Accordion
Dallas Vietty has played a central role in establishing and sustaining the accordion componant of Django in June for most of the event’s history (now over 20 years!) Since it’s been a few years since he served on staff, we asked him to update his profile here—so here you have it in his own words. Welcome back, Dallas!
These days I’m performing mostly in the Philly/NY/DC area, and the Los Angeles/San Diego area. But I grew up playing music in public school and with friends in the Mojave Desert of Southern California.
In fact, I’m still playing with friends – as in this video with Mike Nikolidakis:
My first experience teaching music was in high school as the clarinet section leader. I taught our section the arrangements and the formations on the football field. In the jazz band, I taught the younger rhythm section musicians. In college I gave jazz lessons to my classical piano professor and also taught at several music shops. I love teaching. Teaching is another way to work with the fabric of music, which is a wonderful and pleasurable thing.
Marcel Loeffler told me my playing sounded like a cross between a pianist and a saxophonist – how right he was!
To learn to play accordion well I followed the path to legendary French accordion pedagogues Frederic Deschamps, Jacques Mornet, and Natalie Bouchiex. I share with my students the beauty and brilliance I have learned from them. My jazz sensibilities come from my early life education in jazz piano, my existence as an American, and the musical experiences I have had the privilege to be a part of over 20 years as a career musician. My jazz manouche sensibilities come from Django, of course, but even more so from the long lineage of swinging French accordionists: Visuer, Privat, Azzolla, Galliano, Loeffler, and Beier, to name some of my favorites.
As a leader my groups have performed at Musikfest, TEDx Philly, Djangoary Festival, Charm City Django Festival, and festivals around the U.S. As a sideman I have performed on Broadway as the accordionist in Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish 2019/2020, for Djangofest Northwest with Rhythm Future Quartet 2019, with Ultrafaux on numerous gigs and the record Tangent, along Frenchman street with Russell Welch and Dr Sick, as sideman with others at The Iridium NYC, BB King’s Time Square, Dizzy’s Club at Lincoln Center, the Philadelphia Kimmel Center, performances across the beautiful city New Orleans, and two tours of Switzerland with Grammy winning clarinetist Linus Wyrsch.
I’m honored and thrilled to be back at Django in June this year. See you there!