Real name: Thomas Joseph Gumina

Effective period / Period of releases: 1957 - 1964

American jazz accordionist, born 20 May 1931 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

Gumina took up the accordion at 11. A graduate of Don Bosco High School in Milwaukee, Gumina started playing professionally after school. Bandleader Harry James discovered him at a club. In the 1950s, Gumina was featured on the television shows of Liberace, Ed Sullivan Show and Jackie Gleason Show, and performed in Las Vegas as well.

In 1961, he was named by Stan Kenton to the faculty of Kenton's jazz clinic at Michigan State University. At the time, Gumina said, "Until recent years, the accordion has been thought of in this country as a polka or concert instrument. This is the first time one of Kenton's clinics has included the instrument."

In 1968, Gumina founded the Polytone Amplifier Company and in 1987 he created Polytone records with guitarist Joe Pass.

He died 2013 in Los Angeles.