Direct line with FRANCO DE GEMINI

[Beat Records]

Dear folks,

here you have a place to directly contatc Franco De Gemini, also known as the man of the harmonica.

He played that instrument in hundreds of original soundtracks from the 60s onward and recently wrote a book (From Beat to Beat) in which he describes the magic world of music and cinema as experienced... behind the courtains!

One of his most memorable performances was done inthe score of Once upon a time in the West, in which he performed maybe the 3 most famous harmonica notes ever played.

Feel free to ask whatever you would like to know, you will be given interesting and funny answers!

[Anders]

I would like to ask Mr de Gemini about his wonderful harmonica performance on “Violenza sull’ultimo treno della notte.”  I am interested in any comments he has to make about this score and the recording session but I am particularly interested in the following:
   
•   I read in “From beat to beat: Memoirs of the man of the harmonica” that Morricone provided written instructions during the recording sessions for “C’era una volta il west.” Did he also do this for the recording session for “Violenza sull’ultimo treno della notte.” If so, I would be interested to know more about this as the harmonica playing on this score is so evocative.

•   How much music was recorded at this session as, to my knowledge, there is very little music available from this score - just the tracks “coincidenze” and “L’ultimo treno della note” on Cinevox MDF072.

[Franco De Gemini]

I would like to ask Mr de Gemini about his wonderful harmonica performance on “Violenza sull’ultimo treno della notte.”  I am interested in any comments he has to make about this score and the recording session but I am particularly interested in the following:
   
•   I read in “From beat to beat: Memoirs of the man of the harmonica” that Morricone provided written instructions during the recording sessions for “C’era una volta il west.” Did he also do this for the recording session for “Violenza sull’ultimo treno della notte.” If so, I would be interested to know more about this as the harmonica playing on this score is so evocative.

Hi Anders, I played with the Maestro in really a lot of soundtracks, I still remember something about that score. For sure Ennio Morricone didn\'t provide me with a written note as he did for ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.
I must admit I had to listen again to that score before answering to you... Having played in hundreds of scores it\'s always diffcult to keep track of each one in my memory! Anyway, I remember the Maestro had me play a lot of times and overlapped in studio the various harmonica tracks giving the score that particular effect.

•   How much music was recorded at this session as, to my knowledge, there is very little music available from this score - just the tracks “coincidenze” and “L’ultimo treno della note” on Cinevox MDF072.

Usually we recorded more or less 50 minutes of music for each score... I feel there should be a lot of music somewhere! Maybe Franco Bixio has some clue about that matter (since he is the owner of the score original recordings...) Try to make him a question in the English artists section in this message board in which he is registered!

Best Regards from Franco De Gemini

[john mansell]

Dear maestro, May i ask if you played Harmonica on A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS ?  and maybe you could tell us the story about when you played for leonard Bernstein ?

[eda-88]

Dear Mr Gemini,

Let me tell my thanks for your grande lavoro!

Amazing harmonica sounds with Morricone and many many others...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you!