Art Van Damme (April 9, 1920February 15, 2010) 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 instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a ree ...

ist. Van Damme toured Europe and was popular with jazz enthusiasts in Japan. Van Damme was married, and had three children. After he retired to

Roseville, California Roseville is the most populous city in Placer County, California, located within the Sacramento metropolitan area. As of 2019, the US Census Bureau estimated the city's population to be 141,500. Interstate 80 runs through Roseville and State Rout ...

, he continued to perform almost to the end of his life. He had been ill with

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...

for several weeks when he died on February 15, 2010, aged 89.Accordion news weekly
/ref>

Discography

As leader

* 1949: ''Cocktail Capers'' (

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

, CC-105 8rpm 3-disc album setH-178 0" LPT-178 2" LP * 1952: ''More Cocktail Capers'' (Capitol, H-300 0" LPT-300 2" LP * 1953: ''Martini Time'' (

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

, CL-6265 0" LPCL-630 2" LP * 1954: ''The Van Damme Sound'' (Columbia, CL-544 2" LP * 1956: ''House Party'' (Columbia, CL-2585 0" LP * 1956: ''Manhattan Time'' (Columbia, CL-801) * 1956: ''The Art Of Van Damme'' (Columbia, CL-876) (Philips, B-07189-L) * 1957: ''Once Over Lightly'' (w/

Jo Stafford Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917July 16, 2008) was an American traditional pop music singer, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classi ...

) (Columbia, CL-968) (Philips, B-07241-L) * 1958: ''They're Playing Our Song: Fifty Years Of Hit Songs'' (Columbia, C2L-7) 2LP * 1959: ''Everything's Coming Up Music'' (Columbia, CL-1382/CS-8177) * 1961: ''Accordion à la Mode'' (Columbia, CL-1563/CS-8363) * 1962: ''Art Van Damme Swings Sweetly'' (Columbia, CL-1794/CS 8594) * 1963: ''A Perfect Match'' (w/

Johnny Smith Johnny Henry Smith II (June 25, 1922 – June 11, 2013) was an American cool jazz and mainstream jazz guitarist. He wrote "Walk, Don't Run" in 1954. In 1984, Smith was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Early life During the Great D ...

) (Columbia, CL-2013/CS-8813) * 1964: ''Septet: The New Sound Of Art Van Damme'' (Columbia, CL-2192/CS-8992) * 1965: ''Lover Man!'' ( Pickwick, SPC-3009) compilation * 1967: ''Music For Lovers'' (

Harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. Howeve ...

, HL-7439/HS-11239) compilation * 1966: ''With Art Van Damme In San Francisco'' ( MPS, MPS 15073) (SABA, SB 15073 ST) * 1967: ''The Gentle Art Of Art'' (MPS, MPS 15114) (SABA, SB 15114 ST) * 1967: ''Ecstasy'' (MPS, MPS 15115) (SABA, SB 15115 ST) * 1968: ''Lullaby In Rhythm'' (MPS, MPS 15171) * 1968: ''Art In The Black Forest'' (MPS, MPS 15172) * 1969: ''On The Road'' (MPS, MPS 15235) * 1969: ''Art And Four Brothers'' (MPS, MPS 15236) * 1970: ''Blue World'' (MPS, MPS 15277) (

Pausa In linguistics, pausa (Latin for 'break', from Greek παῦσις, ''pausis'' 'stopping, ceasing') is the hiatus between prosodic declination units. The concept is somewhat broad, as it is primarily used to refer to allophones that occur in ce ...

, PR-7027) * 1970: ''Keep Going'' (MPS, MPS 15278) (Pausa, PR-7104) * 1972: ''The Many Moods Of Art'' (MPS/BASF, MC 25113) 2LP * 1973: ''Star Spangled Rhythm'' (MPS/BASF, MC 25157) 2LP * 1973: ''Squeezing Art & Tender Flutes'' (MPS, MPS 15372) (Pausa, PR-7126) * 1973: ''Art Van Damme with Strings'' (MPS, MPS 15412) - note: quintet (including

Eberhard Weber Eberhard Weber (born 22 January 1940, in Stuttgart, Germany) is a German double bassist and composer. As a bass player, he is known for his highly distinctive tone and phrasing. Weber's compositions blend chamber jazz, European classical music, m ...

and

Sigi Schwab Sig(g)i Schwab, real name Siegfried, (* August 5. 1940) in Ludwigshafen, is a German guitar player and teacher, having performed on more than 15,000 recordings for film, television, and as an accompanist to various artists. He plays in a wide var ...

)MPS Records, 'Art Van Damme with Strings' https://www.mps-music.com/releases/art-van-damme-with-strings/ recorded in 1973; strings added in 1979 (MPS, MPS 0068.239) * 1974: ''Invitation'' (w/

The Singers Unlimited The Singers Unlimited was a four-part jazz vocal group formed by Gene Puerling in 1971. The group included Len Dresslar (better known as the Jolly Green Giant in General Mills commercials), Bonnie Herman, and Don Shelton. History Gene Puerlin ...

) (MPS, MPS 15411) (Pausa, PR-7066) * 1978: ''By Request'' (Sonic Arts, LS-12) * 1979: ''Art In Sweden'' (Great Music Production, GLP-7915) * 1980: ''Live In Finland'' (Finlandia, NEA-LP-44) * 1981: ''Art & Liza'' (w/Liza Matson) (Svenska Media AB, SMTE-5003) * 1982: ''Art Van Damme * In Norway'' (CBS, 85586) * 1983: ''Pa Kungliga Djurgarden'' (Pi, PLP-005) * 1983: ''Art Van Damme And Friends'' (Pausa, PR-7151) * 1986: ''Art'' (Intersound, ISST-201) * 1995: ''Two Originals: Keep Going/Blue World'' (MPS, MPS 529093 CD) - reissues * 1998: ''The Van Damme Sound/Martini Time'' ( Collectables, 5870 CD) - reissues * 1999: ''Once Over Lightly/Manhattan Time'' (Collectors Choice Music, CCM-482 CD) - reissues * 2000: ''Accordion à la Mode/A Perfect Match'' (Collectables, 6633 CD) - reissues * 2000: ''State Of Art'' (MPS, MPS 841413 CD) * 2006: ''Swinging The Accordion On MPS'' (MPS, MPS 06024 98165812 CD) 5-CD box set * 2010: ''So Nice!'' (MPS, MPS 06025 27528595 CD) - note: reissue of ''Art Van Damme with Strings'' * 2016: ''A Perfect Match/Martini Time'' (Cheesecake, CD) - reissues

As sideman

Frances Bergen Frances Bergen (née Westerman; September 14, 1922 – October 2, 2006) was an American actress and fashion model. She was the wife of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the mother of actress Candice Bergen and film and television editor Kris ...

, 1956: ''The Beguiling Miss Frances Bergen'' (w/Art Van Damme Quintet) (Columbia, CL-873)

References

External links

WFMU: Art Van Damme "Nicollet Avenue Breakdown"Art Van Damme Quintet plays "Perdido" and "I Know That You Know" (1951)Accordions.com InterviewBBC Radio 2Art Van Damme Dies - Accordion Weekly NewsArt Van Damme Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2006) {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Damme, Art 1920 births 2010 deaths People from Norway, Michigan American jazz accordionists American male jazz musicians American radio personalities Capitol Records artists Columbia Records artists Deaths from pneumonia in California Jazz accordionists MPS Records artists Jazz musicians from Michigan Pausa Records artists People from Roseville, California Jazz musicians from California