Early Life
Rollini was born June 28, 1903 to Ferdinand Rollini and Adele Augenti Rollini. (Some sources will date 1904, but his brother Arthur, as well as social security records will attest to the earlier date.) He was born in New York and was the eldest of several children. His Brother Arthur played tenor saxophone with Benny Goodman from 1934 to 1939, and later with Will Bradley). Growing up in Larchmont, New York, Adrian showed musical ability early on, and began to take piano lessons on a miniature piano, at the age of two. At the age of four, he played a fifteen minute recital at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Among the selections played were Chopin's Minute Waltz—he was hailed as a child prodigy and was billed as "Professor Adrian Rollini."
Rollini continued with music and by age 14 he was leading his own group composed of neighborhood boys, in which he doubled on piano and xylophone. His interest in music was far greater than his interest in school, and Rollini left high school in his third year. Adrian also cut several piano rolls for the Aeolian company on their Mel-O-Dee label, and the Republic brand in Philadelphia - these rolls are quite rare and very few of these have survived. He gigged around and finally made his break when he was 16, and began playing in Arthur Hand's California Ramblers. Rollini was equally skilled at piano, drums, xylophone, and bass saxophone, which gained him the respect of Hand, who transferred the band to Rollini when he later retired from the music field.
How Rollini came to play the bass saxophone is somewhat of a mystery. Some argue that the Ramblers' manager, Ed Kirkeby suggested the instrument to Rollini as a possible tuba double. Others say that it was suggested to him by the banjo player, who saw one in a music store. In either case, Adrian, who could tackle just about anything that came his way, would go on to become the star player of the instrument, a true maestro. His brother Arthur recalls in his book "Thirty Years with the Big Bands" that he just came home with it one day and went to work and within two weeks he was recording on it.
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