by James E. Baldwin
The University Six was a pseudonym for The California Ramblers. They were a White dance band of the New York area who played the popular music of the Jazz Age. None of the members of the band were Californian nor did they ramble far from the Big Apple. The California Ramblers were a working group housed at the Rambler's Inn on the Pelham Parkway.

The band was organized sometime in 1921. The next year a teenaged pianist and xylophone player, Adrian Rollini joined the group. He was an amazingly gifted musician whose talents were immediately recognized. The group leader encouraged Rollini to learn the intricacies of the bass saxophone. He bought one and learned to play it in two weeks. Immediately a new unique 1920s sound was born. By 1924 Rollini was soloing and holding down the bass line furthering the success one of the most exciting dance bands of the 1920s.

The band recorded exclusively for Columbia under The California Ramblers name. They were allowed to use pseudonyms as other record companies scrambled to get a piece of the money-making action of this amazing band. A Columbia subsidiary, Harmony used The University Six name. Cameo used The Varsity Eight; Pathe, The Five Birmingham Babies; Gennett, The Vagabonds; Edison used The Golden Gate Orchestra. Columbia even recorded a smaller contingent of the band as The Little Ramblers.