Endless (Tompkins Square)
Richard Osborn
Released January 2017
DownBeat Four-and-a-Half-Star Review
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/browse/MPREb_rgVCPqshJk1
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/53ycWWMOOpj8VT8JzbKwxB?si=Rv6wEBESRf6wbFqasPJtNw
About:
First-generation American Primitive guitarist Richard Osborn studied with Robbie Basho in the late 60’s. 40 years later, Osborn finally recorded, appearing on Tompkins Square’s ‘Beyond Berkeley Guitar’ comp in 2010. ‘Endless’ is his first widely available solo guitar album.
Track Listing:
1. In A Monastery Garden 03:51
2. Streets of Laredo, A Pastorale 04:34
3. Still I Will Be Merry 06:21
4. Breton Fisherman’s Prayer 04:32
5. The King Walks By 02:34
6. Your Eyes 11:05
7. The Open Road 07:59
Personnel:
Richard Osborn: guitar
Barry Phillips: tabla (tracks: 5-7)
Mastered by Joe Weed
Review:
In the 1960s, six- and 12-string guitarist Richard Osborn resided in Berkeley, California, where he moved in the same circles as Fahey and the mystic singer-guitarist Robbie Basho. He took lessons from Basho and was buddies with Windham Hill Records founder Will Ackerman, but was sidelined for many years by a woodcarving accident and didn’t release his first recordings until 2010. His third LP, Endless, makes a strong case for the rigor and maturity of Osborn’s musical conception. His sure articulation of harmony and rhythm infuses the cowboy lament “Streets Of Laredo” with a courtly air, and his sole vocal turn, “Breton Fisherman’s Prayer,” uses the contrast between his splendid string technique and his aged voice to impart the fragility of mortality. But the best moments come when he adds the accompaniment of tablas and a tanpura drone and stretches out on a pair of quietly joyous ragas.
Bill Meyer (DownBeat)
