AWW is sad to report the passing of well-known accordionist Carl Fortina on Feb. 1, 2014.

Included here are excerpts from a Facebook posting by Paul Pasquali, founder/director of the Las Vegas International Accordion Convention: Carl Fortina was a performer; a composer, an arranger, an orchestra manager, an author of “The Accordion as Written”, and above all, a man who took the dream his father had and turned it into realty. Carl grew up in San Francisco with the sound of the accordion from birth. His father, as Carl tells, had the drive and ambition to be a great accordionist but unfortunately lacked the talent but wanted his children to have the opportunity to become great. At age four, Carl’s dad bought him the smallest accordion he could find and within a few months took his son to the famous San Francisco accordion teacher John Pezzolo. As it turned out Carl had two god given talents, memory and perfect pitch – both of which were the foundation of his musical learning and career. His performing career began at age 5 with his first public performance at an accordion festival and on the vaudeville stage with his younger sister Chickie.

During his youth he continued his studies and performing and then spent 2 years serving as a drum major in the 6th infantry. Carl returned as a young man and settled in Los Angels and was very busy being the “first call” accordionist in Hollywood for next 35 years. But that was just the beginning of a fascinating career. By 1973 Carl became a contract orchestra manager for many Hollywood productions and by 1976 became the orchestra manager for Paramount Motion pictures for 30 years. The credits and lists that Carl has amassed are astounding. He has touched by either playing the accordion, acting, or being musical director in over 25,000 TV shows and more than 550 movies. Plus working with an astounding list famous artists (from Presley to Cher to Streisand) and composers (from Williams to Hamlisch to Mancini) the lists would fill a book.

Carl was a gentle giant in the music industry and some say he was one of the most recorded accordionists ever,and enormously respected for his work in the film and advertising industry.

Funeral arrangements will be posted in the USA News as soon as they become available.