Ivor Mairants

Ivor Mairants (b. 18 July 1908 c.20 February 1998) was a jazz and classical guitarist, teacher and composer.

With his wife Lily in 1958 he created the Ivor Mairants Musicentre, a specialist guitar store in London that was the first of its kind in the country and is still among the foremost of its kind in the UK.

Ivor Mairants was born in Rypin, Poland. He came with his family to the United Kingdom in 1913. He attended Raine's Foundation School in Bethnal Green. He took up the banjo at the age of 17, and became a professional musician at the age of 20.

From the 1930s he was a featured banjoist and then guitarist of many of Britain's leading dance bands including those of Bert Firman, Ambrose, Roy Fox, Lew Stone, Geraldo and Ted Heath. In the 1960s and 1970s his guitar playing was often heard on television, radio, film soundtracks, and many recordings with the popular Mantovani orchestra, and with Manuel and his Music of the Mountains. His recording of the 'Adagio' from Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez with Manuel sold over one million copies. His guitar quintet broadcast regularly in the late 1950s on the BBC's Guitar Club series.

Ivor Mairants devoted much time to writing music and instructional methods for the guitar.

Mairants worked with American guitarist Josh White to create The Josh White Guitar Method (Boosey & Hawkes) in 1956. It was an influential book for the fledgling UK blues/folk scene and was the first blues guitar instruction book ever published. UK guitarist John Renbourn and American guitarist Stefan Grossman (who was living in the UK at the time) have cited it as a critical influence on their playing. The success of the book The Josh White Guitar Method prompted Mairants to commission a Zenith “Josh White” signature guitar based on Josh's Martin 0021 from German guitar maker Oscar Teller. Scottish guitarist Bert Jansch owned one of these models in his early playing years. On the last page of "Josh White Guitar Method" (printed 1956) there is a photo of this Zenith Josh White signature guitar and some text about it.

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