Rotella wrote regularly with popular lyricists of the 20th century, including Johnny Mercer, Sammy Cahn, Ray Gilbert, Sidney Clare, Claude Baum, Franz Steininger, Jerry Gladstone, and Abbey Lincoln.
His songs were recorded by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Doris Day, and Frankie Avalon, Slim Whitman, and Ray Conniff Singers.
[4] Rotella performed in Broadway orchestras, for Los Angeles theater productions, and as a band regular on the 1970s CBS variety series The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.
While traveling with Goodman in California in 1946, Rotella made the decision to move to Hollywood and pursue work as a studio woodwind player.
He started with Jerry Gray's Club 15 CBS Radio Show[5] and went on to be a session musician for composer/arrangers Buddy Baker, Earle Hagen, Mike Post, and Jimmie Haskell.