Cover Art Of The Month - July 2005
The Art Van Damme Quintet - More Cocktail Capers
This is another case where the cover art sold me on a recording without knowing anything about the artis. The cover you see here is from a double 45 boxed release from jazz accordionist Art Van Damme and his quintet. I think this came in the 10" long player format too, following up on the preceding LP, titled just Cocktail Capers (shown below). Probably both came out in the early 50s, as Van Damme signed with Columbia in 1952 and had a string of albums with them. Both of these Capitol releases have covers signed by "Guidi". I've never seen (or maybe noticed) the name Guidi on any other covers, but what a great colorful style! As for the music, some might scoff at the idea of jazz accordion, but Art Van Damme is a cool cat, and the songs are played in a lyrical swinging style. The sound on here is just a little more jazzy than easy listening, and a little more light than the bebop of his jazz contemporaries.
