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http://accordions.com/news.aspx?d=07-Feb-2014&lang=en&s=8375
http://accordions.com/news.aspx?d=07-Feb-2014&lang=en&s=8375
07-Feb-2014
Carl Fortina (1929-2014), California – USAby Rob Howard |
 Carl Fortina, possibly “the world’s most recorded accordionist”, was the first accordion player to make a career as a session musician in the Hollywood movie industry, paving the way for others, most notably the late Frank Marocco. Fortina played on the soundtrack of more than 550 films, including ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’, ‘How the West was Won’, ‘Love Me Tender’, Paint Your Wagon’, Star Trek’, ‘The Godfather’ trilogy, etc, and also for an estimated 25,000 TV shows, such as ‘Bonanza’. When Nino Rota, the composer who wrote the music for ‘The Godfather’, heard Carl play the theme for the sound track, he told Carl "You don't play with your hands - you play with your heart". The son of an accordionist, young Carl began playing at the age of 4 on a very small 12 bass instrument. To his father’s great delight, Carl listened to him playing a simple tune, then played it back to him. Blessed with perfect pitch and a great memory, Carl had lessons with the well-known San Francisco teacher John Pezzolo, and at the age of just 5, made his public debut playing in a concert at an accordion festival in California before an audience of 15,000. This was the beginning of a long and highly successful career as a concert accordionist. Following two years in the army, serving as a drum major in the 6th Infantry, Carl settled in Los Angeles in 1953 where, for the next 35 years, he was the “first call” accordionist in Hollywood. By 1973, Carl had become a contract orchestra manager for many Hollywood productions, and in 1976 he became the orchestra manager for Paramount Motion Pictures, a position he held for 30 years. He has worked with many famous names, such as Elvis Presley, Cher, Barbara Streisand, John Williams, Marvin Hamlisch, Henry Mancini, to name but a few. Carl Fortina was named the Honorary Director at the Las Vegas International Accordion Convention in 2008. He was very well liked and respected by his peers, and regarded as a true gentleman by all who knew him. He passed away from emphysema on January 30th, 2014 at the age of 84. |