I recently featured Adrian Rollini as the subject of one of my Jazz Profile columns along with Frank Trumbauer. Rollini was the king of the bass saxophone, an instrument that he taught himself and mastered within a few weeks. In Digby Fairweather’s liner notes to the single-CD Swing Low, he says that Rollini as a studio musician participated in over 1,500 recordings, mostly during the 1920s and ’30s. 26 of the very best are on this entry in Nimbus’ Retrospective series.
Rollini did not record any titles as a leader in the ’20s (despite leading a short-lived band that included Bix Beiderbecke and Frank Trumbauer in 1927) so the first 16 selections feature him as a sideman. While some of those performances are well known to 1920s collectors, focusing on the bass-saxophonist’s contributions (both his solos and his work as part of the rhythm section) will give one a fresh way of listening to even the most familiar titles.
Adrian Rollini is featured on dates by Red Nichols & His Five Pennies, the California Ramblers (surprisingly just one song), Joe Venuti, Miff Mole, Bix & His Gang (“At The Jazz Band Ball” and “Jazz Me Blues”), pianist Fred Elizalde in England, the Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra (“My Melancholy Baby” which has Tommy Dorsey taking one of his best trumpet solos), and the Louisiana Rhythm Kings. The final 10 numbers are drawn from Rollini’s own sessions of 1933-38 which include such sidemen as Bunny Berigan, Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Wingy Manone, Bobby Hackett and Adrian’s younger brother tenor-saxophonist Arthur Rollini. Adrian Rollini, who doubles on vibraphone on a couple of the Venuti tracks (including “Vibraphonia”), can be heard gradually shifting his focus to the vibes which he exclusively plays on the final two songs.
This classic music, in one form or another, belongs in every hot jazz collection.
Adrian Rollini • Swing Low: His 26 Finest 1927-1938
Retrospective RTR 4419
www.retrospective-records.co.uk
