Art Van Damme

Art Van Damme (April 9, 1920^[1] – February 15, 2010^[2]) was am American jazz accordionist.

Biography

Born in Norway, Michigan, he began playing the accordion at age nine and started classical study when his family moved to Chicago in 1934. In 1941 he joined Ben Bernie's band as an accordionist. He adapted Benny Goodman's music to the accordion. From 1945 to 1960 he worked for NBC, performing on The Dinah Shore Show, Tonight, The Dave Garroway Show and other radio and TV shows with Garroway. He recorded 130 episodes of the 15-minute The Art Van Damme Show for NBC Radio. He once said he did so many performances on a continual basis he never needed to practice.

Van Damme toured Europe and was popular with jazz listeners in Japan^[3] and regularly won the domestic Down Beat reader's poll for his instrument.

Van Damme was married, and had three children. After he retired to Roseville, California he continued to perform almost to the end of his life. He had been ill with pneumonia for several weeks when he died on February 15, 2010 at the age of 89.^[2]

Discography

1950 Cocktail Capers (Capitol, CC-105 [78rpm 3-disc album set]/H-178 [10" LP]/T-178 [12" LP])
1952 More Cocktail Capers (Capitol, H-300 [10" LP]/T-300 [12" LP])
1953 Martini Time (Columbia, CL-6265 [10" LP]/CL-630 [12" LP])
1954 The Van Damme Sound (Columbia, CL-544 [12" LP])
1956 House Party (Columbia, CL-2585 [10" LP])
1956 Manhattan Time (Columbia, CL-801)
1956 The Beguiling Miss Frances Bergen (w/Art Van Damme Quintet) (Columbia, CL-873)
1956 The Art Of Van Damme (Columbia, CL-876) (Philips, B-07189-L)
1957 Once Over Lightly (w/Jo Stafford) (Columbia, CL-968) (Philips, B-07241-L)
1958 They're Playing Our Song: Fifty Years Of Hit Songs (Columbia, C2L-7) 2LP
1959 Everything's Coming Up Music (Columbia, CL-1382/CS-8177)
1961 Accordion à la Mode (Columbia, CL-1563/CS-8363)
1962 Art Van Damme Swings Sweetly (Columbia, CL-1794/CS 8594)
1963 A Perfect Match (w/Johnny Smith) (Columbia, CL-2013/CS-8813)
1964 Septet: The New Sound Of Art Van Damme (Columbia, CL-2192/CS-8992)
1965 Lover Man! (Pickwick, SPC-3009) compilation
1967 Music For Lovers (Harmony, HL-7439/HS-11239) compilation
1966 With Art Van Damme In San Francisco (MPS, MPS 15073) (SABA, SB 15073 ST)
1967 The Gentle Art Of Art (MPS, MPS 15114)
1967 Ecstasy (MPS, MPS 15115) (SABA, SB 15115 ST)
1968 Lullaby In Rhythm (MPS, MPS 15171)
1968 Art In The Black Forest (MPS, MPS 15172)
1969 On The Road (MPS, MPS 15235)
1969 Art And Four Brothers (MPS, MPS 15236)
1970 Blue World (MPS, MPS 15277) (Pausa, PR-7027)
1970 Keep Going (MPS, MPS 15278) (Pausa, PR-7104)
1972 The Many Moods Of Art (MPS/BASF, MC 25113) 2LP
1973 Star Spangled Rhythm (MPS/BASF, MC 25157) 2LP
1973 Squeezing Art & Tender Flutes (MPS, MPS 15372) (Pausa, PR-7126)
1973 Art Van Damme with Strings (MPS, MPS 15412) reissued in 1979
1974 Invitation (w/The Singers Unlimited) (MPS/BASF, MC 22016) (Pausa, PR-7066)
1978 By Request (Sonic Arts, LS-12)
1979 Art In Sweden (Great Music Production, GLP-7915)
1980 Live In Finland (Finlandia, NEA-LP-44)
1981 Art & Liza (w/Liza Matson) (Svenska Media AB, SMTE-5003)
1983 Pa Kungliga Djurgarden (Pi, PLP-005)
1983 Art Van Damme And Friends (Pausa, PR-7151)
1986 Art (Intersound, ISST-201)
1995 Two Originals: Keep Going/Blue World (MPS, MPS 529093 CD) reissues
1998 The Van Damme Sound/Martini Time (Collectables, 5870 CD) reissues
1999 Once Over Lightly/Manhattan Time (Collectors Choice Music, CCM-482 CD) reissues
2000 Accordion à la Mode/A Perfect Match (Collectables, 6633 CD) reissues
2000 State Of Art (MPS, MPS 841413 CD)
2006 Swinging The Accordion On MPS (MPS, MPS 06024 98165812 CD) 5CD box set
2010 So Nice! (MPS, MPS 06025 27528595 CD)

References

External links

[1] Allmusic biography

[accordions-2] Accordion news weekly

[3] 1960 Japanese Downbeat Readers Poll

[1]

[2]

[3]

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF WorldCat
National	Germany United States France BnF data Netherlands Norway Finland Belgium
Artists	MusicBrainz
People	DDB
Other	IdRef