Freehand by Richard Osborn

The story of guitarist Rich Osborn is one of tenacity. He was turned on to the music of John Fahey while a college student in the mid-1960s, studied with Robbie Basho, and kept a foot in both improvised and classical traditions. An injury in 1980 left him unable to play for years; slowly, he regained the use of his left hand and began making music again. In 2012, he released his debut album, Giving Voice: Guitar Explorations; he can also be heard on the Tompkins Square compilation Beyond Berkeley Guitar. Freehand is his second album overall, drawing from the classical traditions of two continents and tapping into an intricately pastoral sensibility.

The pieces on Freehand are largely improvised and instrumental; Mark Choplin lends tabla to “A Signing in the Blood,” but otherwise, Osborn’s acoustic guitar is the main event. The tone of the pieces here varies considerably. The playing on “Night Sidewalks” is sparse and terse, while opener “Going to the Beach House” weaves a dense array of notes that cascade out, creating an intricately intriguing melody. “Cloud Towers” derives an abundance of tension from a sense of momentum: Osborn begins several passages with a sequence of notes that seem about to accelerate into something more frenetic, then pulls back into a more meditative mode.

Osborn’s vocals aren’t the strongest aspect of this album; the focused melody of “I Am Remembering” is often hypnotic, but the singing that punctuates the guitar throughout the piece is less effective. And, as with improvised music, certain listeners will find certain aspects of Freehand more compelling than others. Some of the transitions within compositions feel abrupt, at least to me, but Osborne’s deft playing of the guitar in the album’s more expansive sections seemed expressively — pardon the pun — resonant.

Throughout Freehand, aspects hearken back to a couple of strains in experimental music from the 1960s and 1970s. Primary among these is an influence of Indian classical music: among other nods in that direction, the liner notes describe Osborn as a “Free Raga-Style Guitarist.” But the influence of Johann Sebastian Bach is also present on Freehand: the album closes with a rendition of “Allemande,” from the first of his Cello Suites, and the earlier “Cloud Towers” takes its inspiration from Bach’s music for the organ. In the liner notes, Osborn also writes about the influence of koto music on “Winter Moon in the Oak Tree.” Osborn’s own style is strong enough that these compositions don’t feel like exercises in pastiche; instead, they reflect a playing style that’s broad enough to encompass a host of influences. In the end, Freehand is a solid example of aetheric music, and a welcome return from a memorable practitioner of the form.

Tobias Carroll
Dusted, 2016

Tompkins Square label, established in 2005, has released acclaimed recordings by artists such as William Tyler, Gwenifer Raymond, Ryley Walker and Michael Chapman as well as reissues of folk, old-timey, gospel and American Primitive Guitar. The label has received 8 Grammy nominations.

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