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Café Accordion Orchestra (CAO) performs an eclectic mix of vintage Swing, Latin, American, and French Café Music. Their music evokes the repertoire of the Bal Musette orchestras, the bands that were popular in Parisian cafés and bistros in the 1920’s through 1950’s. The heart of this repertoire is the romantic, gypsy-influenced valse-musette or swing waltz. CAO complements the musettes with swing, ballads, tangos, paso dobles, boleros, rumbas, and cumbias to create a wonderfully varied show. While they inject their music with good humor and expressive abandon, their high level of musicianship and passion for performance makes them an entertaining concert act as well as a great dance band.
Café Accordion Orchestra is led by DAN NEWTON on accordion and vocals with BRIAN BARNES on guitar and vocals, ERIC MOHRING on mandolin, fiddle and vocals, ERIK LILLESTOL on bass and JOE STEINGER on percussion. The members have a combined total of over a century of experience with the likes of Prairie Home Companion, Stoney Lonesome, Bone Tones, The Nationals, Jumbo Ya Ya, Ethnic Dance Theater and the Laketown Buskers. And they have a combined height of over 28 feet!
CAO now has six recordings with the 2006 release of Cinema.