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http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=18-Nov-2016&lang=fr&s=12432
http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=18-Nov-2016&lang=fr&s=12432
18-Nov-2016
by Joan Grauman Morse
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Take a Chance with Dick Smollens (vocals)
Click to play sound file: Theme & Scherzo
 Sunday, November 6 was a sunny, beautiful day in Frederick, Maryland. By mid-afternoon, the Grauman home was filled to capacity with friends and neighbors, including a dozen “Joe Cerrito fans”, who drove two hours or more to hear his highly anticipated concert. Cheers, laughter, nonstop requests and a long standing ovation said it all. At 83 years old, Joe can still wow an audience with his amazing technical and improvisational skills, his ability to read and engage his audiences, and his love for music that permeates the entire room.That morning, Joe asked me to play a couple of duets with him. Considering we live in different states, we had no time except for Sunday morning to run through these pieces. The attached video of our duet of Joe’s lovely composition Joey, which he composed for his grandson several years ago, clearly shows Joe’s humor (he hit wrong notes during the first couple of measures to get a rise out of me and amuse the audience) and his masterful ability to improvise. This was the first time he ever played Joey as the back-up musician. Joe played a variety of well-received selections including Dizzy Fingers, Flight of the Bumblebee, several compositions by accordionist/composer Tony Dannon, popular standards and requests from the audience including an Argentinian tango. A surprise for Joe was a visit from his friend Dick Smolens, a singer and music historian, who is also in his 80s. We handed Dick a microphone and they performed a few duets for us. The duets were delightful, especially since the two had not seen each other in about eight months and had no opportunity to practice at all. Joe Cerrito’s versatility as a musician also extends to his skills as a composer and arranger. He has recently released a beautiful new composition, Theme & Scherzo (Catalog cerrito101). You can hear Joe performing this work – click the sound file above. |