excellent thoughts :-)

As long as we're discussing the topic, the music and culture remains
alive and growing :-)

--bn

Ganey,
I believe you nailed it at "technicality vs. emotion." Many modern accordion players can outdo Ardoin and Le Jeune in fancy playing, but they gotta have soul. Listen to Nathan Abshire playing "Ma Negresse" otherwise politically correctly known as , Pine Grove Blues. Very simple song but played straight from the heart. N'est pas?

What Ganey said. Though I personally consistently gravitate to Amede(Ardoin and Breaux), Octa, and Iry, mainly because I'm fascinated with their style and vocals, which is dripping with emotion, I also know that though each had some original recordings, none were originators of Cajun music. That's where I always chuckle when the word "traditional" pops up. We relate "traditional" as early recordings, but what was recorded in those early years was just the personal spin those old guys were putting on the music they had, not so much a snapshot into some ancient untouched music that has since been bent and reshaped. Cajun music has never not been changed to some degree by the person playing it.

That being said, there are some elements to the styles of many old players that i find few doing today. At some point, playing skill seems tied to fancy fingers and crazy licks, and reliance on the accompaniment of multi-instrument bands, but what I find so appealing about some of the old players is their ability to place pauses in the right places, and dragging out notes in the right places, and their masterful use of the base side. And that is the part I find so hard to duplicate.

Either myself, or many others misunderstood Jacinto, what I understood him to say, I agree with, that new players should take a listen to these old timers, not necessarily only to them, to get a more rounded feel for Cajun music. We could go on and on for days (and have) over who to include in the should also listen to category.

Bryan,

Skill coupled with emotion is what all musicians are striving for.
If you listen to and watch Alex Meixner play the piano accordion,
you gotta say, "Man, that Dude has soul!"
He puts so much of himself into his music, plus he knows What he is doing.
It don't matter if you're playing the sax, the piano, the harmonica, or whatever.
you gotta put the human experiences of love, sorrow, hate, fear and joy into that music.
But, as you know, you still gotta practice and listen, practice and listen, practice and listen.
And let's face it. Some of us will never really get there, Yours Truly included. But it sure is fun to keep trying.
By the way, Jacinto is looking for a buy on a Cajun accordion. Aren't we all.
JB

Bryan, as for emotion expressed and received; i've been playing with and listening to musicians a lot, mainly in the folk domain. Now and then you'll meet one of those magical entertaining performers who can really connect with your soul when they do their thing. It can be that they are real virtuosos, but also quite simple down to earth players, or even a story teller like a farmer i met in a rural Irish village pub years ago. But on all counts they draw you in to their magic like honey draws a bear, even when you know you'll get stinged sometimes. A mechanism Mao and Hitler too used for their nasty goals?

Even after their passing their soul's imprint on us all seems to linger on like the stickiest glue residue ever. Recordings, reputation, magic? Had an old aunt who told me she saw auras; from a great stage performer she mentioned she could see them mingle with those of an audience, uniting in colors. PS call me crazy if you like, but you'll not be the first, hehe. - nout

Music is like beer and dogs.

One person may think it is the best ever produced while another my find it just so-so.

Rarely do we droll over every cut on a given CD; though some tracks may jump out at us, others may be just okay.