A good start on a rich subject.
A solid, readable academic inquiry into accordion technology and culture, showing how the instrument has adapted to changing times and trends.
This book holds plenty of interest for those who love accordion music, not merely academics who study the instrument or musicians who play it. (The author is both.) What Jacobson terms a “biography of the accordion” traces the development and popular appeal of an instrument that could function as a whole band, is much less expensive and more portable than a piano, followed the immigration patterns of Italians and Eastern Europeans and flourished in the American cities where they clustered, was all but killed by rock ’n’ roll, yet has found new life in a variety of different contexts. “The story of the accordion after 1908 is about people who at critical moments redefined the technology of the instrument as well as the culture surrounding the instrument,” writes the author. She documents the instrument’s various image makeovers, striving for the legitimacy of high culture while attempting to shake its associations with cheesiness, tawdriness (the instrument of the bordello and the saloon) and working-class ethnicity. Jacobson deservedly shines the spotlight on a variety of accordionists: Guido Deiro, who “experienced the most dramatic rise to success in accordion history” and was once married to Mae West; Dick Contino, a would-be teen idol; Myron Floren, far more of a virtuoso than Lawrence Welk; and Frankie Yankovic, a huge crossover recording success. Yet the author slights the likes of Clifton Chenier and zydeco, Flaco Jimenez and conjunto, Los Lobos and Cajun accordion music, focusing more on the less-indigenous Brave Combo and They Might Be Giants. The “Accordions Are In!” ad campaign for the Tiger Combo ’Cordion reflects the humor here that is too rare in academic writing.
A good start on a rich subject.Pub Date: April 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-252-03675-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Univ. of Illinois
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
