Music
Frank Rosolino
1926–1978 · jazz trombonist, singer
Detroit-born trombonist, a Cass Tech alumnus, who became a star of West Coast jazz with Stan Kenton and the Lighthouse All-Stars and wrote the standard "Blue Daniel".
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California
aged 52- Detroit years
- 1926–1940s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Rosolino grew up in an Italian American family in Detroit, where his father taught him guitar at nine; he switched to trombone at fourteen and studied at Cass Technical High School. After wartime service he worked in the big bands of Bob Chester, Glen Gray, Tony Pastor, Herbie Fields and Gene Krupa, whose hit "Lemon Drop" features his exuberant scat singing, and then Stan Kenton. Settling in Los Angeles, he became a fixture of Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars in Hermosa Beach from 1954 to 1960, and his composition "Blue Daniel" became a jazz standard. Through the 1960s and 1970s he was a busy studio player for Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee and Quincy Jones, appeared on television with Steve Allen, and toured with the Grammy-winning group Supersax. His life ended in tragedy in November 1978, when he shot his two young sons, killing one and blinding the other, and then took his own life.
Highlights
- Studied at Cass Technical High School
- Scat vocal on Gene Krupa's "Lemon Drop"
- Trombonist with Stan Kenton and the Lighthouse All-Stars (1954–1960)
- Composed the jazz standard "Blue Daniel"
- Toured with the Grammy-winning Supersax in the 1970s
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1940s
Cass Technical High School
Detroit's magnet high school, which Rosolino attended.