John Serry Sr.

His Italian father immigrated to America from Gragnano, Italy after passing through Ellis Island in 1904 and 1914.

The family owned a grocery store after initially moving to Navy Street in 1905, and subsequently taking up residence on 18th Avvenue in the Bensonhurst section.

The "golden age of the accordion" continued to evolve in America from 1910 to 1960 and some piano accordionists suddenly enjoyed acceptance as performers within the best known dance bands, jazz ensembles and big band ensembles such as the Paul Whiteman orchestra.

John Serry Sr. (born John Serrapica; January 29, 1915 – September 14, 2003) was an American concert accordionist, arranger, composer, organist, and educator.

He performed on the CBS Radio and Television networks and contributed to Voice of America's cultural diplomacy initiatives during the Golden Age of Radio.

His formal musical education included studies with the accordionist Joseph Rossi from 1926 to 1929 at the Pietro Deiro School in New York.

At the age of fifeteen he performed live on the Italian radio station WCDA.

In addition, he undertook studies in piano and harmony with Albert Rizzi from 1929 to 1932 and in harmony and counterpoint with Gene Von Hallberg for two years.

He also concertized on the accordion as a member of several orchestras and jazz ensembles for nearly forty years between the 1930s and 1960s.

Serry's career spanned over seven decades.

As a proponent of Latin American music and the free-bass accordion, he performed as the piano accordionist on the radio music program Viva América, which was broadcast live to South America under the United States Department of State's Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs' cultural diplomacy initiative for Voice of America during World War II.

With the help of Del Monte, in the 1930s Serry continued his professional career by making appearances with the Ralph Gomez Tango Orchestra at The Rainbow Room at the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center, leading to an extended engagement there in 1935.

During the 1930s and 1940s many accordionists emerged as performers on American radio, the new mass entertainment medium of the time.

At the age of sixteen, Serrapica had already performed as a soloist on the AM radio station WOV in New York City during several live broadcasts in 1931.

By the age of nineteen, Serrapica was already enrolled as a member of the American Federation of Musicians in 1934.

the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center (1935); the Starlight Roof at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel (1936–1937); the Palmer House in Chicago (1938); the Stevens Hotel in Chicago (1938); the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles (1938); Carnegie Hall with Alfredo Antonini conducting (1946); the Plaza Hotel (1940s); The Town Hall (1941–1942); the Waldorf Astoria Hotel's Wedgewood Room (1948), The Rajah Theatre (1953), the Ed Sullivan Theater (1959) for CBS television; the Empire Theater (New York) (1953); and such New York cafe society nightspots as: El Morocco, El Chico and The Riviera in the 1930s.

During the course of these performances he appeared under the musical direction of several noted conductors including: Alfredo Antonini, Mischa Borr, Percy Faith, Shep Fields and Andre Kostelanetz.

Serry was born John Serrapica in Brooklyn, New York to Pasquale Serrapica and Anna Balestrieri, the fourth-born of thirteen siblings.

He also played with the Hugo Mariani Tango Orchestra at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, with Alfred Brito, a Cuban orchestra leader in New York (1936), and Misha Borr, conductor of the Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra.

He appeared as a soloist for society functions at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel's Waldorf Towers and at its Starlight Roof with the Lester Lanin Orchestra.

In addition, he performed regularly at clubs such as El Morocco, the Rainbow Room, El Chico, and the Riviera in New York City.

As the decade came to a close, Serry acquired a position with the jazz ensemble Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm during a nationwide tour which included live radio broadcasts from the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, and the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California, over the NBC network (1937–1938).

These big band remote broadcasts used Zenith's Radiogran technology.

In 1937, he also recorded the distinctive Shep Fields' theme song with the Shep Fields Rippling Rhythm Orchestra for Eli Oberstein on RCA Victor's Bluebird label (Victor, BS-017494, 1937).

Von Hallberg served as a cofounder of the American Accordionists Association in 1938.

The period from 1938 to 1960 has been described as a unique period of prestige for the accordion in the United States when it attained more widespread acceptance by the public as a "serious instrument" on the concert hall stage.

His performances as a member of the orchestra are also documented in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938 ("This Little Ripple Had Rhythm" and "Thanks for the Memory"), which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1939.

While touring with Shep Fields, he also recorded several popular songs of the time for Bluebird Records, including "With a Smile and a Song", "Whistle While You Work", and "Now It Can Be Told".

At the young age of only 23 in 1938, Serry was already collaborating on stage with several noted accordionists of the early 20th century including: Andy Arcari, Anthony Mecca, Domenic Mecca, Pietro Deiro and Joe Biviano.

The six accordionists joined forces at the north ballroom of the legendary Stevens Hotel in Chicago for an "Accordion Jamfest" before an audience of over 1000 concertgoers in September 1938.

The concert occurred soon after Andy Arcari's noted accordion recital at Philadelphia's Academy of Music in May 1938, where critics praise him for his brilliance.

Hallberg later appeared in the Magnante Quartet before an audience of three thousand concertgoers at Carnegie Hall in 1939 A lifelong friendship with the accordionist Louis Del Monte was established as a result of these studies.

Del Monte awakened Serry's interest in Latin American music.

In a few short months both Biviano and the Mecca brothers would appear with Charles Magnante, Gene Von Hallberg and Abe Goldman to introduce the accordion in recital for the first time to an audience of classical music concertgoers in Carnegie Hall (April, 1939).

Broadcasts of this show have been cited as helping to introduce Latin American music and the Mexican bolero to large audiences in the United States in the 1940s.

Serry performed with big bands, symphony orchestras, radio and television orchestras, and Broadway orchestras at the Radio City Music Hall,

Advanced studies in harmony and orchestration were completed under the instruction of the composer Robert Strassburg in the 1940s.

Serry married Julia Trafficante in the 1940s and moved to Nassau County, New York on Long Island to raise a family of four children which included John Serry Jr.. The original family name of Serrapica was shortened by John to Serry.

He simultaneously undertook private studies with: Joscha Zade in piano (1945–1946); Arthur Guttow, an organist at the Radio City Music Hall (1946); and Robert Strassburg in Orchestration and Advanced Harmony (1948–1950).

He specialized in the works of Gershwin, Debussy, and Ravel.