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http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=18-Sep-2015&lang=de&s=10887
http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=18-Sep-2015&lang=de&s=10887
18-Sep-2015
by Rob Howard
|
 Ernie Felice, one of America’s all-time famous jazz accordionists and singers, has passed away at the grand age of 93. Born in Campbell, California, 1922, young Ernie used to watch accordionists playing at weddings and other festive occasions. He took lessons from Earl Sylvester and won the California Juvenile Championship for two successive years, when he was nine and ten years old. When the Felice family moved into San Jose, California, Ernie continued to study music until he finished school. He often played at parties, either solo or with a drummer. A neighbour who played saxophone asked Ernie to work out some sax arrangements for him. Ernie, who was studying arranging in school, experimented on his accordion, playing up to four different sax parts simultaneously. He liked the different effect, promptly adopting it in his attempt to modernize his style. San Jose State College gave a yearly show called the Spartan Revelries. The Musical Director of the event, a friend of Ernie's, invited him to do the show score in 1936. It featured a large orchestra. Ernie's score was sensationally successful. After that, Ernie associated all his accordion arrangements with the music of a large band. After graduation from High School in 1937, Ernie joined a small group in San Francisco, known as the Four Sharps. They played at Tommy Harris' club on Geary Street (Tommy's). Duke Ellington, then appearing at the Golden Gate Theater, used to drop by often. He encouraged young Ernie to stick to his original style and develop it. The Four Sharps stayed in San Francisco almost two years. They were booked at the Los Angeles Town House, where they remained for six months. At their next engagement, the Colorado Springs Broadmoor Hotel, they were equally successful. Bing Crosby saw their act and gave Ernie more praise and encouragement. The group disbanded because of enlistment following Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941, and Ernie entered the Army Air Corps, and was assigned to an entertainment unit, which toured the country helping to sell bonds and to promote recruitment. When the war ended Ernie met Benny Goodman, and joined his sextet. "As a kid, I listened to Benny Goodman for inspiration. I loved the way Benny's full saxophone section played, and that's how I followed with my style of swing. The clarinetist in my groups played lead and I played what would have been four or five instruments underneath on the accordion. My voicing emulated how Benny's sax section sounded.” The couple of years spent performing and recording with Goodman strongly influenced the way Ernie Felice played thereafter. Working mostly with his quartet - accordion, clarinet, guitar and bass - Ernie had a long and very successful career. He played and sang in cabaret, recorded for Capitol, appeared in the Hollywood movies The Big Clock (1948), Smooth Sailing (1947), Panic in the Streets (1950), and With A Song In My Heart (1952), and was often featured on the radio and TV. His many accomplishments are detailed on an interesting website www.erniefelice.com, maintained by his son, Dan Felice. Ernie Felice died peacefully in his sleep on September 13th 2015 at the age of 93. |