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View Full Version : Bitten by the JazzMando bug



lambdaman
Feb-29-2004, 11:07am
So I've been playing mandolin for a year and change. Irish fiddle tunes for the most part. Just when I'm getting comfortable and starting to save for the Stefan Sobell that will replace my MidMissouri in another year or two I stumble across the Harmonious Wail MP3's here at the cafe. Django on mandolin! So I buy the CD and Liz Carroll and John Whelan collection is spending most of its time on the shelf. THEN I find Don Steirnberg's stuff on iTunes and it's amazing and I realize I'm kinda hooked. As if that's not enough I read all the glowing Djangolin comments and now I'm reconsidering my (planned) Sobell purchase.

All of which brings me too: what kind of mandolins do Jazzers play? I'm partial to A models but that Djangolin does look way cool.

Ted Eschliman
Feb-29-2004, 12:20pm
I'll start. (I'm not an expert, but I've got the biggest mouth:)
Rigel CT-110 (http://www.rigelmandolin.com/rotatemandoline.html)
Michael Lewis "Django" (http://www.michaellewisinstruments.com/mandolins.php)
Hodson "Djangolin" (http://website.lineone.net/~david_j_hodson/Index.htm)
Vintage Epiphone MM-70 aka "The Jethro" (http://members.aol.com/teesch/Jethro.html)
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif

John Rosett
Feb-29-2004, 9:13pm
"it ain't the meat, it's the motion..."
i think that you can play jazz on any mandolin. i saw jethro playing one of those japanese washburns, and he sounded great. i play jazz on both a weber yellowstone and a '13 gibson a. they both sound great (not as good as j.b.), but in different ways.
i haven't had the pleasure of playing one of those djangolins yet, but i really think it's more the way you play than the instrument. jazz tunes would probably sound pretty good on a sobel....
john

Pete Martin
Mar-14-2004, 9:50pm
Better get to the doctor, quick!!

jmcgann
Mar-15-2004, 2:23pm
I think a good instrument is a good instrument regardless of style of music, so in a way, anything will work if you like it. I play a Zeidler and love it for it's sustaining qualities, the way the notes are balanced (a good thing for playing dissonant jazz chords), fat and warm. Plus, it's the only mando I own (not counting the Sobell OM) so i use it for bluegrass, irish and jazz as well.

That said, I'd love to try a Djangolin! Those Selmer-type instruments aren't incredibly versatile, but are the right tool for that particular tone job!