Rollini, Adrian

Rollini, Adrian , jazz bass saxophonist, vibraphon-ist, brother of Arthur Rollini; b. N.Y., June 28, 1904; d. Homestead, Fla., May 15, 1956. He was a child prodigy on piano; at four, he gave a Chopin recital at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, N.Y. At 14 he led his own band in N.Y., doubling on piano and xylophone. He worked with the California Ramblers in the early 1920s; while with this band he bought his first bass sax, specializing on the instrument for several years thereafter. He went to London in December 1927 to join Fred Elizalde at the Savoy Hotel; other than two brief vacations in the U.S. (spring 1928 and winter 1928) he remained in London until December 1929. Returning to N.Y., he joined Bert Lown’s Orch. and remained until spring 1931. He did a short spell playing in a re-formed California Ramblers in 1931, then was mostly active on freelance recording sessions. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s Rollini participated in countless pick-up recording groups, mostly on bass sax, sometimes on “hot fountain pen.” In 1935 he organized his own club, Adrian’s Tap Room, at the Hotel President, N.Y. From this time onwards Rollini specialized on vibraphone, but did some recordings on piano and drums. He doubled with Richard Himber’s Orch. in mid–1930s, but continued to lead his own small groups for long residencies at various hotels in N.Y. and Chicago. In the early 1950s, he moved to Fla. where he opened his own hotel. There, he continued to play various residencies in Miami; last working at the Eden Roc Hotel in September 1955. He died of pneumonia and complications following a liver ailment.

Discography

“Swing Low” (1934); Adrian Rollini His Quintet (1938); Chopsticks (1953); Battle of Jazz (1953).

—John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter