It’s probably because I watched The Sting too many times while growing up, but Scott Joplin’s ragtime classic “The Entertainer” was the song that inspired me to learn to play the piano. (Years later, it’s still the only song, besides “Chopsticks”, that I can play from memory.) I fumble around with accordion renditions occasionally, but none quite like these two I found on YouTube.
The first is an all-accordion orchestra from the Netherlands called Accordeonola. I don’t know about you, but there’s something about ten or more accordionists playing together that restores my faith in humanity.
And for something completely different, the second clip is a 30-second commercial for a Japanese pachinko chain. It features one-man band Mark Di Giuseppe (“The Straniero”) playing the Stranierofono, a combination accordion/bass clarinet that he invented.