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This is heartbreaking news, Sheri, but thank you for passing it on. He and I corresponded many times and he was a universe of experience about Italian music on records, too. He will be sorely...

The song 'U Carrittieri comes from the singing of the Sicilian singer, Saverio Benigno, and was recorded in NYC in 1918. The title means "the cart driver," and there are many examples of folk themes...

Sheri Mignano Crawford has a very large collection of Italian sheet music, scans of which she has made available. Check out this thread:
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Thanks, Joe and Jairo. I'm not sure I can see myself as someone with good technique, but I suppose we're all somewhere on the 'good technique' bell curve.



That's Zio Carmine. A little...

My introduction to Italian music was through recordings that were collected by a friend of mine. He would periodically send my transfers of 78s that he had found, and I would typically cringe a...

I think that's unlikely, except in some experimental context - these Harmonia and Nightingale sessions were probably anything but experimental, being basically local, budget labels. I do have...

Both of those recordings are on an LP compilation of Vicari's recordings titled "Mandolinata" - those recordings all seem to be drawn from 78rpm recordings done by Vicari for the Harmonia and...

Thanks, Cary - I do what I can with what I got.



Todd actually built the case. The instruments that he builds occasionally fall outside the sizes, shapes and contours that are supported by...

For the last few weeks and in spite of the pandemic, I've had a welcome visitor in the house... a prototype mandolin built by Todd Cambio (Fraulini Guitar Co.). Todd is a guitar builder with a deep...

This isn't mine, but belongs to a friend of mine and I get to play it when I visit out that way. A Lyon & Healy "De Pace" model.

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It's definitely Charlie McCoy singing. That type of accompaniment on the guitar was a kind of common denominator between the Chatmons and some of the musicians that played with them. Both of the...

Thanks, Ranald. It really must have taken some work to get all that together - we were pretty much beneath notice, generally speaking. I have to say it was endlessly amusing to remind Mike this...

The Little Brothers stopped playing together sometime in 2012. We did all kinds of country blues and old-time with varying degrees of success, but we always meant it. Mike was and is a great guy...

This LP was probably recorded in the mid to late 50s and was released on the tiny Edgina label, and likely distributed out of Rossi's shop in Little Italy. Most Edgina records I've seen are of...

Oh - I totally agree, and it's the reason I posted what, in my admittedly limited experience, were some common (and fairly accessible) tunes within Sheri's archive.

As a collection, Sheri's...

Mebbe on some level it is, but that's no reason to blow MORE dust on it!

Similar to Sheri and David's experience, people have occasionally spontaneously danced when we play, but most of the places and groups near us that host dancing are more interested in contra and...

There's more to those recordings than just an accurate assessment of tempo, though - they embody a range of musical sensibilities that are just kind of lost on the page. I'm also including songs as...

Thanks on the avatar - the trinacria! :)

I certainly agree that it's not jazz, but it's also not exactly classical music either. When you listen to recordings of these tunes - particularly...

I have to confess that I'm less attuned to composers than I am to what a player brings to the table. Tra Veglia E Sonno is an example of a mazurka that I think is a reasonable starting point for...

There are so many good ones! I like mixing what I find in the sheet music with what I find in recordings - that's a whole OTHER world, really. My latest obsession is the polka Diavoletta by the...

It's easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of music in the ballo liscio thread. Here are a few titles that I know are available as sheet music AND are pretty common mazurkas and waltzes on both...

I realize you may no longer be waiting on this anymore, but I did this quick transcription for a friend this past weekend... just the main melody part. Maybe it'll help.

Good call, Martin, and well done. The whole 2nd act of Il Trovatore has good things in it, and "Stride la vampa" is a gem among them. Azucena rules! :)

I have... and do! I even sing it (sorta)... I do what I can with what I got!

Thanks for the link and detail on D. Vasin. I hear you about your preference for the earlier material... it's just...