Search - Adrian Rollini :: Novelty Trio & Quintet

Go Adrian Go!

D. Mitchell | San Diego, CA USA | 12/28/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Some amazing vibes playing on this disk. Bobby Hutcherson, eat your heart out! You too, Emil Richards."

Tight and Swingin'

Mike | 01/06/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The best thing this reissue has going for it is the inclusion of seven tracks taken from Associated transcriptions that sound just gorgeous. Associated did the world a big favor by recording for radio play - with a proprietary new high fidelity disc recording technology - many of the great swing bands and small groups from 1935 until sometime in the 1940s. Only a privileged few had fancy radio sets that could take advantage of the wider bandwidth. One can imagine the frustration of home listeners at hearing these wonderful recordings and wishing they could hear the higher fi all of the time. They would have to wait another decade to fulfill that wish, via FM radio. (Inventor Robert Armstrong first demonstrated FM radio transmission in 1935, and FM radio broadcasting might have gotten off the ground in the early 1940s had it not been for the war. On the other hand, the war probably accelerated development of the technology.)



The non-Associated tracks are not bad either. Rollini was playing vibraphone during this period instead of the reed instruments - particularly the bass sax - with which he established his reputation as a jazz master in the 1920s.



The reissue record label, Swing Time Records, has garnered some criticism for perceived shortcomings in the processing of transfers. True, there are some aural artifacts on the CD from the cleanup, but never so much that you can't listen past it, and least audible on the Associated tracks."