Complete Recorded Works, Volume 1
Guido Deiro

Guido Deiro: Complete Recorded Works, Volume 1

The greatest piano-accordion player ever to grace the instrument! Compiled with the assistance of Guido Deiro's son, Count Roberto Guido Deiro, and featuring the scholarship of master accordion player Henry Doktorski. Tracks range from light classical and operatic to ragtime and the pop hits of the day.  List price: $34.99

OVERVIEW

  • Catalogue number: ARCH 5012
  • UPC: 778632900370
  • Original release date: May 16, 2007
  • Running length: 76:23 / 25 tracks
  • Notes & packaging: Includes a 24 page full-color booklet
  • Tracks recorded: 1911-1912
  • Volume 1 of The Complete Guido Deiro
  • In Archeophone’s Pioneers series
Tracks and Sound SamplesProduct DescriptionPackage DealsMore by this Artist
 Sample all tracks 
Tracklist
1. Sharpshooter’s March Guido Deiro ca. 1911
2. La Spagnola Guido Deiro ca. 1911
3. Los Bomberos Guido Deiro ca. 1911
4. A Palermo Guido Deiro ca. 1911
5. Ave Maria Guido Deiro ca. 1911
6. Il Trovatore Guido Deiro ca. 1911
7. Ciribiribin Guido Deiro ca. 1911
8. Quartet from Rigoletto Guido Deiro ca. 1911
9. La Sorella Guido Deiro ca. 1911
10. Dolores Guido Deiro ca. 1911
11. Variety Polka Guido Deiro ca. 1911
12. My Treasure Waltz [take 1] Guido Deiro ca. 1911
13. My Treasure Waltz [take 2] Guido Deiro ca. 1911
14. Orazione e Marcia Militare Guido Deiro ca. 1911
15. O Marenariello Guido Deiro ca. 1911
16. La Traviata (Prelude to Act 3) Guido Deiro ca. 1911
17. Dill Pickles Rag Guido Deiro ca. 1911
18. Cavallaria Ligeira (Light Cavalry Overture) Guido Deiro ca. 1911
19. In the Land of Harmony and “Stop Stop Stop” Guido Deiro ca. 1911
20. Poet and Peasant Overture Guido Deiro ca. 1911
21. O Sole Mio Guido Deiro ca. 1912
22. Egitto Guido Deiro ca. 1912
23. Tango Tosino Guido Deiro ca. 1912
24. Cavalleria Rusticana (Intermezzo) Guido Deiro ca. 1912
25. Italian Army March Guido Deiro ca. 1911

Count Guido Pietro Deiro (1886-1950) was, without doubt, the first star of the piano-accordion. Born in Italy, he immigrated to the United States in 1908 and became a vaudeville headliner in 1910. For two decades he was the premier piano-accordionist in America and a trailblazer in the field. Deiro was the first piano-accordionist to perform a solo concert in America, play on the vaudeville stage, perform as a soloist in vaudeville, use the name “piano-accordion,” make sound recordings of the piano-accordion, write a hit song (his “Kismet” was the theme song of a successful Broadway musical), play on a radio broadcast, and star in a sound motion picture featuring the accordion. Furthermore, Deiro was one of the highest paid musicians on the vaudeville circuit, commanding an incredible salary of $600 per week. And at the same time—though few people realize it today—he was married to the beautiful actress Mae West.

Maestro of the Piano-Accordion

There has been much confusion about the origins and popularization of the piano-accordion, and this first volume of Guido Deiro’s works will begin to dispel the myths and demonstrate that Guido was the one to introduce the instrument to a wide audience in America. After coming to the U.S., Guido settled with family in the Pacific Northwest and gradually made his way, playing at the World’s Fair in Seattle in 1909 and creating quite a stir. By 1910, Guido had made a name for himself, performing “Sharpshooters’ March” and “My Treasure Waltz,” and turning what had been an ethnic instrument into a virtuosic crowd-pleaser. Volume 1 of Guido’s Complete Recorded Works witnesses approximately a year and a half of Deiro’s rise to stardom.

An Expert at Different Styles

Guido shows here that he could play anything. He succeeds equally at marches (“Los Bomberos”), waltzes (“La Spagnola” and “Ciribiribin”), devotionals (Gounod’s “Ave Maria”), operatic arias (“Prelude to Act 3 of La Traviata” and “Quartet from Rigoletto”), rags (“Dill Pickles Rag”), and popular songs “(“‘In the Land of Harmony’ and ‘Stop! Stop! Stop!'”). Two other pieces, “Variety Polka” and “Egitto,” are Deiro originals showing off the composer’s skills with the polka and with a classical fantasia. Guido could produce multiple voices from his instrument in the same performance, thereby giving his playing an orchestral quality.

Original Research and Illustrations from Guido’s Family

Notes are provided by noted accordionist and free-reed scholar, Henry Doktorski, and Count Guido Roberto Deiro, the son of Guido Deiro. Count Deiro has also provided photos and illustrations from his own family’s collection in helping us achieve a top-notch product of stunning visual beauty. Together, Doktorski and Deiro are telling Guido’s story for the first time and restoring him to his rightful place in the history of the piano-accordion.

Accolades from Guido Deiro’s Son

It has been our privilege to work with Count Guido Roberto Deiro in assembling this musical and historical tribute to his father, Guido Deiro. He writes:

“I was brought to tears as I reviewed the material and realized how proud my father would have been to see and hear his works and his early successes published. It has taken me over fifty years to accomplish what my father had asked me to do just before he passed away; forever remember his musical contributions and somehow correct the early history of the introduction and popularization of the instrument. This work could not have been accomplished without the collaboration of a number of brilliant, talented people, not the least of whom are Henry Doktorski, Richard Martin and Meagan Hennessey. My heartfelt thanks to you, and be assured to know what a relief and a joy it is to me to have been able to live up to the promise I made to my father so many years ago.”

This release has been removed from our package deals until it is back in stock.

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