Adrian Rollini on vibes and bass sax - Rare broadcast

An acetate air-check from October 1936, featuring Adrian Rollini playing vibraphone on "Honeysuckle Rose", switching to bass sax for "Tap Room Swing", named in honour of the Tap Room, a New York club that Adrian Rollini ran at the time. The club consisted of a couple of rooms in the basement of the President Hotel at 234 West 48th Street.

At the very start of the broadcast, Rollini introduces himself by blowing a phrase on the bass sax that is very similar to one he plays during the opening strains of "Beatin' The Dog" by Joe Venuti's Blue Four, recorded in June 1927.

A new biography of Adrian Rollini by Ate Van Delden will be published later this year, and I can highly recommend it. It can be pre-ordered via Amazon. This book has been some 30 years in the making and provides a wealth of information on Rollini and many other jazz luminaries that he encountered during his highly successful career, such as Bix Beiderbecke, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang and Fred Elizalde. The book also provides background information on the development of jazz during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.