Pino Rucher

Pino Rucher (January 1, 1924 – August 16, 1996) was an Italian guitarist active in orchestral settings and in film soundtracks.

Pino Rucher
Pino Rucher with the Razzo band
Background information
Born(1924-01-01)January 1, 1924
Manfredonia, Italy
DiedAugust 16, 1996(1996-08-16) (aged 72)
San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy
GenresJazz
Occupation(s)Guitarist, arranger
InstrumentsGuitar
Years active1946-1983
Websitewww.pinorucher.it

Biographical notes and musical career

Early life

Rucher started playing the guitar when his father came back from the United States in 1933 and presented him with a guitar.[1][2][3] His parents decided that he should take private music lessons. After a few years’ study, he started playing in public in his hometown and in Naples and Bari.[1][2][3][4][5]

American influence

The presence of American troops in the province of Foggia (and particularly in the area of Manfredonia, Rucher's hometown), between 1943 and 1946 led to Rucher joining several Allied Army's orchestras, where he came into contact with American musical atmosphere and jazz.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

Pino Rucher with the Vitale Orchestra

In 1946, Rucher entered the Carlo Vitale orchestra after coming first in a competition for the position of guitarist at Radio Bari.[1][2][4][5][6][7][8][9] After the dissolution of the Vitale orchestra, Rucher went to work for Radio Milano as a member of the Carlo Zeme orchestra.[4] In the 1950s and the early 1960s he also worked with two forerunners of Italian "swing", Pippo Barzizza and Cinico Angelini.[1][2][4][5][6][7][8][9]

Angelini Orchestra

Angelini selected Rucher as a member of his orchestra,[2][4][10][11] with which Rucher worked for about ten years.[1] He participated in events including the First International Song Festival in Venice[12] in 1955 and several San Remo Music Festivals,[10][13][14][15][16][17] among which the 1957 Festival, where Claudio Villa came first with Corde della mia chitarra.[1][15][16]

Pino Rucher at the guitar with the Angelini Orchestra (1956)

Pino Rucher collaborations

Rucher took part in many musical events and radio and television broadcasts (San Remo Music Festivals, Naples Festivals, Festival delle rose, Mostra Internazionale di Musica Leggera in Venice, Canzonissima, Gran varietà, Studio Uno)[2][5][6][7] playing in a number of orchestras and, at the same time, went on cultivating his passion for American music, as can be seen from his transcriptions, with his own arrangements.[2][4][6][7] He devoted himself to jazz and performed in live concerts or in studios under the direction of many conductors.[8][18][19][20][21][22] The influence of American music can be noticed from his performance of Italian songs E se domani, Una zebra a pois (sung by Mina) and Amore twist (sung by Rita Pavone).[2][4][7] He also worked for orchestra conductor and composer Elvio Monti, who asked him to play in a number of his recordings. Rucher played the guitar in L’Estasi, a composition written by Monti for Andrea Giordana and Marina Solinas.[5]

Rucher took part in Sorella Radio, a production with the RAI orchestra. From the second half of the 1970s to December 1983, Rucher was engaged in playing in concerts as a guitarist in the RAI orchestra Ritmi moderni,[10] which came to be known as the RAI Big Band.[2][4][6][7] In 1984, owing to health problems, he stopped working for RAI, left Rome and retired.[6][7]

Pino Rucher is given a medal by Pope Paulus VI

Other activities

Rucher performed in film soundtracks from the late 1950s to the mid 1970s, with at least two hundred performances[23] including those under the direction of orchestra conductors Luis Bacalov,[6] Gianni Ferrio, Elvio Monti, Ennio Morricone,[11][24] and Riz Ortolani.[2][4][7][9]

Rucher was the first guitarist to play the electric guitar in Italian westerns,[23] performing as "electric guitar soloist" in A Fistful of Dollars.[2][3][4][7][25][26] Rucher also appears in some shots from Sanremo - La grande sfida, a 1960 movie including scenes from the San Remo Music Festival.[4][16][27] During his career he took part in musicals including Alleluja brava gente[3][5][7] and his guitar ideas are present in numerous Italian songs, including Casetta in Canadà (sung by Carla Boni), Flamenco Rock (Milva), Se non ci fossi tu (Mina), Andavo a cento all’ora (Gianni Morandi), Che m’importa del mondo (Rita Pavone), L’edera (Nilla Pizzi) and Adesso no (Neil Sedaka).[2][4][7]

Rucher played not only the electric guitar, but also the folk (or acoustic), the classical, the bass and the twelve-string guitar, and then the banjo, the mandolin and the double bass.[2][3][4][7]

Awards
  • The Municipal Authority of Manfredonia dedicated a street to Rucher.[1][5][10]
  • On October 5, 2008, the local authorities supported a commemorative event to Rucher in his home town. The event took place in Piazza Giovanni XXIII (Manfredonia's central square).[4][5][24][28][29]
Pino Rucher at the guitar
  • On October 16, 2010, the Municipal Authorities of Manfredonia and of San Nicandro Garganico dedicated a special evening to Rucher. The event took place at the Cine-Teatro Italia of San Nicandro Garganico.[23][30][31][32]

The main songs with Pino Rucher as electric guitarist

The main songs with Pino Rucher as electric guitarist:

Pino Rucher with Cinico Angelini in 1955

Soundtracks

The main soundtracks with Pino Rucher as electric guitarist:[33]

Bibliographical notes
  • d.a., Manfredonia: "La nemica" di Niccodemi al Teatro Pesante, in La Capitanata (Foggia), II (1945), n° 27 (October 28), p. 4
  • Musica jazz stasera all'Unione, in La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno (Bari), November 17, 1951, p. 4
  • l.m., Jazz e blues alla Sala Unione, in La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno (Bari), November 18, 1951, p. 4
  • Artisti pugliesi: Il chitarrista Pino Ruker, in Roma (Napoli), March 27, 1958, p. 4 (Cronache delle Puglie)
  • Mario Bellucci, Giuseppe Rucher, in Lira musicale di Manfredonia: Musicisti del passato e del presente, Frascati, Tip. Laziale, [1966], p. 67
  • Carlo Carfagna, Mario Gangi, Rucher Giuseppe (Pino), in Dizionario chitarristico italiano, Ancona, Edizioni musicali Bèrben, 1968, p. 63
  • Al Teatro Giordano: Domani prosa stasera jazz, in La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno (Bari), November 9, 1969, p. 19
  • Vittorio Franchini, Jazz della Rai (prima volta) esce dal Palazzo con tante «star», in Corriere della Sera, January 28, 1980, p. 9
  • Alla radio questa settimana, in Radiocorriere TV (Roma), LVII (1980), n° 13 (March), p. 61
  • Michele Ferri, Profilo di un musicista: Il chitarrista Pino Rucher, in il Sipontiere (Manfredonia), III (1986), n° 2 (April–June), p. 3
  • Michele Apollonio, Manfredonia: Le intitolazioni a 14 concittadini simbolo: Vie e nuovi nomi nel quartiere «Algesiro-Gozzini», in La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno (Bari), December 15, 2005, p. 11
  • Maurizio Becker, C'era una volta la RCA, Roma, Coniglio Editore, 2007, [Pino Rucher mentioned among RCA guitarists on p. 299]
  • Carlo Ferrini, L'orchestra Angelini trasmise per radio musiche composte a Faenza in Faenza... la città, Faenza, Tip. Faentina, 2008, p. 103
  • Francesco Pesante, Pino Rucher, con la sua chitarra wawa dalla trilogia del dollaro alla Carrà..., in l'Attacco (Foggia), October 3, 2008, p. 19
  • Michele Ferri, Omaggio a Pino Rucher grande chitarrista scomparso, in il Provinciale (Foggia), XX (2008), n° 10 (October), p. 3
  • Maurizio De Tullio, Pino Rucher, in Dizionario Biografico di Capitanata: 1900-2008, Foggia, Edizioni Agorà, 2009, pp. 252–3
  • Fernando Fratarcangeli, Pino Rucher, in Raro!. Mensile di collezionismo, cultura musicale e cinema (Roma), XXI (2010), n° 217 (January), pp. 42–45
  • a.m.v., Il ricordo del chitarrista Pino Rucher, in La Gazzetta di Capitanata - La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, January 8, 2010, p. 10
  • Adriano Mazzoletti, Il jazz in Italia: dallo swing agli anni sessanta, vol. II, Torino, EDT, 2010, [Pino Rucher mentioned on pp. 321, 348, 458]
  • Anna Lucia Sticozzi, La musica rende omaggio alla chitarra dei «western», in La Gazzetta di Capitanata - La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, October 11, 2010, p. 1
  • Anna Lucia Sticozzi, L'omaggio alla chitarra dei «western», in La Gazzetta di Capitanata - La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, October 11, 2010, p. 11
  • Dario Salvatori, Ciao Pregadio, maestro di musica e di vita, in Il Tempo (Roma) - Edizione Abruzzo e Molise, November 16, 2010, p. 54
  • Lucia Piemontese, Manfredonia ingrata dimentica Pino Rucher, il chitarrista di Sergio Leone, in l'Attacco (Foggia), September 27, 2011, p. 16
  • Mario Patry, Le Bon, la Brute et le Truand - Coups de feu dans la Sierra Leone (2e partie) in Séquences. La revue de cinéma (Haute-Ville, Québec, Canada), LIX (2014), n° 291 (January–August), pp. 26–27 [Pino Rucher mentioned on p. 27]
  • Federico Savina, Cicognini, Rota, Lavagnino, Savina, Trovajoli: tecniche di post-produzione a confronto in Musica/Tecnologia (Firenze), n° 8-9 (2014-2015), pp. 39–55 [Pino Rucher mentioned on p. 46]
  • Germano Barban, Voci dal lontano West italiano, in Raropiù. Mensile di cultura musicale, collezionismo e cinema (Roma), III (2015), n° 29 (November), p. 51 [Pino Rucher mentioned on p. 51]
  • Mariantonietta Di Sabato, Pino Rucher, il musicista manfredoniano che suonò con Luis Bacalov, in ManfredoniaNews.it (Manfredonia), VIII (2017), n° 23 (December), p. 3

References
  1. Ferri, Alessandro (December 2017). "Pino Rucher, chitarrista nativo di Manfredonia: Una vita di successi nelle orchestre più famose del secolo scorso". il Provinciale. p. 5.
  2. Maurizio De Tullio, ed. (2009). Dizionario Biografico di Capitanata: 1900-2008. Foggia: Edizioni Agorà. pp. 252–3. ISBN 88-89329-03-3.
  3. Piemontese, Lucia (September 27, 2011). "Manfredonia ingrata dimentica Pino Rucher, il chitarrista di Sergio Leone". l'Attacco. p. 16.
  4. Pesante, Francesco (October 3, 2008). "Pino Rucher, con la sua chitarra wawa dalla trilogia del dollaro alla Carrà...". l'Attacco. p. 19.
  5. Ferri, Michele (October 2008). "Omaggio a Pino Rucher grande chitarrista scomparso". il Provinciale. p. 3.
  6. "Pino Rucher, il musicista manfredoniano che suonò con Luis Bacalov". manfredonianews.it (in Italian). December 4, 2017. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  7. Fratarcangeli, Fernando (January 2010). "Articolo su Pino Rucher nella rivista Raro!" (PDF). Raro!. pp. 42–44.
  8. Adriano Mazzoletti, ed. (2010). "Chapter III: Il dopoguerra e oltre". Il jazz in Italia: dallo swing agli anni sessanta, vol. II. Torino: EDT. p. 321. ISBN 978-88-6040-383-4.
  9. "Pino Rucher, storia di un chitarrista RAI" (PDF). ilsipontino.net (in Italian). January 4, 2016.
  10. Apollonio, Michele (December 15, 2005). "Manfredonia: Le intitolazioni a 14 concittadini simbolo: Vie e nuovi nomi nel quartiere "Algesiro-Gozzini"". La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno. p. 11.
  11. Carlo Ferrini, ed. (2008). "L'orchestra Angelini trasmise per radio musiche composte a Faenza". Faenza... la città. Faenza: Casanova Editore. p. 103.
  12. "Artisti pugliesi: Il chitarrista Pino Ruker". Roma (Napoli). March 27, 1958. p. 4.
  13. a.m.v. (January 8, 2010). "Il ricordo del chitarrista Pino Rucher". La Gazzetta di Capitanata - La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno. p. 10.
  14. "Non solo Nicola di Bari, Raf e Renzo Arbore: tutti i foggiani al Festival di Sanremo". letteremeridiane.org (in Italian). February 12, 2018.
  15. Ferri, Michele (April–June 1986). "Profilo di un musicista: Il chitarrista Pino Rucher". il Sipontiere. p. 3.
  16. "Pino Rucher in SANREMOSTORY" (PDF). statoquotidiano.it (in Italian). August 11, 2018.
  17. "ORCHESTRA ANGELINI". Settimana radio TV (Milano). January 31 – February 6, 1960. p. 22.
  18. "Battiti del 25/12/2016". raiplayradio.it (in Italian). December 25, 2016.
  19. "Battiti del 03/01/2017". raiplayradio.it (in Italian). January 3, 2017.
  20. "Battiti del 21/01/2017". raiplayradio.it (in Italian). January 21, 2017.
  21. "Battiti del 29/01/2017". raiplayradio.it (in Italian). January 29, 2017.
  22. "Ciao Pregadio, maestro di musica e di vita". iltempo.it (in Italian). November 16, 2010. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  23. Sticozzi, Anna Lucia (October 11, 2010). "L'omaggio alla chitarra dei "western"". La Gazzetta di Capitanata - La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno. p. 11.
  24. "Memorial Pino Rucher". comune.manfredonia.fg.it (in Italian). October 4, 2008. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  25. "Celentano e Tozzi? Sono foggiani…. e non solo". letteremeridiane.org (in Italian). December 23, 2015.
  26. Massimo Cotto (July 7, 2020). "Quei suoi brani eterni amati anche dal rock: «Uso accordi semplici»". Il Messaggero (in Italian). p. 4.
  27. "Sanremo - La grande sfida". YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  28. "Omaggio a Pino Rucher, una vita per la chitarra". statoquotidiano.it (in Italian). October 1, 2018. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  29. "Presentata manifestazione 'Omaggio a Pino Rucher, una vita per la chitarra'" (PDF). teleradioerre.it (in Italian). October 2, 2008.
  30. Sticozzi, Anna Lucia (October 11, 2010). "La musica rende omaggio alla chitarra dei "western"". La Gazzetta di Capitanata - La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno. p. 1.
  31. "Musica da film 'Tributo a Pino Rucher'". sannicandro.org (in Italian). October 11, 2010. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  32. "Musiche da film a Manfredonia, tributo a Pino Rucher". statoquotidiano.it (in Italian). October 11, 2010. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  33. Fratarcangeli, Fernando (January 2010). "Discografia di Pino Rucher pubblicata nella rivista Raro!" (PDF). Raro!. p. 45.
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