Adrian Rollini: The Life and Music of a Jazz Rambler (American Made Music Series)

Delden, Ate van

ISBN 10: 1496825152 / ISBN 13: 9781496825155

Published by University Press of Mississippi, 2019

About this Item

Seller Inventory # mon0002261234

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Adrian Rollini: The Life and Music of a Jazz Rambler (American Made Music Series)
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1496825152
• ISBN 13: 9781496825155
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

2020 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence―Best History in the category of Best Historical Research in Recorded Jazz

Adrian Rollini (1903–1956), an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, played the bass saxophone, piano, vibraphone, and an array of other instruments. He even introduced some, such as the harmonica-like cuesnophone, called Goofus, never before wielded in jazz. Adrian Rollini: The Life and Music of a Jazz Rambler draws on oral history, countless vintage articles, and family archives to trace Rollini’s life, from his family’s arrival in the US to his development and career as a musician and to his retirement and death.

A child prodigy, Rollini was playing the piano in public at the age of five. At sixteen in New York he was recording pianola rolls when his peers recognized his talent and asked him to play xylophone and piano in a new band, the California Ramblers. When he decided to play a relatively new instrument, the bass saxophone, the Ramblers made their mark on jazz forever. Rollini became the man who gave this instrument its place. Yet he did not limit himself to playing bass parts―he became the California Ramblers’ major soloist and created the studio and public sound of the band.

In 1927 Rollini led a new band that included such jazz greats as Bix Beiderbecke and Frank Trumbauer. During the Depression years, he was back in New York playing with several bands including his own New California Ramblers. In the 1940s, Rollini purchased a property on Key Largo. He rarely performed again for the public but hosted rollicking jam sessions at his fishing lodge with some of the best nationally known and local players. After a car wreck and an unfortunate hospitalization, Rollini passed away at age fifty-three.

About the Author

Ate van Delden is a music scholar whose writing has appeared in such publications as Doctor Jazz and Vintage Jazz Mart and in the form of liner notes to several CDs. He is a former board member of the Doctor Jazz Foundation, a Dutch organization for the promotion of classic jazz. He is also author of Adrian Rollini: The Life and Music of a Jazz Rambler, published by University Press of Mississippi.