Rick Rosas

Rick (“Rick the Bass Player”) Rosas (September 10, 1949 – November 6, 2014) was an American musician, and one of the most sought after studio session players in Los Angeles.

He has played with Neil Young, Joe Walsh, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Rivers, Ron Wood, Etta James, and the short-lived reunion of the Buffalo Springfield among others.

Biography

He was born in West Los Angeles, California to Anne & Bob Rosas, originally from Tempe, Arizona. Growing up in East Los Angeles, he listened to Elvis, the Everly Brothers & watched the country swing music of Spade Cooley on TV. His first band was Mark & the Escorts, an East L.A. that began by playing surf instrumentals. The three core members, Mark Guerrero, Rick Rosas, and Ernie Hernandez, eventually recorded an album for A&M Records in the early 70s, as members of a rock band called Tango. 

He met Joe Walsh through drummer Joe Vitale, in the early 80s and played on Walsh’s 1985 album, The Confessor.Rosas also joined Walsh for a short-lived stint in Australia as a member of the Creatures from America, that also featuredWaddy Wachtel on guitar and Richard Harvey on drums. He also toured with Dan Fogelberg in 1985. In December of 1986, the Walsh band joined Albert Collins and Etta James for the a Jazzvisions taping called “Jump the Blues Away.”

While playing in Walsh’s touring band, Rick met Neil Young at the Farm Aid III benefit held on Sept. 19, 1987 in Lincoln, Nebraska. Young was impressed with the bass player’s musical skill as well as his soft-spoken, laid back manner, and invited him to join his new horn-driven big band, the Bluenotes. It was a bold departure for Young to front a horn section but with saxophonist Steve Lawrence leading the band, the Bluenotes turned out to be one of the most successful musical aggregations of Young's storied career. They recorded their first album in November, 1987 through January, 1988 at the Studio Instrument Rentals in Hollywood and the sessions produced, This Note's For You and controversial single of the same name. Walsh introduced them at the Hollywood Palace in April of 1988, as “the best band in the country.” Rosas and Bluenotes drummer Chad Cromwell were hailed as the tightest rhythm section Young had played with since theBuffalo Springfield and they would frequently end their shows with Springfield classic, "On the Way Home."

Rosas appeared in the video of This Note's For You which was initially banned by MTV after legal threats from Michael Jackson’s lawyers. The video was a send up of the commercialization of pop music and its growing dependence on corporate sponsorship. But when it became a huge hit on other music video outlets, MTV reversed itself and put the video in rotation where it ended up winning the MTV Video Music Award for Best Video of the Year for 1989. 

After the Bluenotes disbanded, Young retained Rosas and Cromwell for the rhythm section for a power group that featured the most aggressive guitar work of Young’s career. They recorded an EP’s worth of material, Eldorado, that was only released in Japan and Australia, to coincide with their Young & the Restless Far East Tour in early 1989. Rosas played a throbbing bass line on the iconic rocker, "Rockin' in the Free World" which appeared on the critically acclaimed albumFreedom, released in 1989.

Rosas reunited with Joe Walsh in 1989 for an MTV Unplugged taping with Dr. John and played on Walsh’s Ordinary Average Guy released in 1991 and Songs for a Dying Planet from 1992. When Neil Young recorded his country album,Prairie Wind in 2005 he turned to Rosas, who easily fit in with the crack Nashville session players. The concert movie filmed at the Grand Ole Opry House, Heart of Gold showcased Rick’s ease with Young’s country material, both old and new. He would play on Young’s next album, the anti-Iraq war record, Living with War and the subsequent controversial 2006 “Freedom of Speech” tour with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, that resulted in the acclaimed film, “'CSNY/Déjà Vu” and concert album, Déjà Vu Live.

Rosas played on Young’s next album, Chrome Dreams II which finally saw the release of the epic 1988 Bluenotes track “Ordinary People,” he also provided backing vocals for the track “Dirty Old Man.” With an eclectic group of musicians, Young’s Electric Band toured America and Europe and Asia for nearly three years, playing material from nearly every phase of Young’s massive catalogue. A concert film, Neil Young Trunk Show directed by Jonathan Demme, captured an incendiary 2007 performance in Philadelphia, where in one scene Young is seen praising Rosas’ musical abilities, “Rick can play anything!” Another album, with Young, Fork in the Road was recorded during the tour, which culminated in a Hyde Park performance in London with Paul McCartney joining Young onstage for a cover of the Beatles’ "A Day in the Life".

A year later Young invited to participate in the reunion of the Buffalo Springfield at that year’s Bridge Concert, the annual benefit Young and his wife Pegi hold to raise money for the The Bridge School for physically challenged children. Along with long time friend, drummer Joe Vitale, Rosas joined the original members Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, in two nights of musical alchemy that surpassed wildest expectations. A six show mini-tour followed in June of 2011 with concerts in Oakland, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and the Bonnaroo music festival but a planned fall tour was cancelled when Young broke his toe and took the downtime to write a memoir.

While touring with Pegi Young & the Survivors, he got the call from Neil Young to fill in for Crazy Horse bassist Billy Talbot, who had suffered a mild stroke a few weeks before their 2014 European Tour, making Rosas the only bassist to have played with the' Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Crazy Horse.

Rosas continues to stay busy as an in-demand session player and he has been the bassist for the Waddy Wachtel Bandsince 2000. The band features Wachtel, Phil Jones and Jamie Savko, with regular guests Rolling Stones backing vocalists Bernard Fowler & Blondie Chaplin and Keith Allison. Special guests who have sat in include Keith Richards, Joe Walsh, Robert Plant, Neil Young, Eric Burdon, Jackson Browne, Roger Daltrey, Adam Sandler, and others.

Personal Life

Rosas has been married twice. He is an accomplished cook, having studied under chef Ken Frank at the Wolfgang Puck/Patrick Terrell Ma Maison School of Cooking from 1983-1985.

Selected Discography

With Joe Walsh:

• 1985 The Confessor

• 1986: Jazzvisions "Jump the Blues Away"

• 1987 Got Any Gum?

• 1991 Ordinary Average Guy

• 1992 Songs for a Dying Planet

• 2012 Analog Man

With Neil Young:

• 1988 This Note's For You

• 1989 Eldorado

• 1989 Freedom

• 2005 Prairie Wind

• 2006 Living with War

• 2007 'Chrome Dreams II

• 2007 'Goin’ Back Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino

• 2008 'Déjà Vu Live (w/ CSNY)

• 2009 Fork in the Road

With Pegi Young:

• 2007 Pegi Young

• 2010 Foul Deeds

• 2011 Bracing for Impact

• 2014 Lonely in a Crowded Room

With Johnny Rivers:

• 1998 Last Train to Memphis

• 2001 Back at the Whisky

• 2004 Reinvention Highway

with Jerry Lee Lewis:

• 2010 Mean Old Man

with Ron Wood:

• 2010 I Feel Like Playing

Equipment

• Lakland bass – Bob Glaub signature and Joe Osborne models

• Fender Jazz Bass

• Custom Bass by Memphis Spa Guitars

• Amplifiers endorsed by Ampeg and Magnatone and Fender Super Bassman

• In fall of 2014 D. Lakin basses will introduce the Rick Rosas signature bass with a bound-and-blocked ’70′s style J neck, and an active MM/J model.

Filmography

• 2006 Heart of Gold

• 2008 CSNY Déjà Vu

• 2010 Neil Young Trunk Show

Video & Television Appearances

• 1986 Jazzvisions: "Jump the Blues Away" w/ Joe Walsh, Etta James and Albert King

• 1987 Farm Aid III w/ Joe Walsh

• 1988 This Note's For You w/ Neil Young & the Bluenotes dir. Julian Temple Winner: MTV Music Award Video of the Year

• 1989 MTV Unplugged w/ Joe Walsh, Dr. John

• 2005 Late Night with Conan O'Brien w/ Neil Young five consecutive nights promoting Prairie Wind

• 2005 Saturday Night Live w/ Neil Young

• 2005 Farm Aid XX w/ Neil Young & the Prairie Wind Band

• 2006 Living with War w/ Neil Young recording sessions DVD

• 2006 Late Show with David Letterman w/Jerry Lee Lewis & Neil Young

• 2006 Farm Aid XXI w/ Neil Young & the Prairie Wind Band

• 2008 Farm Aid XXIII w/ Neil Young & His Electric Band

• 2009 Hard Rock Live w/Neil Young & His Electric Band and Paul McCartney

• 2009 Farm Aid w/ Neil Young & His Electric Band

• 2010 Last Man Standing video w/Jerry Lee Lewis