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All Music Guide:
The Boston-born son of Irish immigrants, Joe Derrane is ranked among the finest button accordionists in the history of Celtic music. Although he recorded a series of Irish tunes on 78 rpm in the 1940s and '50s, he disappeared from the traditional music circuit until performing at the Irish Folk Festival at Wolf Trap Farm Park for Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia in 1994. The performance followed the release of Irish Accordion, reprising 16 tracks that Derrane recorded as a teenager. Since his return, Derrane has recorded three albums -- Give Us Another, in 1995, with accompaniment by Irish pianist Felix Dolan, and Return to Inis Mor, in 1996, which featured pianist Carl Hession of Moving Cloud and a string quartet. The title track, one of four original tunes on the album, referred to Derrane's ancestral home on an island in Galway Bay. The Tie That Binds, released in 1998, featured Derrane playing a new 23-key, two-row button accordion that he helped design, plus accompaniment by Frankie Gavin, Zan McLeod, Seamus Egan and Jerry O'Sullivan.
The oldest of three brothers, Derrane grew up in a musical home. His father played accordion and melodeon and his mother played violin. A daily listener of Irish radio station broadcasts in Boston, Derrane became so enchanted by the playing of Jerry O'Brien, a melodeonist who had played with Joe O'Leary's Irish Minstrels, that his parents sought O'Brien out to instruct their son. Derrane began lessons with O'Brien at the age of ten and continued to study under him for two years, playing the single-row accordion for five years. At the age of fifteen, Derrane studied piano accordion and learned to read music; he became a fanatic of Brooklyn-born diatonic acordionist John J. Kimmel, "The Irish Dutchman," and learned to play much of his repertoire.
During his senior year at Mission High School in Roxbury, Derrane recorded 16 solo tracks with pianist Johnny Connor. In 1948 and 1949, he recorded ten duets with O'Brien, his former teacher. Although he lived in New York for two years (1952 and 1953), he returned to Boston and became a regular performer on the ballroom dance circuit. During the late 1940s and early '50s, he performed with such bands as Johnny Powell's Irish Dance Band, the Stars of Erin, the Galway Bay Band, the Irish All-Stars and the All-Star Ceili Band.
After studying harmonics and arranging at the Schillinger House (later the Berklee College of Music) for six months, Derrane performed with numerous bands that specialized in Jewish and Italian music.
Wikipedia:
Joe Derrane (Boston, Massachusetts, 16 March 1930) is an Irish-American button accordion player, known for re-popularizing the D/C# system diatonic accordion.
Life
Derrane's parents were Irish immigrants. His father played the accordion and his mother the fiddle. At the age of 10, Derrane began playing a one-row diatonic button accordion or melodeon, taking lessons with Jerry O'Brien, an immigrant from Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland. By the age of 14 Derrane was performing at the thriving "kitchen rackets" (house parties) on the Boston Irish scene. He soon upgraded to a 2-row D/C# accordion (the standard "American Irish" tuning of the time), and by the age of 17 was a leading musician in the Irish dancehalls on Dudley Street, Roxbury. This popularity in turn brought him radio exposure. In 1947-48 he recorded eight 78rpm singles (16 sides) of Irish dance tunes. These recordings were widely admired for Derrane's vigorous, accurate and highly ornamented playing.
By the late 1950s the Irish dancehalls in Roxbury were in terminal decline. Derrane was married with children and needed to continue supplementing his income through music. He switched to piano accordion and formed a band to play for weddings and similar engagements, moving away from traditional Irish music and instead playing popular music as well as Italian and Jewish traditional tunes. By the mid-1970s musical tastes had changed once more and Derrane again switched instruments, moving to electronic keyboards. He retired from music in 1990.
In 1993, however, Rego Records reissued the 16 78rpm cuts on CD (Irish Accordion). The recordings again generated considerable interest, and many assumed that the man who had made them in the late 1940s had died. On learning that Joe Derrane was still alive, journalist Earle Hitchener contacted him and Derrane began playing the button accordion again. In 1994 he was invited to perform at the Wolf Trap Festival in Vienna, Virginia. He practiced intensively in preparation for what he thought would be the last appearance of his life. His hour-long virtuoso performance (accompanied by Felix Dolan, piano) was very well received by his audience of 1,200 and Derrane began a second career as a button accordionist.
Since 1994 Joe Derrane has recorded two solo albums and four collaborations with prestigious players. He has appeared on radio and television many times, including The Pure Drop on Irish TV (RTE). He was the subject of a documentary by Frank Ferrel, As Played By Joe Derrane, and of another broadcast by Irish-language station TG4 as part of its Sé mo laoch series. He has toured Canada, Switzerland and the Netherlands, and appeared with The Chieftains at Boston Symphony Hall. In 1998 Derrane was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (North American Province) for his contribution to Irish traditional music. In 2004 The National Endowment for the Arts awarded him a Heritage Fellowship. In 2006 he appeared at the National Folk Festival (USA).
