Marian McPartland
Margaret Marian McPartland, OBE, was an English-American jazz pianist and writer. She was the host of Marian McPartlands Piano Jazz on National Public Radio from 1978 to 2011, after her marriage to trumpeter Jimmy McPartland in February 1945, she resided in the United States when not travelling throughout the world to perform. In 1969 she founded Halcyon Records, a company that produced albums for ten years. In 2000 she was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, in 2004 she was given a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. In 2007 she was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame, in 2010 she was named a member of the Order of the British Empire. Margaret Marian Turner was born on 20 March 1918 to Frank and she had one younger sibling, a sister, Joyce. She demonstrated early aptitude at the piano, and would realize that she had perfect pitch. Margaret studied violin from the age of nine, but never took to the instrument and she trained as a vocalist and received a number of favorable reviews in the local paper.
Janet refused to find her daughter a piano teacher until the age of 16 and this lack of early education meant that Marian was never a strong reader of notated music, and would always prefer to learn through listening. There, she met Doris Mackie, a teacher who would be influential on her. Mackie suggested to the Turners that Margaret should apply to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, since Margaret clearly had an aptitude and she studied with Orlando Morgan, who taught Myra Hess. Much to her familys dismay, she developed a love for American jazz and musicians such as Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, Mary Lou Williams, and many others. In 1938, Turner sought out Billy Mayerl at his School of Modern Syncopation to seek lessons, despite her familys efforts to keep her at Guildhall, Turner left to join Billy Mayerls Claviers, a four-piano vaudeville act. There, she elected to perform under the name of Marian Page. She promised her family that she would one day return to finish her degree at Guildhall, after the Claviers tour, Marian returned to London in the fall of 1938 and played sporadically for shows and on the Carroll Lewis Show.
To avoid the draft during World War II, she volunteered for the Entertainment National Service Association, in 1944, her friend Zonie Dale recommended that Marian join the United Service Organizations because they paid more and played with American men. With the USO, Marian went through training and was issued a set of combat gear – GI boots, helmet. Marian was assigned to a called the Band Wagon, which followed the Allied forces after the D-Day invasion
Vibraphone
The vibraphone is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family. The vibraphone resembles the xylophone and glockenspiel, each bar is paired with a resonator tube that has a motor-driven butterfly valve at its upper end. The valves are mounted on a shaft, which produces a tremolo or vibrato effect while spinning. The vibraphone has a sustain pedal similar to that on a piano, with the pedal up, the bars are all damped and produce a shortened sound. With the pedal down, they sound for several seconds, the vibraphone is commonly used in jazz music, in which it often plays a featured role and was a defining element of the sound of mid-20th-century Tiki lounge exotica, as popularized by Arthur Lyman. It is the second most popular solo keyboard percussion instrument in music, after the marimba. It is an instrument in the modern percussion section for orchestras. The first musical instrument called vibraphone was marketed by the Leedy Manufacturing Company in the United States in 1921, this instrument differed in significant details from the instrument now called the vibraphone.
The Leedy vibraphone achieved a degree of popularity after it was used in the novelty recordings of Aloha Oe and this popularity led J. C. Deagan, Inc. in 1927 to ask its Chief Tuner, Henry Schluter, to develop a similar instrument. Schluters design was more popular than the Leedy design, and has become the template for all instruments now called vibraphone, when Deagan began marketing Schluters instrument in 1928, they called it the vibraharp. The name derived from similar aluminum bars that were mounted vertically, since Deagan trademarked the name, others were obliged to use the earlier vibraphone for their instruments incorporating the newer design. The name confusion continues, even to the present, but over time vibraphone became significantly more popular than vibraharp, by 1974, the Directory of the D. C. Federation of Musicians listed 39 vibraphone players and 3 vibraharp players, the initial purpose of the vibraphone was to add to the large arsenal of percussion sounds used by vaudeville orchestras for novelty effects.
This use was quickly overwhelmed in the 1930s by its development as a jazz instrument, the use of the vibraphone in jazz was pioneered by Paul Barbarin, the drummer with Luis Russells band. Bergerault, of Ligueil, France began manufacturing vibraphones in the 1930s, Deagan struck endorsement deals with many of the leading players, including Lionel Hampton and Milt Jackson. The Deagan company went out of business in the 1980s, its trademark, Yamaha continues to make percussion instruments based on Deagan designs. In 1948, the Musser Mallet Company was founded by Clair Omar Musser, the Musser company continues to manufacture vibraphones as part of the Ludwig Drum Company. The standard modern instrument has a range of three octaves, from the F below middle C, larger three-and-a-half or four octave models from the C below middle C are becoming more common
Hank Jones
Henry Hank Jones Jr. was an American jazz pianist, bandleader and composer. Critics and musicians described Jones as eloquent and impeccable, in 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts honored him with the NEA Jazz Masters Award. He was honored in 2003 with the American Society of Composers, Authors, in 2008, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. On April 13,2009, the University of Hartford presented Jones with a Doctorate Degree for his musical accomplishments, Jones recorded more than 60 albums under his own name, and countless others as a sideman, including Cannonball Adderleys celebrated album Somethin Else. On May 19,1962, he played piano as actress Marilyn Monroe sang her famous Happy Birthday, Mr. President song to U. S. president John F. Kennedy. Born in Vicksburg, Henry Hank Jones moved to Pontiac, one of seven children, Jones was raised in a musical family. His mother Olivia Jones sang, his two sisters studied piano, and his two younger brothers—Thad, a trumpeter, and Elvin, a drummer—also became prominent jazz musicians.
He studied piano at an age and came under the influence of Earl Hines, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson. By the age of 13 Jones was performing locally in Michigan, while playing with territory bands in Grand Rapids and Lansing in 1944 he met Lucky Thompson, who invited Jones to work in New York City at the Onyx Club with Hot Lips Page. In New York City, Jones regularly listened to leading bop musicians, while practicing and studying the music he worked with John Kirby, Howard McGhee, Coleman Hawkins, Andy Kirk, and Billy Eckstine. From 1959 through 1975 Jones was staff pianist for CBS studios and this included backing guests such as Frank Sinatra on The Ed Sullivan Show. He played the accompaniment to Marilyn Monroe as she sang Happy Birthday Mr. President to John F. Kennedy on May 19,1962. By the late 1970s, his involvement as pianist and conductor with the Broadway musical Aint Misbehavin had informed an audience of his unique qualities as a musician. The trio recorded with other personnel, such as Art Farmer, Benny Golson.
In the early 1980s Jones held a residency as a solo pianist at the Cafe Ziegfeld and made a tour of Japan, Jones versatility was more in evidence with the passage of time. He collaborated on recordings of Afro-pop with an ensemble from Mali and on an album of spirituals and folksongs with Charlie Haden called Steal Away. Jones made his debut on Lineage Records, recording with Frank Wess and with the guitarist Eddie Diehl and he accompanied Diana Krall for Dream a Little Dream of Me on the album compilation, We all Love Ella. He is one of the musicians who test and talk about the piano in the documentary Note by Note, The Making of Steinway L1037, Hank Jones lived in Cresskill NJ, upstate New York and in Manhattan
Battersea
Battersea is a largely residential inner-city district of south London in the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It has Battersea Park, one of southwest Londons main parks, noted for the long-awaited bringing of the London Underground in the 21st century, two main railway lines cross here at what was the countrys busiest station. Elsewhere in Battersea are a growing proportion of private architecturally-acclaimed riverside, parkside, in 2001, Battersea had a population of 75,651 people. Landmarks include New Covent Garden Market and the Royal Academy of Dance, Wandsworth Common and Clapham Common border parts of this large district, which traditionally includes Nine Elms. Railway stations in Battersea are in fare zone 2, Battersea is mentioned in Anglo-Saxon times as Badrices īeg = Badrics Island and Patrisey. As with many former parishes beside major rivers some land was reclaimed by draining marshland, the original village nucleus is marked by St. Marys Church, which is on a site that has featured churches since the 9th century.
The settlement appears in the Domesday Book as Patricesy, held by St Peters Abbey and its Domesday Assets were,18 hides and 17 ploughlands of cultivated land,7 mills worth £42 9s 8d per year,82 acres of meadow, woodland worth 50 hogs. The former parish of Battersea included, in a detached part, the borough dates from the London Government Act of 1899, and includes the greater part of the original ecclesiastical parish of St. Mary Battersea. Penge was a district, over which the tenants of Battersea Manor had common of pasture. At the end of the 18th century, above 300 acres of land in the parish of Battersea were occupied by some 20 market gardeners, who rented from five to near 60 acres each. Bridges erected across the Thames encouraged growth, Putney Bridge, a mile to the west, was built in 1729, inland from the river, the rural agricultural community persisted. Between these were numerous wharfs for shipping, in 1929, construction started on Battersea Power Station, being completed in 1939.
Factories have been demolished and replaced with apartment buildings. Some of the council owned properties have been sold off and several working mens pubs have become more fashionable bistros. Battersea neighbourhoods close to the railway have some of the most deprived local authority housing in the Borough of Wandsworth, an area which saw condemned slums after their erection in the Victoria era. Battersea was radically altered by the coming of railways, over the next 22 years five other lines were built, across which all trains from Londons Waterloo and Victoria termini would as today travel. An interchange station was built in 1863 towards the north west of the area, taking the name of a fashionable village a mile and more away, the station was named Clapham Junction, a campaign to rename it Battersea Junction fizzled out as late as the early twentieth century. The area was served by a vast music hall – The Grand – opposite the station as well as a theatre next to the town hall
Teddy Wilson
Theodore Shaw Teddy Wilson was an American jazz pianist. With Goodman, he was one of the first black musicians to appear prominently with white musicians, in addition to his extensive work as a sideman, Wilson led his own groups and recording sessions from the late 1920s to the 1980s. Wilson was born in Austin, Texas, on November 24,1912 and he studied piano and violin at Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. After working in Speed Webbs band, with Louis Armstrong, and understudying Earl Hines in Hiness Grand Terrace Cafe Orchestra, in 1935, he joined the Benny Goodman Trio. The trio performed during the big bands intermissions, by joining the trio, Wilson became one of the first black musicians to perform prominently in a racially integrated group. He recorded fifty hit records with singers such as Lena Horne, Helen Ward and Billie Holiday. Wilson formed his own short-lived big band in 1939, led a sextet at Café Society from 1940 to 1944, in the 1950s, Wilson taught at the Juilliard School.
Wilson can be seen appearing as himself in the 1955 motion picture The Benny Goodman Story and he worked as music director for the Dick Cavett Show. Wilson lived quietly in suburban Hillsdale, New Jersey and he was married three times, including to the songwriter Irene Kitchings. He performed as a soloist and with pick-up groups until the years of his life, including leading a trio with his sons Theodore Wilson on bass. Wilson died in New Britain, Connecticut, on July 31,1986 and he is buried at Fairview Cemetery in New Britain. In addition to Theodore and Steven, Wilson had three children, William and Dune and three grandchildren, James II, Olivia and Liam Wilson
Savoy Records
Savoy Records is an American record company and label established by Herman Lubinsky in 1942 in Newark, New Jersey. Savoy specialized in jazz and blues, and gospel music, in the 1940s Savoy recorded some of the biggest names in jazz, Miles Davis, Erroll Garner, Dexter Gordon, J. J. Johnson, Fats Navarro, and Charlie Parker. In 1948, it began buying other labels, Discovery, National and it reissued music from Jewel Records. In the early 1960s, Savoy recorded a number of jazz artists. They included Paul Bley, Ed Curran, Bill Dixon, Mark Levin, Charles Moffett, Perry Robinson, Joseph Scianni, Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, Marzette Watts, after Lubinskys death in 1974, Clive Davis, manager of Arista Records, acquired Savoys catalogue. After that, Joe Fields of Muse Records purchased the catelogue from Arista, in 1986 Malaco Records acquired Savoys black gospel titles and contracts. In 2003, Savoy Jazz acquired the rights to the Muse, as of 2012, the Savoy library is primarily controlled by Nippon Columbia, a public company based in Tokyo, which purchased Savoy in 1991.
Nippon Columbias wholly owned subsidiary, Savoy Jazz, handled Savoy Records distribution in the United States until 2009, many of the labels African-American artists begrudged the labels founder, Herman Lubinsky, feeling underpaid for their work. Tiny Price, a journalist for the African-American newspaper The Newark Herald News, said of Savoy and Lubinsky, if he messed with you, you were messed. At the same time, some of people, many of them Newarks top singers and musicians. Except for Lubinsky, all the hot little numbers, like Buddy Johnsons Cherry, the man may have been hated, but he saved a lot of our history for us and for future generations. Savoys artistic directors included Buck Ram, Teddy Reig, Ralph Bass, Fred Mendelsohn, the following are 12 LPs and have the prefix MG. Acorn Records Gospel Records Regent Records Sharp Records List of record labels Ruppli, Porter, official website SavoyJazz. com Savoy Records Discography Project
Jim Hall (musician)
James Stanley Hall was an American jazz guitarist and arranger. Premier Guitar magazine stated that It could be argued that the jazz guitar tree is rooted in four names, Charlie and Jim. Born in Buffalo, New York, before moving to Cleveland, Hall was from a family, his mother played the piano, his grandfather violin. He began playing the guitar at age ten when his mother gave him an instrument as a Christmas present, at 13 he heard Charlie Christian play on a Benny Goodman record, which he calls his spiritual awakening. As a teenager in Cleveland, he performed professionally, and took up the double bass, Halls major influences since childhood were tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Paul Gonsalves, and Lucky Thompson. While he copied out solos by Charlie Christian, and Barney Kessel, in 1955, Hall attended the Cleveland Institute of Music where he majored in composition, studying piano and bass in addition to theory. About a year later, he moved to Los Angeles, where jazz was prominent at the time.
He studied classical guitar with Vincente Gomez, from 1955 to 1956 and it was at this time that he began to gain attention. In the Jimmy Giuffre Three, Hall developed some of his own musical preferences, including challenging arrangements. Working with all of these prominent and established artists furthered Halls career and aided in producing his own bands, by 1960, Hall was living in New York. In 1962, he led a trio with Tommy Flanagan and Ron Carter—with the addition of Red Mitchell in 1965. Furthermore, he landed a gig playing with Bill Berry, Bob Brookmeyer, Benny Powell, Art Davis, most notably, he arranged and recorded duos with Evans and Carter, which allowed his complex arrangements and improvisations to shine. Hall was an arranger and composer as much as a performer, known for developing motives and these characteristics are showcased in his 1975 album Jim Hall Live. with Don Thompson and Terry Clarke. Around this time he recorded with pianist George Shearing and classical violinist Itzhak Perlman.
He further continued creating music with Mitchell and Ron Carter until 1985, in the 1990s, Hall continued to tour and record all over the world. His sidemen included drummers Bill Stewart and Andy Watson, and Joey Baron, bass players Scott Colley and Steve LaSpina, pianists Gil Goldstein, at times, Hall included Chris Potter and Greg Osby on the tenor saxophone. These players are featured on Halls video Master Sessions with Jim Hall from 1993, Hall appeared as a guest soloist in Michel Petruccianis trio with Wayne Shorter in 1986 and performed at the Village Vanguard with Bill Frisell. In 1990, he hosted the JVC Jazz Festival New York, after this, he played a number of duo concerts with Metheny
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, the BBC is the worlds oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total,16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting, the total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time and fixed contract staff are included. The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture and Sport. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBCs radio, TV, britains first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mails Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba broadcast caught the peoples imagination and marked a turning point in the British publics attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications.
By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests, John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved manufacturers, to this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform and entertain. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate, set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee and this was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired.
The BBCs broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, the BBC was banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00, and required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee, by now the BBC under Reiths leadership had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production and with restrictions on news bulletins waived the BBC suddenly became the source of news for the duration of the crisis.
The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position, the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PMs own
Lambeth
Lambeth is a district in Central London, located in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated 1 mile south of Charing Cross, the population of Lambeth was 23,937 in 2011. The area experienced some growth in the medieval period as part of the manor of Lambeth Palace. By the Victorian era the area had seen significant development as London expanded, the changes brought by World War II altered much of the fabric of Lambeth. Subsequent development in the late 20th century and early 21st century has seen an increase in the number of high-rise buildings, the area is home to the International Maritime Organization. The origins of the name of Lambeth come from its first record in 1062 as Lambehitha, meaning landing place for lambs, in the Domesday Book, Lambeth is called Lanchei, likely in error. The name refers to a harbour where lambs were either shipped from or to and it is formed from the Old English lamb and hythe. South Lambeth is recorded as Sutlamehethe in 1241 and North Lambeth is recorded in 1319 as North Lamhuth, the manor of Lambeth is recorded as being under ownership of the Archbishop of Canterbury from at least 1190.
The Archbishops led the development of much of the manor, with Archbishop Hubert Walter creating the residence of Lambeth Palace in 1197, Lambeth and the palace were the site of two important 13th century international treaties, the Treaty of Lambeth 1217 and the Treaty of Lambeth 1212. Edward, the Black Prince lived in Lambeth in the 14th century in an estate that incorporated the land not belonging to the Archbishops, which included Kennington. As such, much of the land of Lambeth to this day remains under Royal ownership as part of the estate of the Duchy of Cornwall. The road names, Norfolk Place and Norfolk Row reflect the history, Lambeth Palace lies opposite the southern section of the Palace of Westminster on the Thames. The two were linked by a horse ferry across the river. Until the mid-18th century the north of Lambeth was marshland, crossed by a number of roads raised against floods, the marshland in the area, known as Lambeth Marshe, was drained in the 18th century but is remembered in the Lower Marsh street name.
The subsequent growth in road and marine transport, along with the development of industry in the wake of the revolution brought great change to the area. The area grew with a population at this time, many of whom were considerably poor. As a result, Lambeth opened a workhouse in 1726. In 1777 a parliamentary report recorded a parish workhouse in operation accommodating up to 270 inmates and its operation was overseen by an elected Board of twenty Guardians
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of feature films and television programs. Its headquarters are in Beverly Hills, California and it is one of the worlds oldest film studios. In 1971, it was announced that MGM would merge with 20th Century Fox, over the next thirty-nine years, the studio was bought and sold at various points in its history until, on November 3,2010, MGM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. MGM Resorts International, a Las Vegas-based hotel and casino company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MGM, is not currently affiliated with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1966, MGM was sold to Canadian investor Edgar Bronfman Sr. whose son Edgar Jr. would buy Universal Studios, the studio continued to produce five to six films a year that were released through other studios, mostly United Artists. Kerkorian did, commit to increased production and a film library when he bought United Artists in 1981. MGM ramped up production, as well as keeping production going at UA.
It incurred significant amounts of debt to increase production, the studio took on additional debt as a series of owners took charge in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1986, Ted Turner bought MGM, but a few later, sold the company back to Kerkorian to recoup massive debt. The series of deals left MGM even more heavily in debt, MGM was bought by Pathé Communications in 1990, but Parretti lost control of Pathé and defaulted on the loans used to purchase the studio. The French banking conglomerate Crédit Lyonnais, the major creditor. Even more deeply in debt, MGM was purchased by a joint venture between Kerkorian, producer Frank Mancuso, and Australias Seven Network in 1996, the debt load from these and subsequent business deals negatively affected MGMs ability to survive as an independent motion picture studio. In 1924, movie theater magnate Marcus Loew had a problem and he had bought Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919 for a steady supply of films for his large Loews Theatres chain. With Loews lackluster assortment of Metro films, Loew purchased Goldwyn Pictures in 1924 to improve the quality, these purchases created a need for someone to oversee his new Hollywood operations, since longtime assistant Nicholas Schenck was needed in New York headquarters to oversee the 150 theaters.
Mayer, Loew addressed the situation by buying Louis B. Mayer Pictures on April 17,1924, Mayer became head of the renamed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with Irving Thalberg as head of production. MGM produced more than 100 feature films in its first two years, in 1925, MGM released the extravagant and successful Ben-Hur, taking a $4.7 million profit that year, its first full year. Marcus Loew died in 1927, and control of Loews passed to Nicholas Schenck, in 1929, William Fox of Fox Film Corporation bought the Loew familys holdings with Schencks assent. Mayer and Thalberg disagreed with the decision, Mayer was active in the California Republican Party and used his political connections to persuade the Justice Department to delay final approval of the deal on antitrust grounds
Leonard Feather
Leonard Geoffrey Feather was a British-born jazz pianist and producer who was best known for his music journalism and other writing. Feather was born in London into a strictly conformist upper middle-class Jewish family and he learned to play the piano and clarinet without formal training and started writing about jazz and film by his late teens. Feather was co-editor of Metronome magazine and served as chief jazz critic for the Los Angeles Times until his death. But it was as a writer on jazz that he made his biggest mark, Feather was for a time the most widely read. Even jazz enthusiasts who didnt read his books and articles would have known him from the notes that he wrote for hundreds of jazz albums. He wrote the lyrics to the jazz song Whisper Not, which were recorded by Ella Fitzgerald on her 1966 Verve release of the same name, feathers archives are held by the University of Idaho Librarys Special Collections & Archives department as part of the International Jazz Collections. Feather died in Sherman Oaks, nine days after his 80th birthday and he was the father of lyricist and songwriter Lorraine Feather.
Birdland 1954, Cats Vs. Chicks 1954, Winter Sequence 1956, West Coast vs. Carr, Digby Fairweather, ISBN 1-85828-528-3 Richard Cook & Brian Morton. The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD 6th edition, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 Leonard Feather pianist and producer appearing on Donald H. Gabors Continental 78 RPM Jazz Records
Accordion
Accordions are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type, colloquially referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist, the concertina and bandoneón are related, the harmonium and American reed organ are in the same family. The instrument is played by compressing or expanding the bellows while pressing buttons or keys, causing pallets to open and these vibrate to produce sound inside the body. Valves on opposing reeds of each note are used to make the instruments reeds sound louder without air leaking from each reed block. The performer normally plays the melody on buttons or keys on the manual. The accordion is widely spread across the world, nevertheless, in Europe and North America, some popular music acts make use of the instrument. Additionally, the accordion is used in cajun, jazz music. The piano accordion is the official city instrument of San Francisco, the oldest name for this group of instruments is harmonika, from the Greek harmonikos, meaning harmonic, musical.
Today, native versions of the accordion are more common. These names refer to the type of accordion patented by Cyrill Demian, accordions have many configurations and types. Similar to a bow, the production of sound in an accordion is in direct proportion to the motion of the player. The bellows is located between the right- and left-hand manuals, and is made from pleated layers of cloth and cardboard, with added leather and metal. It is used to pressure and vacuum, driving air across the internal reeds and producing sound by their vibration. These boxes house reed chambers for the right- and left-hand manuals, each side has grilles in order to facilitate the transmission of air in and out of the instrument, and to allow the sound to better project. The grille for the manual is usually larger and is often shaped for decorative purposes. The right-hand manual is used for playing the melody and the left-hand manual for playing the accompaniment. The manual mechanism of the instrument either enables the air flow, or disables it, the different types have varying components.
All instruments have reed ranks of some format, the most typical accordion is the piano accordion, which is used for many musical genres
