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The hot fountain pen, or red-hot fountain pen, is a small keyless single-reed woodwind instrument similar to a xaphoon, popularised in the 1920s and 30s by jazz saxophonist Adrian Rollini. It was first introduced in jazz band The California Ramblers by saxophonist Jimmy Dorsey in the mid-1920s, where Rollini, a fellow band member, encountered and adopted it. Rollini, who introduced several other instruments to jazz including the bass saxophone, couesnophone ("goofus") and vibraphone, named it from his friendship with Neil Waterman, a musician from the wealthy New York family that owned the Waterman Pen Company.

The instrument Rollini performed on was pitched in E♭ and about 27 centimetres (10½ inches) in length. He made at least two models for sale, in original E♭ and a larger model in C. These were made in ebonite by London instrument manufacturer Keith, Prowse & Co. and first advertised c. 1928 in British Melody Maker magazine.

Only a small number of instruments were made up until the mid-20th century, featuring mainly on recordings by Rollini and jazz violinist Joe Venuti. Its only other significant proponent was English musician Laurie Payne. In museums, one instrument survives in the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments, Oxford.

References

1. "Hot fountain pen". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. 2003. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.J208600. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.
2. van Delden 2020, p. 120.
3. van Delden 2020, p. 168-169.
4. van Delden 2020, p. 426.
5. Maund, Ian (2009). "Pocket cornets, goofus, and hot fountain pens". Sandy Brown Jazz. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
6. Porter, Lewis (2003). "Clarinet (jazz) §5. Other clarinets". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.J088700. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.
7. Keith Prowse (2014) . "Red-hot fountain pen". Bate Collection of Musical Instruments. University of Oxford. Accession: x4014. Retrieved 1 November 2024.

Bibliography

• van Delden, Ate (2020). Adrian Rollini: The Life and Music of a Jazz Rambler. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-496-82515-5. LCCN 2019021692. OCLC 1126216273. Wikidata Q130746122.

External links

• Joe Venuti's Blue Four: "Put And Take" (1930) features Adrian Rollini on hot fountain pen and bass saxophone (via YouTube)

• Single-reed instruments
• Jazz instruments