José Melis left the Tonight Show band when Jack Paar left, so Johnny Carson started his tenure with the returning Skitch Henderson as bandleader. But Henderson had greater aspirations than just working in television and left Tonight after four years with Carson. Arranger, composer, bandleader, producer and accordion player, Milton Delugg got the call to take over the job. Delugg had a long-running relationship with NBC that started in 1950 where he conducted for the pioneering late night program Broadway Open House. Before that, he was a ready session musician and had no shortage of work as the "only" jazz accordionist in Los Angeles. He wrote prolifically and recorded occasionally releasing a debut album Add-A-Part Jazz with The All-Stars in 1961 on Columbia Records.
Milton Delugg gives the album most of its listenability just for the rarity of the accordion in jazz. He shows off the instrument's flexibility by shifting between laying down a melodic line overtop the rhythm section or adding volume to the horns. He uses the accordion's nimble dynamic shifts to give a little subtlety to the brass and even uses its breath for the occasional sustained drone (though not nearly often enough.) The other standout instrument is the piano (played by either Hank Jones or Bernie Leighton) which hits such soft and minimal solos that are beautiful in their spareness...except that they're not actually piano solos if you buy into the album's novelty...because this is a jazz album to which the listener can play along.
Milton Delugg gives the album most of its listenability just for the rarity of the accordion in jazz. He shows off the instrument's flexibility by shifting between laying down a melodic line overtop the rhythm section or adding volume to the horns. He uses the accordion's nimble dynamic shifts to give a little subtlety to the brass and even uses its breath for the occasional sustained drone (though not nearly often enough.) The other standout instrument is the piano (played by either Hank Jones or Bernie Leighton) which hits such soft and minimal solos that are beautiful in their spareness...except that they're not actually piano solos if you buy into the album's novelty...because this is a jazz album to which the listener can play along.
So during those otherwise daringly quiet moments where it's just the rhythm section, that's actually when the listener gets to solo. Just imagine the instruments that could be given a jazz turn: sousaphone, jewish harp, mellotron, talk box, ocarina, tubular bells, otamotone, etc. The violin is a good choice if you want to sound even more like you're playing inside a French cafe or perhaps the recorder for the aspiring, jazz-curious student. And to play with such All-Stars who, even without the add-a-part, take simplified material and rudimentary arrangements and make them worth the spin.
Here is the discography surrounding Milton Delugg's debut album:
Pickle in the Middle (And the Mustard on Top) (1946 single with The Swing Wing and Artie "Mr. Kitzel" Auerbach)
Hoop-De-Doo Polka (1950 single)
Love, Mystery and Adventure (1951 single with His Orchestra)
Shake Hands with Santa Claus (1951 single with His Orchestra)
The Wang Wang Blues (1951 single with His Orchestra)
Add-A-Part Jazz
Milton Delugg with Matty Malneck and His Orchestra
"One O'Clock Jump" by Milton Delugg and The All-Stars
"Pickle in the Middle (And the Mustard on Top)" by Artie "Mr. Kitzel" Auerbach with Milton Delugg and The Swing Wing
"Love, Mystery and Adventure" by Milton Delugg and His Orchestra
Pass the Headphones!!
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