A diamond in the rough.... from my vinyl vault: Jo Basile & His Orchestra, "Play Music From The Hit Musical Cabaret"

Jo Basile's accordion covers of, "Cabaret"

I picked up this particular record on a special trip to meet my girlfriend/now fiance's parents for the first time, and also to help her drive her car back from Texas. On the way back we stopped to visit her brother in Missouri before coming back to Virginia, and while we were there we stopped at an antique place near her brother's house where I was lucky enough to score this Jo Basile album.

The title basically says it all, but for those who aren't familiar with Jo Basile and his albums; what is quite peculiar about this album is that he often just does accordion instrumentals of folk/world music and each album usually tends to just focus on one country/ethnic style at a time. Never before have I seen or heard of him doing a musical, usually he always sticks to a certain country as the basic theme per each album. So common was this particular stance of his, that I don't know if besides this and the, My World album (Jo Basile also played clarinet- but often did not mention, reveal, or perform any clarinet on any of his other albums much at all or possibly ever- except the My World album).

Basile continually churned out countless incredible albums with various standards from around the globe and performing them into beautiful arrangements for accordion from one album to the next. This album is no exception, except for its focus being on the musical, Cabaret. If you've ever seen the famous film verison of the musical with Liza Minnelli, then you already should be aware that its a perfect fit for the accordion; due to its usage of it in various scenes throughout the duration of the film.

The main theme itself soars beautifully as the record first starts spinning; the backing music of this manages to be both aligned with what you would expect and somewhat parallel to the film version, but somehow more energetic and sincere and minus the comedic aspects. Basile's version of the title track is in itself a showstopper, full of pizazz and excellent showmanship. Things then get to a finger-snapping groove with the swinging number of, "Don't Tell Ma". A transition into, "Pineapple" starts with a bouncy and circus-like introduction; flowing into a smooth calming moment before coming full circle where it started. "What Would You Do" is both mysterious and suspenseful; full of ticking and clacking in the backing percussion before fading into the cheery, "Meeskite". "Meeskite" is a particularly neat number, with equal amounts of swing and melody, both catchy, and also boasting a nice saxophone solo.

Back of cover.

As we flip to side B, the charm continues with, "Willkommen"- a rather addictive melody, and quite a climatic point of the album, appropriately placed at this middle moment of the record. Things take an exciting melodic turn with the enchanting moods of, "Married" with its bicycle-bells and light waltz backing rhythm, fluttering melody fills with the main melody re-inserted by the light and breezy lead guitar. This then blends like musical camouflage into, "So What?" where the chorus picks up with a loud crashing energetic rather fast waltz chorus, complete with a booming tuba as the backbone of the alternating bass line. The record comes to a close with the light, "Tomorrow Belongs To Me", a pretty little number that helps the record give this instrumental dedication to Cabaret the perfect touch with the final ring out being the closing curtain of another show well done. Jo Basile's albums are always a delight, never a dull moment. As far as accordion instrumental albums go, his are always a must. In fact, he's pretty underrated compared to say Frankie Yankovic or Dick Contino for example; his music is just as talented and just as skillful, and arguably is melodically and stylistically more beautiful.

A diamond in the rough...... from my vinyl vault: Mel Brandt's, "Accordion Favorites".

Mel Brandt's, "Accordion Favorites"

I have to admit I don't know much about Mel Brandt, and I don't know if this is the same Mel Brandt as the SNL guy or not- which is who comes up when you google the name- I'm assuming probably not- but to be honest, I know nothing about the SNL Mel-Brandt to know if this the same person or not. I'm also not totally sure if this is his only record or not, but if there ever were others- I can't find any trace or record of anything else on the internet- and as far as I can tell, sadly this is the only one. However, on the bright side this record- is an incredible accordion instrumental and definitely a diamond in the rough in my collection. I often seek out various accordion instrumental records in thrift stores, as luckily they aren't in demand and usually go for cheap- typically $1 to $3- so if you happen to stumble upon a thrift store with a ton of vinyl, you can find a decent handful of some interesting finds for little money. This one though, was actually one I bought off Amazon for a change. I received mine in excellent condition- plays perfectly, very slight wearing on the sleeve. It's not necessarily rare, but I've never been lucky enough to stumble on it in person, so I got it fairly cheap for $7, which is slightly higher than I'd pay in a thrift, but then again no one else had it- and given it was incredible shape, it was a fair deal.I was particularly interested in it for its song selection, though I hadn't heard this one- I simply collect accordion instrumentals from the get go- on top of which, this one I noticed contained two favorites of mine, "Dark Eyes" a wonderful Russian tune, and though there are many countless versions of this song- both accordion versions, along with hundreds of others in general- it's always a song with hearing, no matter how many reinterpretations of it there are. Also, the song, "Fascination" which I had at the time recently started to play myself, and is also simply a song I really love. It's just a beautiful simple instrumental, but its very peaceful and memorable and well written, just soaring strong melodies- so I knew this recorded version of that song would be interesting, and of course it's beautiful! As an added bonus too, the version I bought (and it doesn't seem to rare- but neat nevertheless) the disc itself is a really nice looking bright transparent sorta gold and yellow color, I know its also out there in regular black too- I'm not aware of any other colors. Sometimes this costs extra, so it was just icing on the cake that it didn't seem to cost more because of this. Then again, its not like this record is in demand, but eh- fine by me- I really love it.

Beautiful transparent golden yellow disc

As for the material on the record itself- its wonderful. "Besame Mucho" was another reason the record interested me, its a Mexican song (I used to play it actually- and think I remember it too- or most of it)- I've heard one or two other recorded accordion instrumental versions of it as well- the record itself consists of: as mentioned before: "Fascination", "Dark Eyes", and "Besame Mucho"- and also: "Maria Elena", "You Belong To My Heart", "Perfidia", "Tico Tico", "Adios Muchachos", "Come Back to Sorrento", "Humoresque", "Barcarolle", and "Song of India". Sure as far as accordion instrumental records go, yes this is somewhat typical and these are basically standards if you will; not dissimilar to Ella Fitzgerald and a hundred other jazz vocalists doing countless versions of, "Makin' Whoopee", "Honeysuckle Rose", or, "Dream a Little Dream", etc.

It's not the fact that these have been done before that matters, its the fact that these are amazing versions- and quite possibly- arguably some of the best accordion standard versions recorded of these batch of songs around. The melodies prevail and don't fall short due to an over assertiveness of showmanship and cramming as many notes as possible- don't get me wrong- there is plenty of flair when it comes to the musicianship; just not showing off simply for the sake of showing off- and that allows the songs to breathe and be the gorgeous melodies that they are. That's what made this particular instrumental record stand out to me. Mel Brandt certainly didn't do anything groundbreaking or reinvent any wheels, etc. The bottomline is he made a fantastic and beautifully melodic instrumental record, one that will never leave my collection, as the melodies float freely and prove it worth of every spin the needle makes around it.