California Ramblers.....Magnolia...1927

A lot is already known about the California Ramblers and their many records.A great band,never dull.In 6 months Rollini,Bobby Davis (the distinct tone alto sax) and Red Nichols influenced Chelsea Quealey would set sail for London and the Savoy hotel,thus marking the zenith of the bands quality.The band,though good,did perhaps suffer from a slightly loose rhythm section,but on this record the rhythm tightens up and propels the band along,giving the record a hard driving sound.Their manager Ed Kirkby had a pleasant voice and takes the vocals here.Coleman Hawkins who played bass sax on a number of Fletcher Henderson records in the mid 1920s,before stopping on that instrument,was asked in retirement,why he had stopped playing the bass sax.He replied because he had heard Adrian Rollini play the instrument.No greater compliment be paid to Rollini than that.The band had many off shoots,and my favourite is the Little Ramblers who played more solos and had,perhaps, a bit more edge to the music. Whilst 1920s music in Britain is typified by the Savoy Bands.In America it is not Whiteman or Ted Lewis or Abe Lyman,but the California Ramblers,with their jaunty music, that best typify the sound of the 1920s America

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Calfornia
• Ramblers/1920s
• music/nostalgia/American
• dance
• bands/adrian
• rollini

[ErnieHollerhagen]

The story with C. Hawkins stopping bass sax playing is a little different than his memory told him. Fellow Henderson musicians recall him bringing along a bass one day and fumbling about on it. The band's reaction was to ridicule him.

Finally, someone called jokingly "Man, stop this noise! Let's get us Adrian!"

Hawk then took the bass back to the shop and never tried again.