Search - Goofus Five :: The Goofus Five

Adrian Rollini will knock you out on the bass sax and goofus

Mr. Jazz | 09/12/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The main reason to pick up this essential CD is for jazz great Adrian Rollini's wondeful bass sax playing, nobody mastered the bass sax like Rollini, he also plays the goofus, hoever the bass sax solos are the highlights. The jazz content of this CD is incredibly high. This is essential 20's hot dance music. All of the musicians get to solo and they are all spectacular, this is classic jazz at it's best. Highlights are "Heebie Jeebies," & "I Left My Sugar Standing In The Rain." Every tune a classic. Recommended highly."

Absolutely Essential

"Gimpy" Peach Johnson | 11/28/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I only recently acquired this disc, and now I wonder: What took me so long? I collect jazz and dance band music of the 1920s and this is one of the best CDs I've come across. The Goofus Five (also known as The California Ramblers, The Five Birmingham Babies, The University Six, and the Varsity Eight with occasional slight personnel changes) were one of the "hottest" dance bands of the 1920s and consistently turned out records of the highest musical quality. The band took tuneful melodies and played them "hot." Unfortuantly, many of their recordings for budget labels were poorly recorded and sound tinny or flat today. With this CD, you get the best of both worlds: Adrian Rollini's incredible bass sax, some hot ensemble playing, and phenomenal sound quality. These records were made for OKeh, which had one of the best electrical recording systems around in the mid-late 1920s. Thanks to the audio wizardry of the late John R. T. Davies, these tunes come bursting forth in clarity and brilliance I wouldn't have thought possible in 80-year-old records. Just skip to "Vo-Do-Do-De-O Blues" or "Ain't That a Grand And Glorious Feeling?" and turn the volume up nice and loud. It will blow you away! This is the real stuff that "made the twenties roar." Of the hundreds of CDs in my collection, this is one of my absolute favorites. If you like hot dance band music of the '20s, you can't go wrong with this CD. I'm with the reviewer below: Highly recommended!"

A SLICE OF THE ROARING TWENTIES

Barry McCanna | Normandy, France | 11/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Goofus Five were a smaller contingent (normally numbering eight!) of the California Ramblers, who adopted the pseudonym to cover their recording activities for the Okeh label. The line-up included Chelsea Quealey on trumpet, Bobby Davis on reeds, and Adrian Rollini on bass saxophone and goofus. Within a year that triumvirate would be playing in Fred Elizalde's Band at the Savoy Hotel, where their particular talents failed to arouse universal enthusiasm. Here they were on their home ground, recording for the bright young things who bought their records and danced the night away. This set brilliantly recaptures the atmosphere, with audio restoration by the late acclaimed John R.T. Davies, and liner note by master discographer Brian Rust.



Incidentally, it seems a trifle perverse to buy a CD entitled The Goofus Five, then award it only one star because it features a goofus!"