Bal-musette is old-time Parisian dance music with the accordion at its center. Its signature is the fast-spinning waltz (the valse-musette), whose vibrato-rich accordion sounds melancholy and merry at once. Over a light triple meter, the scene of a backstreet café or dance hall rises vividly into view — the very sound you know from French films.

It began when Italian immigrants' accordions infiltrated and merged with the dance gatherings that migrants from the Auvergne region ran in Paris on the bagpipe (musette), and the modern form crystallized in the early 20th century. It took root as the social center of working-class neighborhoods and reached its golden age from the 1930s to the 1950s.

The accordion's fine, shivering vibrato and the dizzyingly fast triple meter of the waltz are the main draws. In later players like Jo Privat, you can also enjoy the swing feel and guitar solos drawn from Gypsy jazz.

Gus Viseur's 'Flambée Montalbanaise' (1940s) is a masterful meeting of musette and jazz. For a more dance-hall scene, try Jo Privat's 'Manouche' (1950s).

'Musette' was originally the name of a bagpipe from the Auvergne region; even after the instrument was replaced by the accordion, the word survived as the name of both the dance gathering and the music.