Well-known musician Maletta dies

" ... I bid you farewell, I don't know when I'll be back.

They're moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track,

But you'll be hearing from me, baby, long after I'm gone.

I'll be speaking to you sweetly from a window in the Tower of Song."

-- Leonard Cohen, "Tower of Song"

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Accordion Al, Yakima's own maestro of what he called the "macaroni box," has moved into the proverbial Tower of Song.

The local music legend -- whose accordion school once enrolled children from Cle Elum to the Tri-Cities and Walla Walla -- died Monday.

Al Maletta Sr. was 95.

The son of immigrants from southern Italy, Maletta moved to Yakima from Seattle in 1936. It wasn't too long before he and a business partner, one of his former students, Bob Deccio, had their own music school.

Maletta was well-known not only in the local music scene, but regionally and even nationally. He graced the cover of the July 1947 issue of Accordion World magazine, and at one time about 500 children were enrolled in his music school.

"I'm not sure what I can say without choking up," said Gary Taylor, owner of Taylor Music in Yakima, where Maletta gave accordion lessons later in life. "A lot of people around the Northwest owe him a lot of thanks for helping them get involved in music."

Maletta had lived alone since 1979, when his wife Yolanda, a dark-haired, brown-eyed beauty, died. They were married in 1939 when she was 19 and he was 25.

They had three children, eight grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Maletta was still giving accordion lessons at 90 when the apartment he was living in near downtown Yakima caught fire. He escaped the early morning blaze in June 2005 with only the clothing he was wearing.

The fire destroyed or damaged everything he owned, including his accordion, silk ties hand painted with likenesses of his favorite instrument and a collection of rare sheet music.

Until the fire, Taylor said, Maletta "was like most are in their 60s and 70s. He was just wonderful. He never met anyone that wasn't his friend or would become his friend. He was just a neat guy.

After the fire, Maletta stayed with one of his daughters until eventually moving into a nursing home.

"Even as he was in the nursing home, he would receive correspondence from former students," said his son and namesake.

His father influenced more than music, according to Al Maletta Jr.

"It's immeasurable," he said of his father's legacy. "It's more than just music, isn't it? It's positive influence. That's what I think he would want to be remembered most for. He was an optimist. He always had a big smile and tried to look for the good in people."

* Adriana Janovich can be reached at 509-577-7653 or ajanovich@yakimaherald.com