Adolph Lesser
Pioneer Category – Inducted 2001
Adolph Lesser’s colorful career as a musician and
entertainer spanned some sixty-five years before his stroke in 1996.
Adolph remains one of the most prominent musical figures in the Rocky
Mountain region and is affectionately known as the “Old Master”.
Born in Loveland, Colorado in 1915, Adolph was the
second youngest of eight sons and one daughter. The family always had
music in their house and Adolph’s parents were Germans who immigrated to
the Volga area of Russia in the late 1800’s. In 1913, the family came
to America. As a young boy, Adolph tried to learn every instrument he
could get his hands on including the button accordion, pump organ,
harmonica and dulcimer. He bought his first piano accordion for $200
during the days of the Depression. Adolph had tow older brothers who
were professional musicians in Russia and he would tag along with them
to various dances and weddings.
Eventually he was able to afford to take the bus
to Denver every week to take lessons from Tony Ferraro, who was an NBC
Radio studio artist. He also studied under Alfred Antonio, who came to
Loveland every week to teach.
Adolph’s professional career began at the ripe old
age of fifteen, and within a year he had an organized band and was
playing over KFKA Radio in Greeley, Colorado every morning at 6:30. The
radio show was great exposure for Adolph and the band, and they traveled
to neighboring states for weddings, fairs, and barn dances. The band
varied from four to six to eight pieces depending on the venue. The
band played steadily from 1939-1940 when polka dances began wearing
thin. During this time, Adolph continued to play solo or with one or
two other pieces at many of the small mining towns in Colorado including
Dacono, Frederick, and Firestone, often one of the few who stayed
playing polkas.
Uncle Sam had a very different mission in mind for
Adolph, one that had very little in common with music. He went into the
Army on January 7, 1942, exactly one month after the bombing of Pearl
Harbor and less than a month after he married Cecilia Stratman.
Initially stationed in California, Adolph entertained his fellow
serviceman and also played in nightclubs with local West Coast groups.
Adolph was then deployed to the European Theatre with the 35th
Division until the war ended, serving in several major battles including
the Invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. The Queen Mary,
now docked in Long Beach, California, provided transportation home from
Europe, during which time Adolph played with a Western band for two
shows a day on the ship. In 1945, home from the service for only two
weeks, Adolph played six weddings for six nights straight.
The demand for Dutch hop music was so great after
the war that Adolph and a dear friend opened the Garden City Ballroom
near Greeley, CO. The ballroom was a great success. Saturday nights,
however, were always reserved for Polka dances and the ballroom always
seemed to be rented on Sundays for weddings.
1950 was a big year for Adolph. Fred Curle of
Colombia Records took a great interest in Adolph’s music and Columbia
made arrangements to put the Lesser band under contract. Adolph had a
booking agent and his recordings were heard on major networks throughout
the United States. The group traveled extensively for Columbia and
played a series of “Battle of the Bands” with Frank Yankovic, America’s
Polka King. One of these performances drew over 4,000 people to the
largest ballroom in Nebraska, a venue with room for only 3,000 people.
Frank and Adolph remained close friends throughout their lives, often
playing at the same festivals around the country.
After a successful six years, Adolph and his
partner sold the ballroom and Adolph built his music store on South 8th
Avenue in Greeley. Lesser Music was the cornerstone for young people
from all over Northern Colorado who wanted to study the accordion. When
the Rock & Roll craze hit, Adolph added guitar teachers and had a
successful business selling amplifiers and guitars as well as
accordions. Adolph and his wife, Cecilia, ran the music store for
nearly twenty years.
1955 brought another change to Adolph and
Cecelia’s life, the addition of a daughter to their family. Adolph’s
daughter, Cyndi, remembers growing up in the music store, starting
accordion lessons at the age of five, and later studying the clarinet,
tenor sax, and button accordion with equal expertise. Cyndi joined her
father’s band in 1970 and is a versatile and well-recognized musician in
her own right.
Adolph was inducted into the Colorado Polka Hall
of Fame in 1976 and was honored with the European-American Music Award
at the Grand Polka Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada in September 1999.
While the highlights of his career have been numerous, Adolph would tell
you that his fondest memories would have to include all of the people he
has met, the many friends he has made, as well as the many talented
musicians with whom he has worked and shared the stage with over thirty
years.
The Volga German music has had limited exposure in
many areas of the United States because these people settled primarily
in Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, and North Dakota. However, Adolph’s
style of music is no less ethnic than Slovenian, Polish, or other German
styles of music. Adolph has always been proud of his Volga German
heritage and enjoyed sharing this unique style of polka music with
people from all areas of the United States, playing at various Polka
Fests and Oktoberfests in Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska, Arizona,
Oklahoma, Oregon, and Minnesota.
Although his stroke has created some obstacles
over the past five years and leaving Adolph unable to lead the band,
Adolph cherishes the love and support of Cecilia and Cyndi, his family,
and his many friends and fellow musicians. Music will always
remain in the
heart and soul of the “Old Master” |
