by Joslyn Layne
Accomplished accordionist and composer Guy Klucevsek has stunned audiences around the world with his mastery of the unwieldy instrument in jazz- and world-influenced avant-garde concerts. Included on compilations from Tzadik's Burt Bacharach tribute, to the more mainstream Ellipsis Arts release Planet Squeezebox, Klucevsek has also led nearly ten of his own recordings for labels including Ewa and CRI. He has composed extensively for modern dance, and was awarded a BESSIE in 1995 for the score for "Hey" by choreographer David Dormanis. Since at least the mid-'80s, Klucevsek has performed and recorded with a variety of creative musicians such as John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Anthony Braxton, and Kronos Quartet. In 1996, he co-founded Accordion Tribe with master accordionists from around the world including Maria Kalaniemi (Finland) and Bratko Bibic (Slovenia). In 1998, Accordion Tribe came out on Intuition, and Winter & Winter released an album by another new group with Klucevsek, Dave Douglas' new project Charms of the Night Sky, with Klucevsek, bassist Greg Cohen, and violinist Mark Feldman. While Accordion Tribe could only get together for the rare festival appearance, the Charms of the Night Sky group toured North America and Europe for parts of the next three years, and recorded A Thousand Evenings for RCA. Klucevsek has also performed solo at festivals all over the world, and can be heard providing music accompaniment on the audio book version of Accordion Crimes, a novel by E. Annie Proulx.