Rudy Salvini

Bandleader Rudy Salvini was another indefatigable Bay Area musician who had begun playing trumpet when he was eight years old and became interested in jazz in 1941 after hearing Stan Kenton’s band at the Oakland Sweet Ballroom. “That was the most exciting band I’ve ever heard,” said Rudy.

Originally from Oakland, where he was born on March 22, 1925, Rudy Salvini attended Clawson Elementary School and Hoover High School. At eighteen, during his senior year at Tech, he put together his first band, a 10-piece orchestra whose members included John Marabuto and Johnny Coppola. They played anywhere they could, including USO dances. “Pretty soon the union got to know who I was and said ‘hey, why don’t you join us?’” recalls Rudy. “So I went down to see the business agent in Oakland and joined.” Like most AFM locals at the time, Local 6 was racially segregated. Local 669, the black local, was...

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Albums featuring Rudy Salvini

1 record