Richard John Rosmini (October 4, 1936 – September 9, 1995) was an American guitarist, at one time considered the best 12-string guitarist in the world. He was best known for his role in the American "

folk revival The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Billie Holiday, Richard Dyer-Benn ...

" of the 1960s.

Life

Rosmini was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and grew up in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

, where he learned guitar and began performing in clubs. During the 1960s, he was employed as the main

jewelry Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry ( U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a w ...

photographer for Tiffany & Co. His 1964 album ''Adventures for 12 String, 6 String, and Banjo'', predates much of John Fahey and

Leo Kottke Leo Kottke (born September 11, 1945) is an acoustic guitarist. He is known for a fingerpicking style that draws on blues, jazz, and folk music, and for syncopated, polyphonic melodies. He overcame a series of personal obstacles, including parti ...

and other American primitive guitarists, which Kottke cited as an early influence. Rosmini was also a noted banjo player. He appeared as a sideman with

Bob Gibson Robert Gibson (born Pack Robert Gibson; November 9, 1935October 2, 2020) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1959–1975). Nicknamed "Gibby" and "Hoot" ( ...

at Chicago's

Gate of Horn The Gate of Horn was a 100-seat folk music club, located in the basement of the Rice Hotel at 755 N. Dearborn St. at the corner of Chicago Avenue, on the near north side of Chicago, Illinois, in the 1950s and 1960s. It was opened by journalist Le ...

; with Art Podell & Paul Potash at New York's

Cafe Wha? Cafe Wha? is a music club at the corner of MacDougal Street and Minetta Lane in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The club is important in the history of rock and folk music, having presented numerous musicians an ...

; as soloist and singer at Los Angeles' Ash Grove; with

Barbara Dane Barbara Dane (born Barbara Jean Spillman; May 12, 1927) is an American folk, blues, and jazz singer, guitarist, record producer, and political activist. She co-founded Paredon Records with Irwin Silber. "Bessie Smith in stereo," wrote jazz cri ...

in a concert tour with

Bob Newhart George Robert Newhart (born September 5, 1929) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery style. Newhart came to prominence in 1960 when his album of comedic monologues, ''The Button-Down Mi ...

; and in association with

Pernell Roberts Pernell Elven Roberts Jr. (May 18, 1928 – January 24, 2010) was an American stage, film, and television actor, activist, and singer. In addition to guest-starring in over 60 television series, he was best known for his roles as Ben Cartw ...

in Bonanza.Skip Weschner, liner notes to "Adventures for 12 string, 6 string, and banjo". Rosmini continued his career in music as a sideman on numerous folk albums, including those by Bob Gibson,

Eric Weissberg Eric Weissberg (August 16, 1939 – March 22, 2020) was an American singer, banjo player, and multi-instrumentalist, whose most commercially successful recording was his banjo solo in " Dueling Banjos," featured as the theme of the film ''Deliv ...

Dave Van Ronk David Kenneth Ritz Van Ronk (June 30, 1936 – February 10, 2002) was an American folk singer. An important figure in the American folk music revival and New York City's Greenwich Village scene in the 1960s, he was nicknamed the "Mayor of Ma ...

, Ananda Shankar, Hoyt Axton and others before leaving music to pursue a career in photography. He subsequently taught recording for over a decade at the University of Southern California and had a hand in the evolution of motion picture sound into its present-day form. In 1978 he wrote a booklet on multitrack recording called ''TEAC Multitrack Primer''. His constant fight to make audio electronics accessible to musicians led to his development of many of Tascam's multitrack and portable multitrack recorders and mixers. He was a consultant to

JBL JBL is an American audio equipment manufacturer headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. JBL serves the customer home and professional market. The professional market includes studios, installed/tour/portable sound, cars, music ...

on the musical instrument transducer K-series 120 and 130. He co-designed JBL studio monitors and participated in their integration into Hollywood's top studios. He died on September 9, 1995 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at the age of 58.

Discography

* 1964: '' Adventures for 12-String, 6-String and Banjo'' ( Elektra) * 1969: ''

A Genuine Rosmini ''A Genuine Rosmini'' is the second album by American folk guitarist Dick Rosmini, released in 1969.Liner notes. It is out of print and extremely rare to find in circulation as a second-hand LP. Rosmini is best known for his role in the American ...

'' (Imperial) * 1973: ''Sessions'' (JBL) * 1974: ''Home Made with Teac''

Soundtracks

* 1976: ''Original Soundtrack Recording from the Paramount Motion Picture Leadbelly'' * 1979: ''Original Soundtrack Recording from the United Artists Motion Picture

The Black Stallion The Black Stallion, known as the Black or Shêtân, is the title character from author Walter Farley's bestselling series about the Arab stallion and his young owner, Alec Ramsay. The series chronicles the story of a Sheikh's prized stallion a ...

With others

* 1957: ''I Come For To Sing'', Bob Gibson * 1958: ''There's a Meetin' Here Tonight'', Bob Gibson * 1960: ''Songs Of Earth And Sky'', Art and Paul * 1961: ''Hangin', Drinkin' And Stuff'' Art and Paul * 1961: '' Van Ronk Sings'', Dave Van Ronk * 1963: ''Come All Ye Fair And Tender Ladies'',

* 1964: ''A Folksinger’s Choice'',

Theodore Bikel Theodore Meir Bikel ( ; May 2, 1924 – July 21, 2015) was an Austrian-American actor, folk singer, musician, composer, unionist, and political activist. He appeared in films, including '' The African Queen'' (1951), ''Moulin Rouge'' (1952), ' ...

* 1964: ''Changes'',

Modern Folk Quartet The Modern Folk Quartet (or "MFQ") was an American folk music revival group that formed in the early 1960s. Originally emphasizing acoustic instruments and group harmonies, they performed extensively and recorded two albums. In 1965, as the Mode ...

* 1967: ''Steve Gillette'', Steve Gillette * 1968: ''

Song Cycle A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice ...

'',

Van Dyke Parks Van Dyke Parks (born January 3, 1943) is an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer who has composed various film and television soundtracks. He is best known for his 1967 album ''Song Cycle'' and for his collaborations with ...

* 1969: ''Greatest Hits'', Phil Ochs * 1969: '' Farewell Aldebaran'', Judy Henske &

Jerry Yester Jerome Alan Yester (born January 9, 1943) is an American folk rock musician, record producer, and arranger. Biography Yester was born in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and grew up in Burbank, California. He formed a duo with brother ...

* 1969: ''Bob Gibson'', Bob Gibson * 1969: ''The Moonstone'',

Tommy Flanders Tommy Flanders was lead vocalist in the Blues Project for several periods in the band's history from 1966 to 1972. He appears on two Blues Project albums, their debut ''Live at the Cafe Au Go Go'' ( Verve Folkways, 1966) and a reunion album epo ...

* 1969: ''Sausalito Heliport'', Gale Garnett & The Gentle Reign * 1970: ''To Be Free'',

Jackie DeShannon Jackie DeShannon (born Sharon Lee Myers, August 21, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and radio broadcaster with a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards, as both singer and composer. She was one of the first female singer-songw ...

* 1970: ''California Stop Over'', Johnny Darrell * 1970: ''Ananda Shankar'', Ananda Shankar * 1971: ''Sweet Country Suite'', Larry Murray * 1971: ''Songs'', Paul Parrish * 1971: ''Cyrus'',

Cyrus Faryar Cyrus Faryar ( fa, سیروس فریار; born February 26, 1936) is an Iranian-American folk musician, songwriter and record producer. He was active in musical, theatrical and performance events in high school. After graduating from high school ...

* 1971: ''Songs'',

* 1972: ''Let's Spend the Night Together'',

Claudine Longet Claudine Georgette Longet (born 29 January 1942) is a Franco-American singer, actress, dancer, and recording artist popular during the 1960s and 1970s. Born in Paris, France, Longet was married to American singer and television entertainer Andy ...

* 1972: ''Malvina'', Malvina Reynolds * 1973: ''Duelin' Banjo'', Doug Dillard * 1973: ''Islands'', Cyrus Faryar * 1974: ''Digby Richards'', Digby Richards * 1974: ''Richard Ruskin'', Rick Ruskin * 1974: ''You Don't Need a Reason to Sing'', Doug Dillard * 1975: ''Microphone Fever'', Rick Ruskin * 1975: '' Southbound'', Hoyt Axton * 1977: ''Six String Conspiracy'', Rick Ruskin * 1977: ''Roadsongs'', Hoyt Axton * 1977: ''More Rod '77'', Rod McKuen

References

External links

Illustrated Dick Rosmini discography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosmini, Dick 1936 births 1995 deaths Elektra Records artists