Alice Hall (June 1917 – 2000, born Alice Marie Laquiere in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium) was a jazz accordionist. She released a single recording in 1949.

Early life

Hall was raised in Detroit, Michigan, after her family emigrated. Her father was a musician who taught her drums and accordion so she could accompany him on stage. She played European-style

chromatic button accordion A chromatic button accordion is a type of button accordion where the melody-side keyboard consists of rows of buttons arranged chromatically. The bass-side keyboard is usually the Stradella system or one of the various free-bass systems. Inc ...

with a "finto-piano" (false piano) keyboard similar to that used by

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic compositio ...

accordionist

Pietro Frosini Pietro Frosini (9 August 1885 – 2 September 1951) was one of the first famous "stars of the accordion." He was born in Catania, Sicily, in 1885 and began to play the chromatic button accordion at the age of six. In 1905 he emigrated to San Fr ...

and jazz accordionist

Leon Sash Leon Robert Sash (October 19, 1922 – November 25, 1979), was an American jazz accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instrume ...

. She began working professionally at age 13 on the radio in Detroit. To ensure she had places to perform, her father opened a bar, the Blue Star, where he could watch over her. She started a band with her sister Rachel playing drums and accordion. During World War II they were advertised in ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' as "2 Boys, 2 Girls, Sax, Piano, Accordion, drums."

Career

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His conce ...

invited her to on tour, but the club owner where she was playing refused to release her contract. She declined when

Jack Teagarden Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden (August 20, 1905 – January 15, 1964) was an American jazz trombonist and singer. According to critic Scott Yannow of Allmusic, Teagarden was the preeminent American jazz trombone player before the bebop era of the 19 ...

asked her to join his orchestra, explaining later, "Playing with a

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

, you know how many chances you get to play sixteen bars of something or eight bars of something and that's it? You know, there's nothing there.... I wanted to prove that something can be done on this instrument, other than playing just the ordinary, 'Jolly Caballero' stuff, you know?" Hall left minimal recordings, saying in a 1997

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

interview that she had been "too busy gigging to record much." She signed with

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

in 1948 but her recording was delayed by the 1948 Musicians Union recording ban, which followed the larger

1942–44 musicians' strike Year 194 ( CXCIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Septimius and Septimius (or, less frequently, year 947 ''Ab urbe c ...

. She released one known commercial 78 rpm disc, " Pennies from Heaven"/"

Caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Camel train, a convoy using camels as pack animals *Convoy, a group of veh ...

" on Capitol in 1949. A copy of her 78 is in the holdings of a Swedish accordion museum (" dragspel"). Hall later taped several demos and these and some rough live recordings were self-released in the 1990s.

Later life

In the 1970s Hall dropped out of music and checked herself into a hospital for depression. She spent the rest of her life dedicated to the instrument and supporting other accordion players. She published the ''Friends of the Accordion'' newsletter in Los Angeles. Her version of "

What Is This Thing Called Love? "What Is This Thing Called Love?" is a 1929 popular song written by Cole Porter, for the musical '' Wake Up and Dream''. It was first performed by Elsie Carlisle in March 1929. The song has become a popular jazz standard and one of Porter's most ...

" was included in the 1995 Planet Squeezebox compilation.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Alice American jazz accordionists Musicians from Brussels