Several regulars were on holiday in September (and thinking back, this is the same every year).  But some visitors came back, and we got 30 people together.  Our thanks too to all those loyal members who have supported the club, time after time, for year after year.  Our guest artist was well worth hearing.  REG RAWLINGS came down from Southport with two unusual boxes and a fair bit of kit.  Reg plays electronic accordion: I thought he was one of the most enjoyable electronic players that I've heard, for a few reasons.  He knows his stuff on the instrument: he wasn't trying to impress us with flashy fingerwork the whole time (a lot of the tunes were mellow mid-tempo numbers), but the touch and detail was definitely there.  He has a huge handspan, so he can find chords that most of us could only dream of.  His arrangements are well put together.  He controls the entire sound from his instrument and foot pedals (no backing tracks or midi files), which made the performance more musical.  (There was none of the strange business where the player puts his hand in his pocket and the music carries on.)  Most of all, with his company Total Transformation Technology, Reg has taken electronic accordion to a new level, taking new realistic samples (most famously the organ of the Blackpool Tower Ballroom) and blending them carefully on the keyboard.  The effect goes far beyond the usual set of preset sounds.

The night opened before most people had even arrived with a typically nice foot-tapping set from TONY TRENTHAM, including Bourbon Street Parade, Over the Rainbow, Out of Nowhere and On the Sunny Side of the Street.  SIMON GARDNER dashed off Folkloristica and Heroes very confidently.  Then, for the first half, REG RAWLINGS used an accordion with real musette reeds blended with his electronic sounds for an authentic warm feel.  He started with a sophisticated and entertaining French medley, with lots of accents, dynamics, use of the couplers, etc.  Then he started to show off his electronics with a James Last/Klaus Wunderlich medley including trumpets, big band sounds and even voices, on their own and combined.  Next came the Blackpool Tower organ in a Glen Miller arrangement played in the style of Buddy Cole, with a surprisingly effective sax solo (considering it was on the accordion).  A selection of waltzes including Are You Lonesome Tonight were played in a 40s dance band style with organ and piano with brass backing; then we got an old time selection including When You’re Smiling with a proper end of the pier feel, lots of up and down runs and some upbeat cymbals (I could see a few feet tapping during this one).  Reg updated his sound with a proper disco beat for some ABBA tunes with his trademark wide chords. A kind of Donald Duck sound came in during this one (also entertaining, although I don’t remember it from ABBA Gold).  The rumba medley used the electronic sounds brilliantly, starting on Hammond organ and dramatically bringing in electric guitar and harmonica, including note bending controlled from the foot pedals.  Reg has a nice easy-going manner on stage as well.  As you can tell, I enjoyed it, and it showed what electronics and the accordion could do in the right hands. 

In the break MERVYN PRICE continued the entertainment with I Could Have Danced All Night, and Brazil and INGRID GOULD got our guest artist swaying with Toby and My Florence.  Then Reg started his second half, this time playing a box with no reeds at all.  This took away some of the warmth of the sound but at the same time took us into a world of pure electronics which was effective in its own way.  We got waltzes, pan pipes, a Star Trek / Star Wars arrangement with suitably space age sounds, acoustic guitar forFernando, honky tonk piano (12th Street Rag, Tiger Rag), some lush slow tunes (Besame Mucho, For Ever and Ever), a big band approach to Cabaret, an operatic voice singingFeed the Birds, a brave and successful attempt to answer the regular request at our club for a Welsh tune, and, now that the nights are drawing in and people go home earlier, Reg finished his second half with some Scottish reels.  It was a very enjoyable performance which blended musical inventiveness with proper entertainment. 

So: October is a club night, on MONDAY OCTOBER 10th.  For November we have our AGM and the up to date European sound of Petri Makkonen from Finland.  We are hoping to confirm a guest artist for the Christmas meeting as well; I will let you know.  For more information, please contact Poppy Middleton on (0121) 743 6637.

CLUB ACCORD: Catshill Social Club, 13a Meadow Road, Catshill, nr. Bromsgrove, B61 0JJ:

2nd Monday of the month: 7.30pm for 8pm