Search - Adrian Rollini & the Golden Gate Orchestra :: 1924-1927: Their Hottest Titles Recorded for the Pathe and Plaza Labels

Great sides by the California Ramblers

Bomojaz | South Central PA, USA | 08/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These are hot dance sides culled from the huge recorded output made by the California Ramblers, all featuring bass saxophonist Adrian Rollini. Rollini, a musical prodigy as a child, had joined Ed Kirkeby's Ramblers as a back-up pianist and xylophonist in 1922, but when the prospects for getting much work in those roles remained slim and talk of adding some bass instrument to the band grew, Rollini took up the bass sax and after only a couple of weeks was proficient enough to play the horn in the band.



The earliest sides here were made in 1924 and although they are good, by the time the last sides were recorded, in 1927, the Ramblers were a superb hot dance orchestra, one of the best in the land. Of the 11 pre-electric sides included, the best session is from May 4, 1925, and features Red Nichols on trumpet along with the Dorsey Brothers on trombone and alto sax. Tommy Dorsey has an excellent solo on TIGER RAG, as does Nichols, while Jimmy solos well on DOIN' THE DONKEY. Most of the solos on all these sides are relatively short, sometimes a half-chorus at the most, but the ensemble playing is high in quality and the arrangements allow for a great deal to be going on in only a 3-minute recording.



The first electric recording (use of microphones) found here occurred in January 1927, and the sound, of course, is noticeably better, but so is the overall playing. Chelsea Quealey, a swinging, hot player, is often featured on trumpet, though his section mate Nick Casti plays the excellent solo on LEAVE MY BABY ALONE. The finest session of all was made on June 24, 1927, and features two terrific versions of AFTER YOU'VE GONE, as good as any recorded. Not only does Adrian shine on bass sax, but he also whistles and plays the goofus, an instrument unique to his battle gear. Bobby Davis is the impressive alto man on these sides. The jazz quality of the Rambler's playing was very high by this point, and each recording is hot and swinging. The arrangement on FAREWELL BLUES is wonderful, very advanced. Rollini gets a lot of solo space on just about all of these later sides, and his driving bass accompaniment when not soloing is a constant presence and a persistent force behind the group's ability to play hot jazz. The CD is an excellent compilation. Anyone interested in early jazz should grab this disc as soon as possible.

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I love this band!

"Gimpy" Peach Johnson | 04/09/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"However you want to call 'em, The Goofus Five, The University Six, The California Ramblers, The Varsity Eight, or--in this case--The Golden Gate Orchestra, this group of talented musicians organized by Ed Kirkeby turned out some of the swinginest, most tuneful pop-jazz of the 1920s. With band members including (at times) Red Nichols, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Fud Livingstone, Spiegle Willcox, Frank Cush, Chelsea Quealey, and of course the one-and-only Adrian Rollini, the group turned out some inspired, exciting performances. The arrangements are always interesting, with plenty of room for "hot" solos. At times, the vocals are less-than-stellar (Ed Kirkeby really mangles the rhythm in his singing of "I Ain't Got Nobody"), but those can easily be overlooked given the talent of the instrumentalists. The selections on this CD were recorded for the Plaza group of "budget" labels (Banner, Domino, Regal, etc.) between 1924 and 1927. The first handful were recorded acoustically, but most were made elecetrically. Considering the mediocre recording and pressing process used by Plaza back in the '20s, the sound quality on this disc is superb! Hans Eekhoff did the transfers and has done a marvelous job of extracting rich, full-bodied sound from the old 78s while keeping surface noise to a minimum and without any annoying digital artefacts that one sometimes hears on reissues of material from this era. Rollini's saucy bass sax sounds fantastic! This is a disc I play often--I regularly take it with me in the car and find it makes excellent music for the road. If you enjoy this CD, check out some of this band's other CDs under the pseudonyms listed at the beginning of this review. Highly recommended!"