Rudy Pompilli in Chester, Pennsylvania

Chester, Pennsylvania

Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a population of 33,972 at the 2010 census. Chester is situated on the Delaware River, between the cities of Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware.- History :...

 on April 16, 1924 (many sources say 1926) — died February 5, 1976) was an American musician best known for playing tenor saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

 with Bill Haley and His Comets.

Biography

Bill Haley

Bill Haley

Bill Haley was one of the first American rock and roll musicians. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and their hit song "Rock Around the Clock".-Early life and career:...

's longest-serving musician, Pompilli began working with Haley in September 1955 and was still a member of The Comets at the time of his death more than 19 years later. Occasional sources spell his first name as "Rudi" however Pompilli himself never used this form.

Pompilli, who was also skilled at playing the clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

, and worked with jazz bands prior to joining Haley's group. In 1953 he was with the Ralph Marterie

Ralph Marterie

Ralph Marterie was a big-band leader born in Acerra , Italy.In the 1940s, he played trumpet for various bands. His highest success in the U.S. charts was a cover of "Skokiaan" in 1954. In 1953 he recorded a version of Bill Haley's "Crazy, Man, Crazy", which is generally regarded as the first...

 Orchestra, which scored a hit with a cover version of Haley's "Crazy Man, Crazy

Crazy Man, Crazy

"Crazy Man, Crazy" was the title of an early rock and roll song first recorded by Bill Haley & His Comets in April 1953. It is notable as the first recognized rock and roll recording to appear on the national American musical charts, peaking at #12 on the Billboard Juke Box chart for the week...

", though according to Haley (in on-stage discussion recorded for the 1969 album, Bill Haley's Scrapbook), the young horn player had a dislike for rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 musicians. Research conducted by Haley historian Chris Gardner

Chris Gardner

Christopher Paul Gardner is an American entrepreneur, investor, stockbroker, motivational speaker, author, and philanthropist who, during the early 1980s, struggled with homelessness while raising his toddler son, Christopher, Jr...

 for a February 2006 article on Pompilli for Now Dig This magazine resulted in no evidence being found that Pompilli performed on the Marterie's version of "Crazy Man, Crazy".

Pompilli was invited to join the Comets in the fall of 1955, after Haley's previous sax player, Joey Ambrose quit along with two other Comets to form The Jodimars

The Jodimars

The Jodimars was an American rock and roll band that was formed in the summer of 1955 and remained active until 1958. The band was created by former members of Bill Haley & His Comets who had quit that group in a salary dispute...

. Ambrose gave Pompilli a crash course in the Haley style of saxophone playing, and he also learned the stage antics pioneered by Ambrose and bass player Marshall Lytle

Marshall Lytle

Marshall Lytle , who also goes by the name Tommy Page, is an American rock and roll musician, best known for his work with the groups Bill Haley & His Comets and The Jodimars in the 1950s.-Career:...

, including playing the sax while lying flat on his back and jumping all over the bass player. (Lytle also left for the Jodimars and was replaced by diminutive Al Rex.)

At Haley's request, the new musician changed the spelling of his last name from POMPILII to POMPILLI as Haley was concerned that the former looked like a typographical error

Typographical error

A typographical error is a mistake made in, originally, the manual type-setting of printed material, or more recently, the typing process. The term includes errors due to mechanical failure or slips of the hand or finger, but usually excludes errors of ignorance, such as spelling errors...

. Pompilli also frequently used the alias "Rudy Pell" and many of his autographs from the 1950s have this name rather than Pompilli.

Within a few months of joining The Comets, Pompilli had become the band's most visible member (aside from Haley himself), becoming the focus of "Rudy's Rock", a show-stopping instrumental co-written by Pompilli and Haley that debuted in the 1956 film Rock Around the Clock. When released as a single, "Rudy's Rock

Rudy's Rock

Rudy's Rock is a 1956 instrumental composed by Bill Haley and Rudy Pompilli and released as a Decca single. The song appeared in the 1956 movie Rock Around the Clock....

" was noted by Billboard and reached #34 on the Billboard singles chart and #38 on the Cashbox Top Singles list, spending 4 weeks on that chart, and making it the first instrumental record of the rock and roll era to chart. Other acclaimed, but less commercially successful instrumentals followed, most notably "Calling All Comets" which was performed in the band's next film, 1957's Don't Knock the Rock

Don't Knock the Rock

Don't Knock the Rock is a 1957 rock and roll film starring Alan Dale as a rock star who returns to his hometown to rest up for the summer only to find that rock and roll has been banned there by disapproving adults...

. Around this time, he was named Sax Player of the Year by Down Beat

Down Beat

Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...

magazine.

In 1958, Rudy's cousin, Al Pompilli, joined the Comets for a year, playing bass after the departure of Al Rex.

He co-wrote the hit "Week End" with Franny Beecher and Billy Williamson, which raeached no. 35 on the Billboard pop chart when released as a single in 1958 as by The Kingsmen on East West Records, East West 115. He also co-wrote the B side, "Better Believe It", with Johnny Grande and Ralph Jones. A follow-up single was released on East West, "Conga Rock", written by drummer Ralph Jones, backed with "The Catwalk", written by Franny Beecher and Billy Williamson, as East West 120. He composed the hit "Florida Twist" with Anthony Caruso, which reached no. 3 as an Orfeon 45 on the Mexican pop singles chart in 1962 based on the Billboard Hits of the World chart.

Bill Haley's band would undergo many changes of personnel over the next two decades, but the one constant was Rudy Pompilli, who would become the band's road manager, taking care of paying the bills and arranging for the hiring of new musicians when required. (Pompilli did briefly quit the Comets during 1960-61 and was replaced by Al Dean, but soon returned to the band.) Pompilli also did solo work, performing regularly in Philadelphia area night clubs, either by himself or with members of the Comets.

Soon after a 1974 tour of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, Pompilli was diagnosed with lung cancer

Lung cancer

Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...

. Although not a smoker himself, it is believed he contracted the disease through passive smoking

Passive smoking

Passive smoking is the inhalation of smoke, called secondhand smoke or environmental tobacco smoke , from tobacco products used by others. It occurs when tobacco smoke permeates any environment, causing its inhalation by people within that environment. Exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke causes...

. The ailing musician continued to tour with Haley throughout 1975 (including a tour of Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 in October 1975), and that year also recorded his first and only solo album, Rudy's Rock: The Sax That Changed the World, which was recorded with session musicians and members of The Comets. He also continued to perform at the Nite Cap, a club in Chester, Pennsylvania

Chester, Pennsylvania

Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a population of 33,972 at the 2010 census. Chester is situated on the Delaware River, between the cities of Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware.- History :...

; at one of his very last performances he performed with his former Comets bandmate Franny Beecher

Franny Beecher

Francis "Franny" Beecher , also known as Frank Beecher, was lead guitarist for Bill Haley & His Comets from 1954 to 1962, and is best remembered for his innovative guitar solos combining elements of country music and jazz...

 as well as then-current Comets guitarist Bill Turner

Bill Turner

William R. "Bill" Turner is an American 6'7" retired American professional National Basketball Association player. Turner played college basketball at University of Akron.-External links:* @ basketballreference.com...

.

Pompilli's death on February 5, 1976, in Philadelphia affected Haley deeply. After fulfilling touring commitments for the year with a replacement sax player, at the end of 1976 Haley announced his retirement from performing and moved full-time to Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. Haley would return to touring and recording in 1979 and would dedicate a part of every show to Pompilli's memory with a performance of "Rudy's Rock".

During research for an article on the 30th anniversary of Pompilli's death, researcher Chris Gardner uncovered documents that showed Pompilli was actually born in 1924, not 1926 as had commonly been believed (like Haley, Pompilli also shaved two years off his age).

Compositions

He co-wrote "Week End" with Franny Beecher and Billy Williamson and the B side, "Better Believe It", with Johnny Grande and Ralph Jones. He co-wrote "Rudy's Rock

Rudy's Rock

Rudy's Rock is a 1956 instrumental composed by Bill Haley and Rudy Pompilli and released as a Decca single. The song appeared in the 1956 movie Rock Around the Clock....

" with Bill Haley and "Calling All Comets" with Bill Haley and Milt Gabler. He co-wrote "Hey Then, There Now" with Ralph Jones. He wrote "Florida Twist" with Anthony Caruso. He also co-wrote "Lean Jean".

External links