Wow! Over the years, I have read a lot of accordion history and have never seen reference to the Janko keyboard until now.
Those players must have had strong backs with all that extra hardware.

Did you see in that link, the photo of George Shearing (great piano player) with one of those strapped on?
(The website won't allow me to display the photo, have to link to the websited that Ian posted)

The photo I have of Leon Sash's accordion shows his setup to have 2 extra parallel rows of keys with only the key tips. They look like they would be no more than a inch in length. Hardly noticeable in passing.

Just now noticed in the link that Donny has above, there was a photo tab that had a pic of Leon's unique accordion.
Its a small pic but you can still see the extra 2 rows of keys.



Ian, thanks for sharing.
Donny, thanks for the link.



[This message has been edited by MrEd (edited 08-13-2006).]

Yes he is a very fine player. As in many of the accordion guys I know, they end up having back problems and lately, Mike has been using the keyboard more.

Donny,
I've heard music from a lot of the players in your link and have heard nice jazz/swing tunes from most of them.

One in particular that amazes me is Pasquelle Coviello. He has speed, technique and smoothness that is more common with the button (chromatic) players, but Pasquelle plays the piano accordion.

2 short song samples that display his range of capability can be heard in the following 20 - 30 second samples.

In the second sample, I was waiting for the sound of sonic boom

Pasquelle Coviello – Blue Moon

Pasquelle Coviello – Virtuosissima




[This message has been edited by MrEd (edited 08-17-2006).]