Dominic Cortese Obituary (long posting)

[Peter Soave]

The accordion world has lost a giant. Reprint from the February issue
of the International Musician's Union (Local 802 AFM) newspaper
(Allegro):

Dominic Cortese, 80, undoubtedly the most widely recorded accordionist
in the country, died on Aug. 9, 2001.
Mr. Cortese began recording in the late 1950's, at a time when there was
a great demand for instrumentalists to record sessions with exotic or
romantic themes. He became known as the quintessential Italian
accordion player through a series of recordings on the Time and Command
label, such as "Accordion Magic," "Accordion Italy" and "Accordion
Continental." He also played in several groups that seemed more
inspired by unique artists such as Spike Jones and Raymond Scott. In
"Tito And His Swingtet," Mr. Cortese played tunes such as the immortal
"Nightmare of a Termite."
When the music industry and public taste shifted from these instrumental
novelties, Mr. Cortese became a first-call session player who was
greatly in demand by top artists. Some major credits were Bob Dylan's
"Desire," a half-dozen Billy Joel albums, Elvis Presley's "Viva Las
Vegas" soundtrack and the "Beauty and the Beast" soundtrack.
Mr. Cortese's playing is heard on an extraordinary range of recordings.
Pop artists include Tony Bird, Raquel Bitton, Uri Caine, Al Caiola, Dick
Contino, Dick Dia, Bob Dylan, Art Garfunkel, The Gaylords, Ian Hunter,
Dick Hyman, Billy Joel, Mitch Miller, Tony Mottola, Zina Pavlova, Peter,
Paul & Mary, John Pizzarelli, Elvis Presley, Don Sebesky etc.....Among
the jazz artists he recorded with are Ron Carter, Larry Coryell, Mark
Feldman, Steve Lacy, Jaco Pastorious. He appeared in several films,
including Easy Money, Happiness, Moonstruck and Cradle Will Rock

[Ralph Stricker]

His death is a loss that will be hard to replace.
Regards
Ralph Stricker
"Peter Soave" <Soave...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:15060-3C...@storefull-2173.public.lawson.webtv.net...