As at July 2008 we are at the very initial stages of forming a mandolin orchestra. This has been a thought of mine for a good few years so I have started planning and working with a couple of fellow mandolin players. The vision is that within 18 months we will have around 16 musicians (around 8 on mandolin, 2 or 3 on mandola , two or three on nylon strung guitar, a double bass, accordion and anything else such as a cello would be a plus), . The music will be universal and appeal to the general public. The plan is to have an initial base of say 12 popular tunes such as Never on a Sunday, Santa Lucia, Return to Sorrento, Lara’s theme etc etc and after that we will look at adding some tasty melodic pieces.

There is no plan to play any bluegrass or jigs/reels or such fast material as this would not really work with so many musicians who only meet once per fortnight or once per month.  It would never be tight enough. The idea of having 5 or six experienced players playing “clever” stuff is not the plan at all. The plan is to play tunes which everyone knows and tunes which work on the mandolin. Some tunes just don;’t work as good as others on mandolin and some tunes don’t work as instrumentals without the words. Simple as that.

We are always interested in musicians or instruments for this orchestra.  Musicians required must be reliable and committed. We will need mandolin players who are competent at tremolo playing and guitar players who can play straightforward rhythm guitar preferably with nylon strung guitar. We do need a piano accordionist . A double bassist is also required al though I currently do have certain people in mind.

If you are interested please contact me by email or phone.


Instruments Wanted:  We are always looking for good mandolins and mandolas but any condition may be useful for spare parts. Jimmy is always  interested in acoustic instruments generally such as guitars, banjos, violins, concertinas etc. Not interested in wind instruments.