Tell me more about Giovanni Vicari

[Collette]

I studied Classical Guitar with Giovanni Vicari in the 70's, mostly Carulli and Carcassi method. At that time his studio was on 24th St between 9th the 10th Ave. in NYC. He was an excellent teacher, wonderful musician and a warm and personable man. He often would accompany me on the Mandolin always improvising something wonderful. I never knew that he also played banjo but I’m not surprised. He was very patient and precise about the position of my hands and which fingers my right hand used (index, middle or ring) always spoken in Italian. I came to him with a lot of sloppy rock technique (if you could call it that) and he would have none of that. To this day I still practice many of the same scales and beautiful arpeggio exercises he introduced me to. I will forever be grateful for having had the opportunity to study with this great virtuoso musician.
As a person he was warm, fun loving and generous with his time and talent. Often during our lesson he would serve me espresso coffee, sometimes with anisette and always one coffee bean. If I close my eyes I can still smell the coffee and hear the machine in his little kitchen alcove. Out he would come from behind the alcove with a tray of espresso, the bottle of anisette and sometimes biscotti - a toast of some kind, in Italian of course, and then on with the lesson. I would describe him as a very dapper gentleman and I think quite the ladies’ man. But never inappropriate in any way, always the gentlemen. Christmas was special; he always had a little gift for me, along with the espresso.
I will always be grateful for this time in my life and having had the opportunity to study with this abundantly talented, generous musician

[Jim Garber]

Thanks, Colette. It is always wonderful to hear first person accounts of our mandolin idols.

[mandopops]

Collette,
Thanks for your recollections of Mr. Vicari. You were a few years ahead of me. I don't know if you read back over my posts, but our experiences are quite similar. I always remember him and our time together fondly. Espresso & Biscotti, oh yes. I think at Christmas I'd get a Italian Fruit Cake of some kind.

I think he always had more Guitar students (Both Jazz & Classical) than Mandolin. I'm glad to know he would "Jam" on Mandolin with you on Guitar.

Thanks for adding your comments,

Joe

[Collette]

Hi Joe,

Yes I did read over your other posts and I see that we had very similar experiences. And yes he always had his jacket on. I know I have an old tape of he and I playing together, I am inspired to try and find it. Do you know if he had children?

Thanks

Collette

[Jim Garber]

I was just talking about GV yesterday. I believe he eventually moved out to Long Island. I am not sure if his wife is still living but I believe that his some lives out there.

[mandopops]

Collette,
Yes, he did have a son. I never did meet him.

I hope you can find your tapes. I have mine. Maybe a dozen or so tunes. I'm always on Mandolin. He is playing some on Mandolin or Guitar & 1 on Banjo. They are so great to have. I cringe hearing myself, but it's just the snippet of us together that bring make another time & place. I've dubbed mine to CD.

I'm glad you still play. I'm sure Mr. Vicari would be glad, too.

Joe

[Collette]

Hi Joe,

So far no luck. But I do have all my music books with his red and green marks saying "here" or "out" in green meaning good and red for not so good but out anyway. In fact I sat down yesterday and played thru some as best I could.

I'm glad to know he had a son. He never mentioned it. I wonder if he plays?

Thanks

Collette

[mandopops]

Well I feel another Vicari story coming on.
Yes his son did play. As I remember it, he said he started teaching his son Guitar at an early age. He would pop a chocolate into his mouth every time he did something good. I guess he developed into a good player, but lost interest or something.
Anyway I got the impression Mr. Vicari was disappointed.
I know from having kids they are their own people.

Joe

[Jim Garber]

Any of you Vicari alumni know what instrument he is holding here and who made it? It looks like a banjo-mandola.

It might be the instrument he is playing here.

[mandopops]

Hi Jim,
I think it's just a Banjo-Guitar(Guitar neck on a Banjo body). I never saw it around. The only Banjo I saw or heard him play was a Tenor Banjo. So I don't know if he used it on the recording.

Speaking of recording, looks like a nice old LP just waiting to be dubbed. Looks like some Banjo trax I don't have.

Hint hint!

Joe

[Jim Garber]

That was a scan from a record catalog of some 78s he made.

I know I know... I hope to get that USB turntable set up soon.

[brunello97]

That was a scan from a record catalog of some 78s he made.

I know I know... I hope to get that USB turntable set up soon.

An older article from Computer World reviewing USB turntables.

"So you've never used a turntable?......"

These aren't as expensive as I thought they might be. But I have no idea where that box of old LPs might actually be.

Mick

[Jim Garber]

A modern rendition of Vicari's Visone tango played by Les frères Canapelli of France.

[mandopops]

Jim,

Thanx for that tune. Great. I liked hearing it w/ that group. I'm still a sucker for the Italian stuff.

Joe

[Jim Garber]

Yeah, me too, Joe. I am pretty excited since recently a guy I know who plays this stuff (among other things I like) moved up semi-near to me and we have gotten together a few times. Time to delve into the archives for these wonderful tunes.

[mandopops]

Jim,
Glad you can play these tunes with someone. They are great sounding on the Mandolin. They really get your Tremolo sounding good.

I'm adding a hand written arrangement of The Godfather Theme by Mr. Vicari. It's arranged in chord melody style. He arranged it for me because he knew I liked to play that way. (I started w/ Jethro as my 1st teacher so...) Giovanni always called it 'Banjo Style', as in Tenor Banjo.

It's a great arrangement. Also, it shows off his beautiful hand writing. It's a work of art in itself.


Joe

P.S. I haven't figured out how to add audio attachments yet. I could add some of our homemade duet recordings.

[jbfiddle]

Hello everyone! First of all thank you very much for putting this wonderful thread together. I've recently discovered the work of Mr. Vicari and I'm glad to know more about him.

I was wondering if any of the recordings y'all mentioned are available yet. I have been able to find all of two tracks of Mr. Vicari's playing, and I'm eager to hear more. Thank you!

[Paul Hostetter]

Get this album for sure:



And check some of these if you've really got it bad!

[Jim Garber]

AFAIK most of Vicari' recordings and other info are guarded by the family lawyer. I have two of his LPs and thought about re-issuing them on CD but were trying it might be an uphill climb to do so. It is a shame tho that more of his music is not available.

[brunello97]

Once upon a time, long, long ago, I heard about a guy, a noble man of infinite wisdom, who had a couple of LPs from Vicari who spoke about transferring them to mp3 files through some new-fangled device. A modern miracle, it seemed.

But that was long ago and far way, maybe in an alternate universe or consciousness. A dream perhaps

Mick

[mandopops]

Yes, Mick, I heard that tale too.
I've come to believe it is a myth. It was passed down to cause pain and confusion among the poor masses.
Oh Obi-Wan, please relieve our suffering and give us our mp3's.
Joe

[jbfiddle]

Jim,

I understand totally and I appreciate you looking into making this music more widely available. I will continue to watch eBay for some of those LPs and pursue the various compilations as well.

[mandopops]

2 other CD's that have some Vicari trax are "Birichino-Italian Folksongs,..." and "Speranze Perdute-Italian Folksongs...".
I don't know where you'd find them. I bought them from Norman Levine ages ago. They are collections of various Italian players and singers on some international label.
The Vicari trax on these and the "Italian String Virtuosi" CD are a good batch of tunes.
Joe

[jbfiddle]

It looks like they're both on iTunes (along with the Vicari-less volume 1), thanks for the tip!

[mandopops]

Thanx for triggering my memory. I think I got the L'Appuntamento (Vicari-less) and the Speranze Perdute from Norman then I got the Birichino from ITunes. Anyway, you found them. They are fun.
Joe