Guido Deiro
1886-1950
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Compact Disc: Complete Recorded Works of Guido Deiro, Vol. 1

Archeophone Records has released the first volume of The Complete Recorded Works of Guido Deiro, which features 25 original recordings by the world's first master of the piano-accordion and a 24-page booklet with 15 historic photographs, biographical information and song notes written by noted Deiro and accordion scholar Henry Doktorski. Total Time: 76:23. Released May 2007.

To order a copy of this CD personally autographed to the purchaser by Deiro's son, Count Guido Roberto Deiro, send check or money order for $24.99 plus shipping to:

Count Guido Roberto Deiro
Villa Kismet
7007 Whispering Sands Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89131-3348

Shipping and handling charge to anywhere in the United States is $3.50. Foreign orders must add $9.95 for shipping.


Double CD Set: Vaudeville Accordion Classics
Henry Doktorski Plays The Complete Works of Guido Deiro

Vaudeville Accordion Classics: The Complete Works of Guido Deiro, a double-CD set of all the original compositions of Guido Deiro has been recorded and released by American Concert Accordionist and Deiro historian Henry Doktorski.

Doktorski Plays Deiro

Doktorski Plays Deiro

Doktorski Plays Deiro

Doktorski Plays Deiro

Doktorski has recorded all of Deiro's music -- 47 new recordings including waltzes, rags, marches, polkas, and Deiro favorites: My Florence Waltz, Egypto Fantasia, Sharpshooter's March, and the Broadway hit, Kismet. Doktorski's dashing and sparkling performances of Deiro's music quickly confirm the reason for Deiro's immense popularity. Released November 2003.

In 1913, Deiro met Mae West, the young vaudeville performer and burgeoning sex symbol. A passionate romance ensued and the couple married secretly. Henry Doktorski's liner notes candidly detail their relationship, and photographs and newspaper clippings from Deiro's own scrapbooks are included in this two-CD set, consisting of 2 hours and 25 minutes of music.

Guido Deiro's delightful compositions are a window onto an era long past -- an artist delighting audiences with soaring melodies, instrumental virtuosity, and abundant high spirits. This anthology will be exuberantly received not only by accordion aficionados, but also by audiophiles in mainstream music circles, much like the rediscovery of Scott Joplin's music, twenty-five years ago.

Program:         Total time: 2 hrs. 25 min. 32 sec.

CD one: 73:23

    1 Temperamental Rag
    2 Pink Slippers Valse
    3 Preparedness March
    4 Il Pentimento Waltz
    5 Royal Flying Corps March
    6 Kismet Fox Trot
    7 Orazione E Marcia Militare
    8 Western Stars March
    9 Moonlight Waltz
    10 Hand Grenade Throwers March
    11 Deiro Rag
    12 Muskateers March
    13 Deirina Mazurka
    14 I Don't Care Polka
    15 Lido Tango
    16 Queen of the Air March
    17 Valse Caprice No. 1
    18 Neapolitan Polka
    19 My Florence Waltz
    20 Egypto Fantasia

CD two: 72:09
    1 Zampa Rag
    2 Lola Fox Trot
    3 Breitenbush March
    4 Tango Tosino
    5 Guido's Royal March
    6 Light & Shadow Waltz
    7 Variety Polka
    8 Valse Pirouette
    9 Marines March
    10 Dolores Waltz (by Waldteufel)
    11 Los Bomberos March

    (Tracks 12-27 are from Guido Deiro's Royal Method for Piano Accordion)

    12 Accordionette Waltz
    13 Young Accordionist March
    14 Little Accordion Player Waltz
    15 Torpedo March
    16 Beautiful Girl Waltz
    17 The Peasant Quadrille
    18 Radio Waltz
    19 Dimples Polka
    20 The Accordion Girl Waltz
    21 Sharpshooters March
    22 Veno (Duet) Fox Trot
    23 Jewel Waltz (Duet)
    24 King Boy (Duet) Fox Trot
    25 Minneapolis March (Duet)
    26 California Mazurka (Duet)
    27 Sharpshooters March (Reprise) recorded on Guido Deiros own 1924 Guerrini accordion.

To order a copy of this CD personally autographed to the purchaser by Deiro's son, Count Guido Roberto Deiro, send check or money order for $34.99 plus shipping to:

Count Guido Roberto Deiro
Villa Kismet
7007 Whispering Sands Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89131-3348

Shipping and handling charge to anywhere in the United States is $3.50. Foreign orders must add $9.95 for shipping.


Book: The Brothers Deiro and Their Accordions

The Brothers Deiro and Their Accordions, a 12,616-word fifty-page book by Henry Doktorski, describes in detail the fascinating lives and enduring musical accomplishments of the brothers Pietro and Guido Deiro. This important landmark work has been lauded as the first definitive and authoritative biography of the two greatest piano-accordionists of the early twentieth-century.

    Softcover
    52 pages
    43 photographs including 20 full-page plates
    Measures 8.5 x 11 inches
    Professional Printing and Binding
    Published March 2005

The two Italian-American brothers, Guido (1886-1950) and Pietro (1888-1954) Deiro were undoubtedly the two most important piano-accordionists in America during the first decades of the twentieth century. They practically single-handedly introduced and popularized the instrument to millions of people throughout North America and abroad by their vaudeville performances, recordings and published music.

The brothers were also the center of a controversy in 1935, as both claimed to be the first to play the piano-accordion in America. After examining the extensive archives of both brothers, the author has definitively solved the mystery and presented newly-discovered facts and startling conclusions.

The book is organized into two sections: (1) “The Brothers Deiro,” which describes their lives, careers and achievements, and (2) “The Deiro Brothers’ Accordions,” which describes their instruments. Part one consists of nine chapters:

    Separating Fact from Fiction
    The Brothers Deiro in Europe
    The Brothers Deiro in America
    The Brothers Deiro Achieve Stardom
    Discord Between the Brothers Deiro
    The Brothers Deiro As Composers
    The Death of Vaudeville
    The “Who Was First?” Controversy
    The Legacy of the Brothers Deiro

Part two gives a detailed description of the two brothers’ accordions (displayed at A World of Accordions Museum in Superior, Wisconsin) built in 1917 and 1926 by the San Francisco-based Guerrini company, and includes twenty beautiful full-page (8 x 11 ½) photographs of the two instruments.

Doktorski said, “The factual history of the two brothers Deiro might have remained forever unknown, if not for the acquisition of the substantial archives of Guido and Pietro Deiro by the Center for the Study of Free-Reed Instruments at the City University of New York. I have examined these archives and have been stunned and amazed in many ways. In my book I do not flatter the two men, but attempt to present (as much as possible) an accurate and balanced biographical history describing their accomplishments, their rich and complex personalities, their virtues and vices, and also to dispel some enduring myths about these two pioneers of the piano-accordion. My conclusions are based on source materials (newspaper clippings, recordings, etc.) in the archives, published research by scholars, as well as testimony from contemporaries who knew these two great men.”

Doktorski concluded, “As a musicologist and author, I am grateful for the opportunity to research and write this history of the famous brothers Deiro and their accordions, and, as a professional concert accordionist, to follow in the footsteps of those two great pioneers who served and continue to serve as inspiration for thousands of piano-accordionists throughout the world. I hope that my book will be appreciated by accordionists, musicologists, and lovers of early twentieth-century popular music.”


Reviews

This is a fascinating book for any accordion enthusiast who has played or just admired the music of Guido and Pietro Deiro. Even the treasure trove of the accordion in America, Ronald Flynn, Edwin Davison, and Edward Chavez's book, The Golden Age of the Accordion, does not go into much detail as does Henry Doktorski's well-researched book. This book has examined very closely much that has been written about these two great accordionists and separated fact from fiction. This book is well written and, although scholarly, is easy to read and full of interesting information about the premiere accordionists in America. I can thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about these pioneers of our beloved instrument. -- Peter Ayres, Accordion World (Uxbridge, Middlesex, England), July/August 2005

Many thanks for the Deiro book which arrived today. It is very nicely done in my view and, more specifically, the writing is excellent, the layout and printing excellent and those photos are very fine! I can comment on this because in Canada I used to produce high-quality brochures and marketing communications material for my clients and wrote most of the material too. -- Roger Nightingale, Secretary of the Waikato Accordion Club (Te Awamutu, New Zealand)


To order a copy of this book personally autographed to the purchaser by Deiro's son, Count Guido Roberto Deiro, send check or money order for $23.99 plus shipping to:

Count Guido Roberto Deiro
Villa Kismet
7007 Whispering Sands Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89131-3348

Shipping and handling charge to anywhere in the United States is $3.50. Foreign orders must add $9.95 for shipping.

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