Adrian Rollini

Adrian Rollini was the greatest bass saxophonist of all time, one of the first jazz vibraphonists, and a talented multi-instrumentalist who could make music on such novelty instruments as the "hot fountain pen" (a miniature clarinet with a saxophone mouthpiece) and a "goofus." The older brother of tenor saxophonist Arthur Rollini, he played piano and xylophone as a youth, performing Chopin at the Waldorf Astoria when he was four. After joining the California Ramblers in 1922, it was suggested that Rollini learn the potentially cumbersome bass sax; it only took him a week. An i...