Sheri's thread on her Italian music archive here is always worth following, but right now even more so: Link
Martin
Sheri's thread on her Italian music archive here is always worth following, but right now even more so: Link
Martin
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
______________________
'05 Cuisinart Toaster
'93 Chuck Taylor lowtops
'12 Stetson Open Road
'06 Bialetti expresso maker
'14 Irish Linen Ramon Puig
Thanx for the heads up, Martin. I didn't realize she had recordings. I just thought it was sheet Music. I should have paid closer attention. I got the latest patch.
Joe B
Thanks again to Sheri and the others for their interest in Mr. Vicari.
I love having these trax from the Mandolinata LP. I had some of these on an old cassette that was poor fidelity to begin with, but only got worse over time. I think Giovanni's playing on these trax is particularly spirited. I especially love the Tra Veglia.
I'm including his hand written Music for the tune. I asked him about it, so he wrote it out for me to learn. I've kept it down through the years. It's a bit worn around the edges, but it is a prized possession. (Perhaps this should be linked into the other thread?)
Joe B
[ATTACH=CONFIG]137888
I have a record called "Italian Dances" by Vicari and his orchestra. He was indeed a beast on mandolin. The record was my mom's. She studied with him (guitar), as did John Tropea (well known NY area guitarist) and a friend of mine Vinnie D'Ariggo. What's interesting is that watching Mom, John and Vinnie play, they all had a left hand position that was unique and seemed to be a common thread to Vicari's teaching I would guess. Sorry to say my Mom passed, but Vinnie and John are still alive and I will share this thread link with them ! It's funny, I remember my mom saying (quite casually) that she studied with the "mandolin player in the Godfather movie"...lol. I recently visited Vinnie Bell in NJ. He apparently played on the Godfather soundtrack with Vicari. His memory is foggy at times, but I saw royalty statements showing that movie soundtrack listed, and he was obviously on it. He remembered some common guitarist friends we knew (Bucky Pizzarelli, Al Caiola, Tony Motola and others), but Vicari he said " I think I remember him".
So: Vicari took my mom to D'Angelico's shop on Kenmare St. Mom worked on Wall street as a clerk/typist in the late 40's or perhaps early 50's before she began teaching with my Dad at a studio in Ridgewood Queens, run by a guy named Mike Widmer (a killer tenor guitarist apparently).
She studied on a Sonora archtop guitar my uncle loaned her (which was a horrible instrument). I still own it. It's a pretty guitar with zero tone and tough to play. I also own that same uncle's Vega mandolin (a much better instrument)/ Well, Vicari decided she needed a new guitar and they went to D'Angelico's shop. She bought a used Gibson that he had in the shop on "time", which meant going to the shop each week to bring a payment. I once asked why she didn't buy a D'Angelico and she explained "my first car cost less money !".
My Uncle Pat D'Amelio (I believe) also studied with Vicari as well. He purchased an Interdonati guitar in 1938, which I now own thanks to Tony Marcus being kind enough to sell it back to me as it was a family heirloom.
I've had some long e-mail discussions about Interdonati with Todd Cambio at Fraulini guitars. I've also gotten to know some of his relatives via facebook. The family has a violin Interdonati made which needs repair. He apparently made less than 50 instruments in his lifetime. He was a tool & Die maker and cabinet maker who apparently sold tools to D'Angelico and the family told me that when Philip passed, D'Angelico "bought the guitar making shop". More discussion for another thread I guess.
This picture is my guitar. I've seen pictures of this same style with F holes as well. It has a "German" fret at the nut, premium woods and hardware and may have been refretted and/or refinished at some point My luthier friend Rick McCurdy in NYC has examined the guitar and said it has "scalloped bracing" which was unusual and apparently done by Martin Guitars and not too many others. The guitar sounds great, although the pick guard and DeArmond pickup are missing.
Thanks for sharing! (Great looking guitar, btw.)
From my count, there are at least a half dozen great stories immersed in your post. For some of us, Vicari has almost Monroe-esque status. Any time you are keen to flesh one of them out further, you know we're all ears!
Mick
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
______________________
'05 Cuisinart Toaster
'93 Chuck Taylor lowtops
'12 Stetson Open Road
'06 Bialetti expresso maker
'14 Irish Linen Ramon Puig
Yes thanx Fuchsaudio, for adding to this Vicari thread.
I love hearing more stories about Giovanni. I take pride and pleasure in the fact I knew him and took Mandolin lessons from him. I like hearing about his other students and his playing experiences. I feel part of a great Musical link and history. That means a lot to me.
Like David, it's fun hearing the old Italian Guitar cats being brought up. There is a long Italian Jazz tradition dating back to Salvatore Massaro (aka Eddie Lang) & Joe Venuti. Today we have on Tenor Sax, Joe Lovano & Organist Joey DeFrancesco.
I'd like to know the tunes on the "Italian Dances" record. I don't know if I have any of those trax. If not, I'd love to have them. Hint, hint.
Joe B
Hey Mandopops: My only regret was not seeing this thread sooner. My mom passed about a year or so ago and she was fairly active on the computer. She would have certainly contributed more about Vicari if she remembered. I'm not sure how long she studied with him.
I know she also studied with a guy named Mike Widmer as well afterwards I believe. My mom would have been anywhere from 18-25. She worked on Wall Street after high school, so let's say maybe 19 years old in 1950 or so ? My parents opened their own music store in Queens around the time I was born, 1957 or so. They taught house-to-house as well as at Mike's studio (where they met) in Ridgewood, before opening their own store in Flushing.
I sent a link to this thread to John Tropea and Vinnie D'Arrigo, both former Vicari students who are a bit younger than Mom was. Vincent is around my age (late 50's), while Tropea is 69 as of this writing.
I will take a look at that record and get titles posted. I can do a transfer to digital format pretty easily and maybe post in a drop box or someplace online. It's sad that (for whatever reason) the family and/or their attorney is not more open about sharing his legacy. I do love the stories about his espresso machine and improvising skills. My Italian "Uncle Pat" (on Mom's side of the family) used to make espresso after we'd played Italian folk songs. I learned to play basic chords he taught me on the Interdonati guitar accompanying him as he played mandolin. I remember I couldn't put enough milk and sugar into the espresso to get it down ! From what I recall, Vicari is blazing on this record !
As far as stories..I'll gladly share what I can. Perhaps another thread is a more appropriate place. Yes, I did meet with Vinnie recently to have a record signed. He's getting on in years and is a bit "foggy" some days and pretty clear others (from what I was told). He and his wife Bonnie were very cordial, my wife and I had coffee and I toured his "man cave". He remembered some common musician friends my parents also knew, who were active in the studios when he was Bucky, Caiola, Al Chernet, Motola (who was one of his teachers). Dad knew Angelo DiPippo and Dominic Cortese as he was an accordionist. They actually went to the same Italian barber shop !! lol.
I remember Mr Vicari speaking of John Tropea with pride. Any & every thing you can share please do. If you've read over this thread then you will have gotten a lot of my memories. The actual vibe of meeting with him weekly is hard to capture. Musically it was always an education, but the personal time was equally as valuable.
Let's stay in touch.
Joe B
A great book on silvestri with about 17 songs was sold by the mandolin man from oregon and yet with the many tunes of giovialle and vicari readily available on u tube there is scant sheet music available for these giants of music. Petines family has some of the greatest collections of guiseppe Petine but -hardly any available. Even the gerat Nagano library,the clasical mandolin collections.. the great ones sheet music is sadly hardly availble..and yet there are players out there who have all the above great composers sheet music but we mandolin players read alot about them and listen to them . but scramble to find the sheet music..your could even put the availability put out by mandoisland. com and . org and Michael Rickenbachs tremendous contribution to the advance ment of the mandolin
The Vicari thread revived.
As far as Mr Vicari tunes, I have copies of 2 of his original tunes in his own handwriting. Yes, long before any of the high-tech computer apps. I would watch him pull out his pen & ink set & carefully & meticulously write out the Music.
One is La Strega (The Witch), a polka. The other is Felice Ritorno, Happy Return, a waltz. He said he wrote it after returning from a visit back to his hometown in Sicily. They are both simple Italian style tunes with the chord changes written in. He & I would play La Strega. I do have a tape of us doing it.
I would love to share them, but I don't know about copywrite issues. I don't know if I can just put them out without some proper authorization. I know it's a teaser, but I want to do it right.
Joe B
Hi There,
I know this appears to be an old post, but thought I'd share some info.
I was recently doing a search on Vicari, and instruments he owned. My grandfather, a musician, settled in NY from Italy. He was friends with Vicari.
Vicari had a D'Angelico Lyon and Healy style, scroll head stock, f-holes mandolin. This mandolin is listed in Acquired of the Angels. Serial number 168, date / /44.
For some reason he didn't like it, and sold it to my grandfather. The mandolin was originally stained in a walnut finish. My grandfather owned a blonde finished Special.
Listed in Aquired of the Angels. Serial number, 1758, date, o6/07/47.
He took the mandolin back to John D'Angelico, and asked him to refinish the mando blond to match the guitar. The scroll was left with the dark stain to show it was once a different finish.
Both the guitar, and mando are still in our family, and lovingly played. I've attached some photos.
Keep on pickin' and a strumin'
lovely instruments, both! play them in good health!
Bookmarks