Eddie LeJeune
Dan Willging: The thing that interested me was your accordion style. I listen to a
lot of Cajun music but I don�t hear lot of people playing like you.
Eddie LeJeune: Right, it�s a real hard and pure style. It�s completely original what I�m doing. It comes from the heart, I changed the style a little bit to fit the purpose I was trying to accomplish. And that�s the traditional aspect of the accordion. It is giving it a real traditional sound. It�s almost when you listen to it, and you didn�t know any better, it would sound like it was a tune that would have been played back in the forties and the fifties. Do you get that feeling on that?
Yeah, and it seems earlier than that. I was wondering if it was like Cajun music in the twenties. When I think of a trio like yours, I think of the twenties with Joe Falcon.
Basically, based on that same aspect of traditional music, the only
real difference is that we have so much more technology today that they
can really bring the sound out bigger and cleaner than what they did in
the past. It brings it way forward, but the presence still sounds like
it�s in the thirties and forties.
Because we�re a three piece, I am doing everything that I can to
fill all spots.
Yes I am; I do it all. That�s the way I learned and that�s the way I
grew up playing. Depending upon your ability, you can change your style
a little bit and do whatever fits you.
That�s identification. It�s a marker, a strong point, it�s a sign
that you�re totally in control. You can do literally whatever you want.
It�s a sense of control, it�s also a sense of timing and coordination.
Lot of songs that I play, there is a lot of coordination involved. You
also want to take the coordination and blend it in with technique and
lot of the notes that you hear are drive notes. It�s to let everybody
know that hey, I�m secure, just hop in and come along.
Right, and it�s going. I�m ready, I�m there and I�m fully aware of
everything that�s going. All they have to do is hop in and join the
ride.
Yes, well, I was fortunate enough that my grandma played the
accordion. She would take the accordion out and we would sit down and
watch her. Even at a young age, we knew exactly how that instrument was
supposed to perform. And we just it picked up, started playing here and
there, and first thing you knew, I was playing a tune. I started that
out about six years old and by the time I was seven, I was playing. It
wasn�t as rich as I�m doing now but you have to start somewhere. I made
my start, and I come up a long ways, I come up following a big legacy of
musicians especially my father. There was a lot of times when I was
growing up, I didn�t find myself competing for him, I was always used as
an example - you�ll never be your father. Well, I never tried to be my
father. I always tried to do was play my instrument to the best of my
ability and play his music. And today, people are starting to recognize
that I�m my own man now. I have my own style. I�ve paid my dues and to
live up to somebody as well known as my father was, you have to
understand that I�ve earned my rights in the field of music.
I play his songs and I develop my own style through my own
technique to his music which gives me identification. That�s the sign of
identification, in other words, I�m my own man even though I�m playing
my father�s music. And that is what a lot of the high notes are, those
shrills that I do and it�s all coordination and control when you�re
playing music and rhythm as well. Guitar and fiddle players, they give
you the rhythm but they have to have a rhythm to follow. You carry a
good rhythm on the accordion, it makes it so much easier for the guitar
and fiddle player. You just have to join in.
I listen to my father�s music and I play his music, but I don�t try
to copy his music note for note.
Accordion is supposed to set the rhythm and the timing. And the
instruments are supposed to fall behind the accordion. It�s just like
whenever you�re doing drums, that�s was one of the biggest things I
found with drummers, that it was always hard to get a good drummer
because when the drummer sets the timing, he could speed you up or slow
you down. And if he did that, he was taking away from your ability; he
was taking away from your technique. And that�s why for fifteen,
eighteen years now that I haven�t used a drummer. I struck out and went
with a three piece. Because the only thing that the drums were doing for
me that it allowed me to play in the nightclubs and dancehalls and there
were places around here telling you what you had to have in the band to
play for them. And a lot of times, I was called after I quit using a
drummer to go and play a dancehall, and I would say sure, and we would
make the arrangements. They would ask me how many we had in the band. I
would tell them three pieces and they would say, you have to have this
and you have that, and I would hang up. And that�s the way to do it. If
that�s what he wanted, he should have respected me for being honest with
him - I have a three-piece band and this is my repertoire. But they went
beyond that. They were telling me what I had to have in the band to play
for them.
Exactly. I have sat in with bands with the whole nine yards and
people come up and tell me, boy you sound good behind all of that. But
I�m not happy with all of that. I�m just happy as can be with my little
three-piece band, accordion, fiddle and guitar. From time to time, I may
add a triangle. That�s the music I want.
Yeah you would, because you have less instruments in the band. Mind
you not everybody can do a three-piece band because you really have to
be on your toes. You have to drive, coordinate your rhythm yourself,
coordinate your timing through yourself. Fiddle players and guitar
players are really keen of following behind on what you�re doing. And
they just keep up the tempo that you set. And that�s the way the drummer
should do also. A really good drummer will do that. Just fall behind
the accordion and keep the timing for the rest of the instruments.
No, it is limited. No, I don�t do dances at all anymore. The only
dances I do are private parties. And that�s because they can hire a
three-piece band cheaper that they can hire a full band. The amazing
thing about it is that everybody is so satisfied at the end of the night
because they can actually hear and understand all of the instruments in
the band. Nothing is louder than anything else. Everything is set at the
same level. And everybody can distinctly hear each instrument. It�s so
much purer and cleaner and more original.
The only thing you hear overshadowing everything is my weak vocals.
It�s pretty strong. It�s always been a factor when we always played
house dances, and I grew up playing house dances, parties, we didn�t
have all of this amplification and everything was played strictly
acoustic. And for people to hear and keep the beat going, well, when you
had to sing pretty loud so everybody could hear you. And the instruments
were loud enough, depending on where you were playing and how big the
room was but normally everything was set to serve the purpose of the
room.
I kinda have my own style in singing as well.
I kinda of roll my voice, it�s kinda of a yodel while I�m singing
some of the songs. I am really pushing from the heart when I sing. There
is a lot of feelings in my singing. That draws the dividing line from
somebody going up to the microphone and raising the microphone loud
enough so they can be loud where he doesn�t have to push or nothing. I
push.
I do when we are touring. You play big assembly halls and theaters,
things where you really have to have them. I never set my microphone as
high as anybody else for the fact that I want to drive where you can
hear my vocals. That�s my style and that�s one of the reasons why my
father�s vocals were different than anybody else�s and that why mine are
different than anybody else�s. I�m proud of what I�m doing because when
I do it, I feel good. And anytime you feel good about something you�re
doing, you�re giving it one hundred percent.
Yeah they do. I am especially proud of the new one that come out -
Cajun Spirit. It stands alone. When you put it against any of these
other musicians that are playing, and I�m not saying mine is any better
than anybody else�s, it stands alone. It has its special techniques, it
has its own identification.
It�s really not where it is at. It�s really our music and our music
has to be delivered from the heart. And the only good thing I got going
for me is that I�m doing it in its natural state with the original trio.
And I�m always so much more comfortable with a trio than I am with a
bigger band. It seems to me that you got this bigger band, you can be
lazier and I�m not saying that you can�t play the music but you don�t
have to play as hard. You can lazy around in a lot of areas because
you�ve got all these instruments pushing you. And I find that today,
it�s one of the things that takes from musicians is that they have all
these instruments behind them to make them sound good. Put these
musicians in a three-piece band, they can�t do what they�re doing on the
album that they cut.
I am exhausted. I do two forty-five minute shows. When I get done
with my second show, my shirt is soaking wet. I just put out 110
percent. I put my whole heart and soul in it.
see also: Cajun music, Free Reeds
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