Month: October 2012

Spaghetti Panic

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Andy Cutting is one of the most esteemed accordéonists in the land. If you wonder why, check out this video.

The tune, “Spaghetti Panic,” is one of Cutting’s best known, in his repertoire for more than two decades. It still amazes. My first reaction, “How???” My second is, “Wonderful!” My third is, “Hey, he gets accordéon face, too!”

COMING SOON: An interview with Andy Cutting! Yes, I’m excited!

UPDATE: Note that the sheet music for “Spaghetti Panic” is in Alexandra Browne’s book, Diatonic Liaisons.

Tribute: Jean-Michel Corgeron

Published on by Gary Chapin1 Comment

Jean-Michel Corgeron has been quietly instrumental in the world of tradFrench accordéon music for as long as I have been aware. As a diatonist and transcriber, Corgeron has had an intimate relationship with Trad Magazine, and is credited with inventing their accordéon tablature. This tab system has become one of two standard systems in wide use (the other is from the CADB, a breton accordéonist collective). The first time I saw his name was as the transcriber for Frédéric Paris’s Cahier de Repertoire, so influential to my own development.

Recently, via a Facebook update, I discovered that Corgeron had posted the first album by his quartet, Bouffée d’Airs, over on Sound Cloud for free streaming. I urge you to go HERE and check it out. That recording, and much more, can be found at Corgeron’s Franches Connexions site.

My Set List

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I’m playing at the Water Street Cafe this afternoon and compiling a set list. At the same time, I’ve begun recording a CD, and putting together a set list for that. It’s interesting that the live set list is much longer than the recording set list (which is continuing to evolve). Tunes that I feel completely comfortable playing in a bustling cafe, don’t meet my standards when committed to recording — and both of those are small subsets of the large group of tunes I play in my living room. So here’s the live set list. Links, in some cases, to videos.

Squeezie Scholars

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Picture by Dave Fournier

At the final session of my spring class (a research practicum), I and my colleagues brought our boxes to bellow away the brunch time break. That’s Josh Ottow on the left, Richard Ackerman on the right, and me in the center. Given that this is an educational leadership program, I’d say the administration of Maine’s schools is in extraordinarily excellent hands.