Gus Viseur
Gustave Joseph Viseur (17 May 1915 – 25 August 1974)[note 1] was a Belgian/French accordionist.
Gus Viseur | |
---|---|
Born | Gustave Joseph Viseur 17 May 1915 Lessines, Belgium |
Died | 25 August 1974 59) Le Havre, France | (aged
Occupation | Accordionist |
Early life
Viseur was born in Lessines, Belgium, on 17 May 1915.[1] His father was a bargeman, so the family moved around a lot until 1920, when they settled in Paris.[2] Viseur was given basic instruction in how to play the accordion by his father from the age of eight, and then had lessons from a music professor.[2] Father and son played together in an amateur band from 1929.[2] After his father died,[2] Viseur "began performing on the streets of Paris in fairs and markets".[3]
Later life and career
In the early 1930s, Viseur played second accordion under bandleader Médard Ferrero.[2] In 1933, he met René "Charley" Bazin, and the two accordionists started improvising, inspired by hearing jazz.[2] This led to Viseur forming his own band in 1935.[2] It played in a variety of styles and recorded four tunes that year.[2] "Viseur had the reeds in his Fratelli Crosio accordion filed down and retuned", which replaced the traditional vibrato of a musette accordion with a more modern sound.[4]
Viseur "was a member of the orchestra led by the pianist Boris Sarbek, then worked in France and Belgium with Philippe Brun, Joseph Reinhardt, and his own quintet".[1] Together with guitarist Baro Ferret, Viseur added elements of swing to traditional musettes that they played from 1938 and into World War II.[5] He had more public attention after recording "L'Accordéoniste" with singer Édith Piaf in 1940.[6]
He toured the United States in 1963, then stopped playing and opened a record shop in Le Havre.[1] He started performing again around 1970,[1] and recorded the album Swing Accordéon the following year.[7] Viseur died in Le Havre on 25 August 1974.[1]
Representative recordings
- "Flambée montalbanaise"
- "Joseph, Joseph"
- "Automne"
- "Confessin'"
- "Douce joie"
- "Josette"
- "L'imprévu" (with Joseph Colombo)
- "Nuit de Paris" (with Tony Muréna)
- "Soir de dispute"
- "Souvenir de Bruxelles"
- "Swing accordéon"
- "Swing-valse" (with Pierre "Baro" Ferret)
- "La valse des niglos"
- "Le Bal du p'tit jardin"
- "Jeannette"
- "46ème avenue"
- "5 Juin"
- "El Victor"
- "Lorsque Django jouait"
- "De Clichy à Broadway"
See also
- Medard Ferrero
- El Ferrero
- Jo Privat
- Guerino and his orchestra
Notes
References
- Pernet, Robert (2003), Viseur, Gus(tave Joseph), Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, retrieved 8 March 2020
- Dregni 2008, p. 155.
- Johnson, Zac. "Gus Viseur". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
- Dregni 2008, pp. 155–156.
- Dregni 2008, pp. 99–100, 156.
- Dregni 2008, p. 157.
- Dregni 2008, p. 161.
Bibliography
- Dregni, Michael (2008). Gypsy Jazz: In Search of Django Reinhardt and the Soul of Gypsy Swing. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-531192-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)