Thomas Joseph Gumina (May 20, 1931 in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

– October 28, 2013) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

accordionist and musical instrument builder. Gumina began playing accordion at age eleven, and took lessons on the instrument in Chicago throughout the second half of the 1940s. He began working with

Harry James Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized ...

on television in 1952 as an accompanist for popular tunes, and in 1955 Gumina began working on his own, both solo and with an ensemble. He recorded with

Buddy DeFranco Boniface Ferdinand Leonard "Buddy" DeFranco (February 17, 1923 – December 24, 2014) was an Italian-American jazz clarinetist. In addition to his work as a bandleader, DeFranco led the Glenn Miller Orchestra for almost a decade in the 1960s and ...

and Willie Smith in the 1960s, and began experimenting with modifying an electric accordion, whose amplified sound resembled that of an

electronic organ An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has since developed ...

."Tommy Gumina". '' The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz''. 2nd edition, ed. Barry Kernfeld. He was occasionally active as a performer in the 1970s (e.g., with Art Pepper in 1974), but increasingly concentrated on his amplifier manufacturing business, Polytone Musical Instruments, which was based in

North Hollywood, California North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...

. He and

Joe Pass Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. Pass is well known for his work stemming from numerous collaborations with pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, an ...

co-founded Polytone Records in 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gumina, Tommy 1931 births 2013 deaths American jazz accordionists Musicians from Milwaukee