Thanks to Martin Jonas

[Sherry Cadenhead]

I've been around the Cafe for almost a year now and just recently decided to check out the genre posts. Stumbling onto this one, I've been reminded of how much I like Italian music. Thanks to you, Martin, for your posts, especially the beautiful waltzes.

[billhay4]

I second this.
Bill

[Jess L.]

I second this.
Bill

I third this.

Martin continues to bring to light a vast array of often fabulous music, much of which I would never discover otherwise. My all-time favorite of Martin's posts of cool tunes, is "Down By The Brazos" for Song-a-Week. Thanks again Martin for all your work in sharing so much music.

[HonketyHank]

Martin's videos are always a musical and visual treat.

[Sherry Cadenhead]

My all-time favorite of Martin's posts of cool tunes, is "Down By The Brazos" for Song-a-Week. Thanks again Martin for all your work in sharing so much music.

That is a nice tune. I enjoyed listening to your version and Martin's.

[Martin Jonas]

Thanks, Sherry and all!

It's fun putting tunes together, especially those salvaged from old sheet music copies, some of which have not been played by anybody in a century or so and may not ever have been recorded in any form. I'm doing this mainly for myself, as a more focussed way of practicing and a voyage of discovery, but if others enjoy the recordings too, so much the better. Putting the accompanying images together is also fun as it gives me an excuse to go trawling for art.

These are really glorified exercises in sight-reading: there is little if any practicing time before recording and my technical setup is basic to say the least. I'm well aware of my limitations as a player, although I feel that my tone and fluency have greatly improved through the years I've been recording myself. The music I'm playing is generally technically straightforward, not least because I'm not up to playing any sort of virtuoso material. However, I hope that this encourages others to try out these pieces themselves, which is why wherever copyright laws permit I'm trying to always attach or link the sheet music as well.

Sherry: I always enjoy old Italian tunes, but after overdosing on them a few years ago (and also because I didn't like getting entangled in purist arguments on correct tempo and phrasing for these tunes) I have been concentrating on other genres lately. I've been having fun with the Italian waltzes I've recorded recently, though, so I may dig up a few more. Check out the playlists in my Youtube channel for my back catalogue -- I'm up to 1463 recordings now, so there's quite a bit of material to explore, including dozens of Italian tunes! Some now sound a bit pedestrian to me, so maybe I'll need to re-record my older tunes.

Martin

[JH Murray]

Martin your playing and your multi-tracking chops have both developed quite a bit over the years. Cheers!

[Sherry Cadenhead]

Martin, listening to your videos reminds me what a beautiful instrument we mandolinists have chosen to enjoy. So many beautiful pieces, so little time. At least you have a good start.

[Bill Clements]

Boy, was this thread overdue!
I for one am guilty of taking for granted all the time and effort Martin puts into sharing his music and knowledge with us.
I just login and look for his posts with regularity, much like waking up in the morning and seeing the sun rise!

Thanks, Martin. You're terrific. Keep it coming.

Bill

[Sherry Cadenhead]

Martin, how about letting us see you play?

[brunello97]

Boy, was this thread overdue!
I for one am guilty of taking for granted all the time and effort Martin puts into sharing his music and knowledge with us.
I just login and look for his posts with regularity, much like waking up in the morning and seeing the sun rise!

Thanks, Martin. You're terrific. Keep it coming.

Bill

Here I'm saying thanks to Bill for saying thanks to Martin.

Molte grazie, Martin-mio fratello-per tutto quello che hai contribuito qui: la musica, il tuo buon senso e buon umore.

Mick

[Martin Jonas]

Thanks, Sherry and Mick,

Martin, how about letting us see you play?

My early recordings, from 2010/11, are solo mandolin with video of me playing -- there are still several hundred of them in my channel. I stopped filming myself when I started multi-tracking as including video footage in that setup greatly increases complexity and technical effort. I'd rather concentrate on the audio.

Feel free to browse the old recordings in my channel to see me play. That was a different microphone, and my playing has evolved since then -- my early recordings tend to sound a bit mechanical and flat to me now, mainly because I was still getting used to the recording process. Here are a few old ones I still quite like:

It's Not The Wind That Bends The Branch (Russian folk song)

El Paso (Marty Robbins)

14 variations on Greensleeves To A Ground

Sir John Hopes Currant (Skene Manuscript, c. 1620)

Christmas carol: Maria durch ein Dornwald ging (16th Century German)

Españoleta (Gaspar Sanz)

Motivo di Cantastorie (trad. from Sicily)

Gregor (Ukrainian folk)

Martin

[Sherry Cadenhead]

Thanks, Martin. I enjoyed watching/listening to these.