Accordion Noir radio playlist 2020-11-11: Armistice Day, Julie Gardner, and How do We Go On

AccNoir 2020-11-11

This week’s Remembrance Day episode of Accordion Noir took a somewhat extraordinary tack. Bruce knew of the military intersection in the musical career of Black female accordionist Julie Gardner, right down to having read reviews of specific showstopping numbers she had included in her sets… but, sadly, due to sexism, racism and the vagaries of history, this pioneering performer never recorded. So for the chewy core of this episode, he put together a playlist of the songs she had performed on accordion to great acclaim, played in other (typically accordion-less) arrangements by other performers, painting the contours of her career in negative space if you will.

If you haven’t yet been notified of the availability of this episode by your Apple or Android podcast subscriptions, you can always simply rustle it up as digital audio courtesy of the Internet Archive. Here’s its playlist:

AccNoir-2020-11-11, Armistice Day, Julie Gardner, and How do We Go On

My two pieces about Julie Gardner are up at:

Julie Gardner: the accordionist behind Charlie Parker
https://accordionuprising.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/julie-gardner-charlie-parkers-backing-accordionist/

and

Julie Gardner, 1944: “Are you fer it, Sergeant?”
https://accordionuprising.wordpress.com/2020/11/11/julie-gardner-1944-are-you-fer-it-sergeant/

• Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird – Freedom Is A Verb – The Butcher’s Share (2017) – Michigan, USA / Berlin, Germany – http://www.paintedbird.net/
• The Once – Valley Of Kilbride – Row Upon Row of the People They Know (2011) – Newfoundland, Canada – http://theonce.ca
• Will Holshouser Trio – Department of Peace – Palace Ghosts and Drunken Hymns (2009) – Brooklyn, New York (USA) – http://www.willholshouser.com
• The Hurricanes – Pistol Packin’ Mama – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jn-j_cAooA&feature=related (1955) – –
• The Tramp Band. Joe Carroll on vocal. – Hit That Jive, Jack – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rDtnqQ3yCU (1943) – Personnel should be identical or similar to their scene in the film Stormy Weather: Carroll and Pinky Johnson up front, Nick Aldrich piano, Johnny Cousin guitar, Ebenezer Paul bass, Willie Jones drums, Alvis Cowans washboard. JosephNScott (Comment on Youtube vid) [Sorry this one’s so noisy, worth watching the video!]
• Etta James – Don’t Cry Baby – Etta James: Her Best: The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection (1961) – – (Originally performed in 1929 by Bessie Smith) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Cry_Baby
• Ella Mae Morse With Freddie Slack & His Orchestra – Cow Cow Boogie – The Very Best of Ella Mae Morse (1942) – Mansfield, Texas, USA – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Mae_Morse
• Nat King Cole Trio – Are You Fer It? – Nat King Cole Trio/ Hit That Jive, Jack: The Earliest Recordings 1940-41 (1941) – New York, New York, USA – A Pile o’ Cole’s Nat King Cole website says: October 22, 1941, New York. Nat Cole (piano), Oscar Moore (guitar), Wesley Prince (bass) http://apileocole.alongthehall.com/sessions/session1941.html
• The Dreadnoughts – Gavrilo – Foreign Skies (2017) – Vancouver, BC, Canada – http://www.thedreadnoughts.com
• Lankum – Sergeant William Bailey – Between The Earth And Sky (2017) – Dublin, Ireland – http://lankumdublin.com
• Ejaculation Death Rattle – Penitence and Glory – Accordion Maess (2019) – Vancouver, BC, Canada –
• John Kannenberg – Pauline Oliveros’ Primordial / Lift (in four minutes) – Monsters of Experimental Music (2009) – – https://johnkannenberg.bandcamp.com
• Daniel Foley and Tiina Kiik – Still Life – (2020) – Toronto, Ontario, Canada – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnG8zykSyIc http://thepolkadogs.com

Maybe we can include the Still Life Video, from Daniel Foley and Tiina Kiik, for folks going through our modern crisis:

Thanks for reading us here (and hopefully listening to us, there), but if you find you want more, you can always keep up with us on Twitter (@AccordionNoir and @AccordionBruce), Instagram (@AccordionNoirFest), and Facebook at Accordion Noir fans, the Accordion Noir Festival, and the Vancouver Squeezebox Circle. Cheers & squeeze on!