Dick Rosmini


Richard John "Dick" Rosmini 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" of the 1960s.

Life

Rosmini was born in New York City and grew up in Greenwich Village, where he learned guitar and began performing in clubs. During the 1960s, he was employed as the main jewelry photographer for Tiffany & Co..
His 1964 album Adventures for 12 String, 6 String, and Banjo, predates much of John Fahey and Leo Kottke 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 at Chicago's Gate of Horn; with Art Podell & Paul Potash at New York's Cafe Wha?; as soloist and singer at Los Angeles' Ash Grove; with Barbara Dane in a concert tour with Bob Newhart; and in association with Pernell Roberts in Bonanza. Rosmini continued his career in music as a sideman on numerous folk albums, including those by Bob Gibson, Eric Weissberg, Dave Van Ronk, 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 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