Randy Stein

Nice Chords. I have my own version I used to play as well. I should dust it off and revisit it. Cheers

There is some good info and advice in all of these. But you're starting at the middle. Rent or buy a cheap instrument and learn some music you want to play. Take some lessons, go to sessions. When you decide to upgrade your instrument, and if you bought from a reputable place that has a buy back program, get the next best instrument in you price range. Just saying...

So my suggestion has nothing to do with a video. I suggest learning and practicing arpeggios in each key. Major, minor, and add the dominant 7th. Once you are comfortable with the fingering you now have your chords structures. Later you can add in diminished chording as well.

Written by the great musette accordion player, Tony Murena. Passion was performed by DC Ambiance in Concert July 6, 2019. Buco and Bill Parmentier - Acoustic Gypsy Guitars, Shawn Simon - Upright Bass, Randy Stein - English Concertina. https://soundcloud.com/user827948939/passion-a-gypsy-waltz-by-tony-murena

I'll get you in for half price then.

Buco, the lead player, says his guitar is made by Risto Ivanovski. It's a Selmer Jazz model copy. He uses Optima brand, Hot Club line. Argentine Savarez are the most commonly used though. Both the guitar and the strings are specific to the genre but that's not to say that this guitar wouldn't work well as all around acoustic guitar. His strings are silver steel as most gypsy jazz players tend to use. Bill says his guitar is a Shelly Park. She's a luthier in Vancouver. His strings he uses are Argies like most others use.

This is from yesterdays rehearsal with DC Ambiance in preparation for Saturdays concert. The tune is Blue Drag written in 1935 by Django Reinhardt. https://soundcloud.com/user827948939/blue-drag-practice-7-3-19 Moved from previous posting

This coming Friday, June 28th from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM, Jim Besser and Randy Stein (Otherwise known as 2Many Buttons) will perform on stage at the FDA Farmers Market in Washington, DC located at 12th and Independence. Jim and I play an eclectic array of tunes ranging from tangos and Morris to old timey and jazz to French and Scandi and then we branch out from there. Stop by and say hello.

DC Ambiance - An Evening of Gypsy Jazz When: 06 Jul 2019 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM Location: Seekers Church Channeling Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli, and the legendary Quintette du Hot Club, DC Ambiance is a “Gypsy jazz” quartet bringing together talent from Puget Sound to Yale to Sarajevo. Buco Cavar (guitar) studied jazz guitar under Tony do Rosario and Alfonso Ponticelli; Bill Parmentier (guitar), influenced by DjangoFest Northwest, studied under jazz guitarists Robin Nolan and Lollo Meier in Europe; Randy Stein (concertina) has performed at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall and on John Lennon’s last album, Double Fantasy; and bassist Shawn Simon has played with Sage Jazz and the Ashley Mitchell Band. At Seekers Church, 276 Carroll St. NW, Washington DC 20012 (Metro: Takoma). $20; members $10. https://www.fsgw.org/event-3448147

I was recently invited to perform at a house concert with the gypsy jazz trio Mid-Atlinatic Swing. We had one rehearsal that mostly involved various kinds of beer. A couple weeks later we performed 2 sets on the fly. Bei Mir Bist Du Shein was written for the Yiddish Theater in 1932 by Jacob Jacobs. Translated it means "to me you're beautiful". This was first time we played this togther.

I was recently invited to perform at a house concert with the gypsy jazz trio Mid-Atlinatic Swing. We had one rehearsal that mostly involved various kinds of beer. A couple weeks later we performed 2 sets on the fly. Manha De Carnaval was written in 1959 by Luiz Bonfa for the movie Black Orfeus. This was the first time we performed this tune togther and the qulity of sound isn't great but man did I have a lot of fun!

If you enjoy the English Concertina as well as jazz and folk music,and are in or around the DC Metro area, I will be performing and doing workshops in the coming month: Friday June 7th 6:00-6:30: Ein Lanu Z'man in a Pre-Kabbalat Shabbat Concert. Free to the public. At Agudas Achim Congregation (2908 Valley Drive, Alexandria, VA 22302) Sunday June 16th 6:00-8:00: Performing with Mid-Atlantic Swing, a gypsy jazz group, at a house concert https://www.facebook.com/events/458769888216553/?ti=ia Friday June 21st: DC Farmers Market, 12th & Independance ST NW from 11:00 - 1:00. Gypsy Jazz with the amazing Charlie Schueller on accordion Saturday June 22nd 1:00-3:00: Introduction to Playing the Concertina with Jim Besser. At the School of Musical Traditions in Rockville, MD. https://hmtrad.com/…/sat-june-22-introduction-to-concertina… Friday June 28th 11:00-1:00: DC Farmers Market. 12th & Independance St NW. My Folk Duo - 2Many Buttons, with Jim Besser on the Anglo Concertina Saturday July 6th 7:00-9:00: DC Ambiance in Concert, An Evening of Gypsy Jazz. The Carroll Cafe at Seekers Church, 276 Carroll St NW, Takoma Park, MD

"Boris Matusewitch (1918-1978) was a successful English concertinist in the United States. The history of the Matusewitch’s and their music is detailed in a special 2015 supplement to Concertina World written by Boris’s son, Eric Matusewitch (CW 463, September 2015). In addition to being a well-known performer, Boris taught concertina in his New York City music studio for over 20 years. Boris arranged many famous tunes specifically for the English concertina, writing the arrangements out by hand to give his students more classical and contemporary music to play. Many of these arrangements have been collected by Boris’s son, Eric, and one of Boris’s former students, Randy Stein (moi), a well known concertinist in the Washington, DC, area. Eric and Randy are currently working with Mary Roth and Laura Wu to make Boris’s arrangements available to concertina players and to find a permanent archival home for Boris Matusewitch’s music arrangements. Mary is an English concertina player, a member of JTD, and a professor at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, and Laura is an accordionist and student at Lafayette. The project involves indexing the music, digital scanning the arrangements, researching potential archival homes for the physical copies of the music, and making applications to those archives."* The scans of some of this music are now available to the public. Only those pieces of music that are currently in the public domain are accessable. Copyrighted songs are currently unavailable. There are still many of Boris' manuscripts yet to be scanned and made accessible but here is what is available to date. Mary is also working with the ICA to make them available via their website as well. https://sites.lafayette.edu/boris-matusewitch/ On a personal note I want to thank Mary and Laura for their hard work and dedication to seeing this to become a reality. I had the gift of studying with both Boris and his brother Sergei. The musicianship and breadth of knowledge and legacy of Boris is still uncompared by any concertina player I have heard to date. As we make this music available, I hope this inspires the next generation of English Concertina players. *excerpt from upcoming JTD Newsletter

Looking for something to do in the Washington, DC Metro area on May 18th in the afternoon that’s cool, fun, and relatively close to being free? Come here my Gypsy Jazz Group, DC Ambiance perform at DC’s first Gypsy Jazz Summit. THE VENUE "Singer's Glen": You Are Welcome to Bring Your Lawn Chair!