Rudy Salvini, bandleader and trumpet player, has been a driving force in Bay Area music since he formed his first big band in 1954. The band recorded their first album, Intro to Jazz in 1958 and played the first Monterey Jazz Festival that same year. They returned in subsequent years to back Mel Tormé, Billy Eckstein and Earl (Fatha) Hines. The Rudy Salvini Band had the honor of being the first big band to play Stern Grove along with Vince Guaraldi, John Handy and Turk Murphy in 1966. The fame of the band skyrocketed during a five-year engagement at the Sands Ballroom in Oakland, CA. Other performances include Irving Granz’s Jazz a la Carte, San Francisco State Concert with Shelly Manne, numerous university campus tours, Great American Music Hall and Moscone Center.
In the aggregate, the members of The Rudy Salvini Big Band bring, literally, several centuries worth of musical experience. Collectively, they are a virtual embodiment of that fabled period in Bay Area music known as the big band jazz era. Just a partial list of musical greats they have played with or accompanied reads like two blocks on Hollywood's Walk of Fame: Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Marvin Gaye, Duke Ellington, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr., Isaac Hayes, Peggy Lee, Mel Tormé, Billy Eckstein, Nancy Wilson, Natalie Cole, Lena Horne, Dionne Warwick, Henry Mancini and more. The RSBB is truly a musical treasure.
