Gus Viseur

Gus Viseur, born Gustave-Joseph Viseur (15 May 1915 – 25 August 1974) was a Belgian/French button accordionist.

Gus Viseur was a virtuoso in the musette genre, during the swing era in the 1930s. He is the only jazz accordionist who is a member of the famous Hot Club de France, conducted by Charles Delaunay.

Biography

Gus Viseur began his career playing in the streets of Paris. He managed to get a great sound from a chromatic button accordion. It was clear that he was doing something innovative: He helped create the accordion-jazz style known as manouche. Meeting Django Reinhardt and performing with the legendary Quintet of the Hot Club of France was an important new chapter in his life. Later he even played bebop in the fifties. He was the first to draw a link between Musette and Jazz. In addition to his numerous recordings he also performed in cabarets and nightclubs with musicians including Didi Duprat.

He recorded his first record in 1937 and accompanied Édith Piaf in 1940. He recorded all the genres of the musette repertoire: valse, tango, paso doble,...

Representative recordings

• "Flambée montalbanaise"
• "Joseph, Joseph"
• "Automne"
• "Douce joie"
• "Josette"
• "L'imprévu" (with Joseph Colombo)
• "Nuit de Paris" (with Tony Muréna)
• "Soir de dispute"
• "Souvenir de Bruxelles"
• "Swing accordéon"
• "Swing-valse" (with Pierre "Baro" Ferret)
• "La valse des niglos"
• "Le Bal du p'tit jardin"
• "Jeannette"
• "46ème avenue"
• "5 Juin"
• "El Victor"
• "Lorsque Django jouait"
• "De Clichy à Broadway"

See also

• Medard Ferrero
• El Ferrero
• Jo Privat
• Guerino and his orchestra

References and further reading

• Michael Dregni, Gypsy Jazz: In Search of Django Reinhardt and the Soul of Gypsy. Oxford/New York 2008; ISBN 978-0-19-531192-1 (pp. 54 to 58, 100, 108)