Dick Rosmini - 900 miles 12 string instrumental '64

[austingone]

In 1965, I saw Dick perform one snowy night, at the small , legendary folk club, the Main Point in Bryn Mawr Pa. He blew me away. I bought a 12-string soon after. He was light years ahead of everybody else. I mean, no one else was even close. His singing was pretty nice too. Glad to know that he is still remembered so fondly.

[jonasjar]

@austingone Hi, I also bought a 12-string but it was futile, I could never ever come up with anything was even remotely reminiscent of what Dick produced. I envy you to have actully seen the man, that would have been one of the higlights of my life if that had happened to me! Saw Kottke once and that was lovely, but I suspect Dick was one size bigger.

[joleary47]

@jonasjar Kottke's still around and touring, still amazing, still lovely to listen to, lovely to watch - and he tells (with humility) the story of Rosmini that Thn46 mentions in his earlier comment.

[brynanuppasponken]

Great song! It is actually featured with good quality on Spotify, which is an online music service available in some European countries.

[498332]

We used "900 Miles To Go" as an intro to FolkAmerica radio show on WSND in '68 and '69 - it was from an LP called "Adventures for 5-string, 6-string and 12-string." I know where there is a copy of the LP - it has some amazing stuff on it, like Jelly Roll Morton's "Sweet Substitute" , Shady Grove, John Hardy, St. James' Drag, Freight Train and many more. I have MP3s of the whole thing.

[jonasjar]

@498332 yes, there was another commenter here that mentioned the radio show. Yes, I believe it origingally came from that record. Somebody gave me a pointer to a file sharing site, so I downloaded it. But it seems that few of the other numbers can rival the 900, or else I need to listen more to it. He was some guitarrist, no doubt, a natural I think. You cannot learn such a style, you have to invent it yourself, and thats whats make him interesting.

[PaladinJuan]

@498332

can you please share what you have from Dick Rosmini. I was a small child in Bryn Mawr in the mi 60s and my dad used to take me to hear Dick Rosmini.

thanks

[kajwilhelm]

Really groovy playing!!!

[theskeptic1031]

I grew up watching Dick Rosmini play guitar and banjo in the 70's and 80's. He was friends with my family, and probably the most talented musician I've ever known. Godspeed, Rosmini!! Fabulous tribute video, Jonas!

[jonasjar]

@theskeptic1031 thanks for commenting skept, you made my day. I really enjoyed making this vid, since 900 miles was one of the milestones of my tender youth. Dad didnt think much of it, but I could never forget it. Tried to play it but failed miserably, could never figure it out, guess it was never meant for average guys like me :-)

[Yeractualpatience]

@jonasjar Great track...what a fine player. Never heard of him till now. Can't understand why? Save for my living in UK/Europe. I always rate Paul Geremia as a fine 12-string picker, too. Having lived for some years in northern Sweden - Angermanland - the filmtrack also resonates with me! Great compilation. Thanks for posting.

[jonasjar]

@Yeractualpatience if you have lived in Angermanland, search for the vid Janne Schaffer - Norrland (winter) and you might enjoy that too (also made by me)

[gmcclancy]

Great video, the greatest blues guitar, very moving, good for the soul. Thanks for making it. Is there any way of obtaining the original phono record? Is there a CD?

[jonasjar]

Try Ebay or similar sites, havent heard of a CD but Im not updated on such issues. Someone pointed me to a filesharing site that contained the entire record this track was on, which I did download, very nice but a rather scratchy specimen.

[daveworx]

guy died too early

[498332]

I borrowed Rosmini's "Adventures for 5 String, 6 String and 12 String" from a friend in 1970 - I finally gave it back to him in 1998 because he threatened my life... I used "900 Miles" for an intro to a folk radio show every week.

[kickingmule]

Thanks Jonas !

This is what I call "Music" !!! *Smile*

Peace and 5***** up !

Urban

[jonasjar]

thanks Urb, glad you like it, was almost run over by the train when shooting this, but no price it too high for true music and true art! :)

[Bowerstone1th]

Det här var skiiiitbra!!!!! *L*

[jonasjar]

taximyxi! (som Tony Curtis sa i snobbar som jobbar när de hälsade på i Stockholm i ett avsnitt)

[grummeper]

Great!

[hwlphwynn]

VERY good! Loved it!

[jonasjar]

glad ya'like it! It's a bliss to have recordings like this saved to posterity. These good men are gone for ever but their music lives on for many miles to come! I've never seen this guy live but he will always have a place in my heart.

[CFLanger]

One word WOW! Thanks John S. for telling me about him. I'll be digging deeper. I can hear why Leo Kottke liked him.

[AluminumAnemones]

Jonasjar, many thanks for posting this video. I had the opportunity to see Rosmini play many times at his own home in Los Angeles, mostly after he had left the performance and studio period of his career. I can say without hesitation that he was a monster on the guitar. He was amazing technically, but what impresses and inspires me most was his attack. He dug in to the guitar and made songs jump, he was fearless. It may be hard to believe, but he was even better in these later years.

[jonasjar]

thanks for commenting, fearless? I can well believe that, there's no hesitation when he handles the guitar, none at all! You are priviliged to have heard him in a private setting.

[AluminumAnemones]

Dick was my father's best friend for 30 years. He moved from guitar into studio engineering and electronics, at Teac he pioneered the concept of home recording first with reel to reel 4 track, then as a designer on the original cassette 4 track. He did a little mix work on Led Zeppelin IV, and Jimmy Page asked him if he was the guy who made the Elektra album, and wanted to know how to get that acoustic sound. Dick said it was the compressors, sold Page 2 Urei LA-2s that afternoon.

[AluminumAnemones]

And thanks again for your video, the more I watch it the more I feel it really captures the spirit of the song.

[jonasjar]

thanks for the info, I had a teac reel 4-track for some time and a friend bought the first teac tascam casette 4-track (called 144 I think) and we had a lot of fun with that. It thrills me to think of Dick playing a part of that new development. Glad you like the video, perhaps it radiates the deep satisfaction I felt when assembling it and the pride in doing the very best job I could given the resources and knowledge I had.

[daveworx]

@jonasjar Dick wrote a book in 1978 called The Multitrack Primer for Tascam. I have an original copy! Very cool. I used to read it as if it were the bible.

[jonasjar]

Yes I think I saw it 'cause my buddy bought a book with that title and I glanced through it, but I could never ever dream it was written by the man himself! Didnt know he did such stuff at that time.

[RJRuskin]

@AluminumAnemones Dick was one of my best friends & produced my 1st 5 recordings. He was a consultant at TEAC but not an actual designer. He would explain to the designers what the typical end user would be looking for on a given product and fight like hell to get his ideas put into production. I don't know what compressor Page bought after their meeting but the unit Dick was so fond of was the RCA BA6A broadcast limiter.

[jonasjar]

@RJRuskin thanks a lot for the info. My interest for Dick's music will stay with me as long as I live. It always bugged me that I couldnt get hold of any records of him back when I was young and impatient. Yes I noticed he was involved in some way in the cheap teac porta-homestudio products that me and my friend were toying with.

[tsbbass]

i'm a bit confused about how many musicians i'm listening to. the bass is soft and panned full left. then there's a bunch of guitar in the middle. and then another instrument that enters (panned right) at 0:47. that sounds more like strumming than drums to my ears.

is rosmini the only guitar? what a beast!

[jonasjar]

according to the record sleeve there's 3 men on the tune, and since gene estes is credited for drums I'd say its him coming in at 0:47. I have always had big problems analysing the guitar but my amateur guess is at least two guitar tracks by rosmini. Yes rosmini was a great player, I've only heard this track but it suffice for me to rate him as a great player.

[Thm46]

Interestingly, Dick Rosmini was present at a Leo Kottke concert where Leo was complaining about the playability of his Martin (Lundburg conversion-scale length approx. 27"). Rosmini went backstage and played the guitar almost effortlessly saying something like 'It's not the guitar, it's whether you know how to play!'

He amazed Leo.

[jonasjar]

yes I read it before, unarguably he had unusual chops.

[lopescone]

all you Dick Rosmini fans pay attention : Cyrus Faryar album ''Islands ''..CollectorsChoicemusic

CCM-673(Elektra2006) has him playing and even SINGING wich is even more astonishingly beautiful it is the first track on the album called Bright islands so we Sailed ....amazing , check 4 yourself , and enjoy deep class and quality and poetic refinenment of first order ...1973 !!!!!!

[lb110750]

Christ, I though I was the only one who had a life long (so far) appreciatio of Rosmini. I have this LP and his other two guitar LPs which I picked upo from e bay a few years ago. 900 is in standard tuning, the picky bits arent easy but try using Gm D F and E (preferably on a 12 string!) Good Luck

[jonasjar]

can you play it? I dont get anywhere with this. This tune is all I've ever got of Rosmini, and I love it. It has everything a real good train song should have.

[spedmuffin121]

wat scale is that if any

[jonasjar]

no idea, Im not good at scales, but scale-wise it sounds very simple, dont think the difficulties lies in the scale. Ive tried to do it but its totally off-limits for me.

[spedmuffin121]

i dont think that its just i like to know these things =)

[mmike189o]

Jaw-dropping skill... Purely amazing. Where can i download this? And is there a tab for it?

[jonasjar]

Have no idea, a tab? are you kidding, who would have done that? Its not an easy piece to tab and its not an easy piece to play either, take my word for it, this guy was phenomenal, not many today that could mimic this.

[mmike189o]

Ya i kinda figured

[RJRuskin]

@jonasjar Dick never played anything the same way twice.  Lots of improvisation in every performance. Other than basic chord charts, he also never wrote anything out.

[ddball1]

Not yet a thousand listens, but it deserves a thousand times that. magnificent piece.

[jonasjar]

I'm very glad you like it! then maybe you will accept my video response request? :)

[mikemann3]

I still have this album in my closet, and this great instrumental was an inspiration to me when I was young, but I have been unable to enjoy or share it due to a dead turntable. Thanks for posting - the video really enhances the music!

[jonasjar]

thanx for your praise! I was just as inspired as you was when I grew up, I just bounced around all over the place when this piece came up. Be sure to check up on that turntable! In these modern times, you can still have a lot of fun with it. Personally I dont get this craze to throw away your vinyls, I never tire of the nice vintage feeling of operating my trustworthy high quality turntable.

[1947News]

This is wonderful video. That guitar goes straight into my heart and the visuals are great.

[jonasjar]

Thanks 1947, when you are inspired the result often gets good, I dig this acoustic guitar sound where you can hear the rattles and the fingers against the steel. I doubt this kind of sound can be produced nowadays. Technical chops certainly but most of all theres raw musicality.

[RJRuskin]

@jonasjar Dick's 12-string had unusually wide spacing on the string pairs. He requested this so he could chose to play the doubled strings or one octave or the other. I don't know of any other 12-string player who did that.

[jonasjar]

@RJRuskin thanks for that info, very interesting! Being an (amateur) player myself, I love to hear that kind of details.

[hamboner8]

Hey thats my dad,Hamilton Camp in the last BnW (Newport '64)I put it my "Pride of Man" vid.heres a video response for y'all to see.LOve this stuff

[jonasjar]

Yea I know it is (1960 is the correct year I guess?). I originally intended to use it in north country too but is was already used in a couple of your vids, so I left it out in the end. It's a nice pic though, and reckon' that appearing on Newport was an honor and a good sign of recognition.

[danbromberg]

Jonas---I still have my original "Adventures..." album after all these years! With all the crap that is out there, I cannot understand why Mel Bay or one of the big publishing houses don't make a cd/transcription book out of it.

Dan

[NiklasGranberg]

Great proffesional video with wery suitalble music, it´s just all great!

/ Niklas

[jonasjar]

Tack, kul att du gillar den! Det är min första "data"-video så det tar ju en jäkla tid allting, hade jag kunnat få din fantastiska upplösning så hade lyckan vart total!

[danbromberg]

Dick Rosmini's "Adventures..." album was my inspiration for acoustic guitar back in '64 when I first heard him. Would love to get hold of any of his transcriptions but none seem to exist.

[jonasjar]

I'd love to get my hands on that record but I guess they are both rare and expensive. Has there been any transcripts in the first place? If there was I'm not sure it would help much since Im afraid that sound is hard to copy. I have tried to "attack" 900 but havent had any sucess with it.

[baracine]

How did you get this footage? It's fantastic! I was introduced to this overpowering song in the Intermission music of "How the West Was Won" (The Whiskeyhill Singers) on a huge Cinerama sound system. This version is folksy + bluesy + modern. Very McCartneyish. God, I love the sixties!

[jonasjar]

Well thanks, Im proud of it. McCarneyish, you mean Paul? Yea, perhaps a little more gutsy Paul. Not sure of the origin though, seems pretty old and still being used in various contexts eg choirs. Yea, the 60s were good times, creative times!

[joergwolff]

good stuff!

[jonasjar]

Glad you like it! I love this stuff, it's home to me, every tone of it is home to me. I love 12-strings when it's played by men who can handle it, but mind you they are exceedingly rare!

[AndersStavarby]

Grattis Jonas till en mycket bra video, att det distar lyssnar i varjefall inte jag efter !

[jonasjar]

Tack Anders, det värmde!

[kickingmule]

It's not 900 miles from Stockholm to Gothenburg, Sweden, but I appreciate you have such good stuff in your bag !

Peace and 5*up !

Urban

[jonasjar]

Yea it's good to have some good stuff with you when you board the long distance train. I've always loved trains and it doesnt seem to diminish with age, makes me feel good to board that long distance train every once in a while!

[SadLookinMoon]

låter klockrent i stereo!!

råskön video, mycket snyggt gjort:)

[jonasjar]

Tack för all uppskattning och teknisk support! Tror knappt jag sett dig sur en enda gång. Det är såna som du som skänker glans och ära åt youtube :)