Famed Players

An exhaustive list of jazz accordionist would be a daunting task without a doubt. Many names are sadly forgotten. Some men chose to forgo the accordion for the piano, organ, or other aspects of music entirely.

Below is but a small sampling of some of the terrific jazz artists that were once known as that strangest of bird, the Jazz Accordionist:

• George Shearing
• Leon Sash
• Pete Jolly
• Tony Dannon
• Kenny Kotwitz
• Tommy Ippolito
• Dominic Tremarkie
• Pete Selvaggio
• Frank Toscano
• Eddie Monteiro
• Pappy Mann
• Jack Emblow
• Vince Geraci
• Russ Messina
• Tito Guidotti
• Ernie Felice
• Mat Matthews
• Frank Sugia
• Bob Creash

There is literally dozens more that I could mention. sadly, recordings of most of these men are either nonexistent, or almost impossible to find. That is truly a shame.

I remember a funny anecdote about Pete Jolly. The world class jazz musicians he was performing with here in Chicago, had no idea that he played accordion in his early days. I'm sure there are plenty of "unknown" accordion players right under our noses.