Shorty Rogers

Shorty Rogers (* as Milton M. Rajonsky on April 14, 1924 in Great Barrington , Massachusetts ; † November 7, 1994 in Van Nuys , Los Angeles , USA) was an American jazz musician ( trumpet , flugelhorn , arrangement ).

life and work

Rogers studied trumpet at the High School of Music and Arts in New York City as well as composition and arranging at the Los Angeles Conservatory . He first played with Will Bradley (1942) and Red Norvo (1942-1943). After his military service, Woody Herman , Charlie Barnet , then again Herman (until 1949) and Stan Kenton (1950/51) hired him in 1945 , with whom he also worked as an arranger . He created the arrangements for Keen And Peachy (1947), That's Right (1948) and More Moon (1949).

In 1953 he was a member of Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Stars . He then settled in Los Angeles , where he led his own groups in 1954/55, but also took part in recordings of West Coast Jazz and was counted among its leading representatives. Well-known musicians such as Pepper Adams , Pete and Conte Candoli , Bob Cooper , Herb Geller , Jimmy Giuffre , John Graas , Hampton Hawes , Bill Holman , Marty Paich , Art Pepper , Bud Shank , Zoot Sims and Shelly Manne played in his bands . Rogers was musical director of Atlantic Records in 1955 and RCA Victor in 1956 . He then worked increasingly in the Hollywood studios and finally gave up being an instrumentalist. Rogers wrote et al. a. the music for the films Der Wilde and The Man With The Golden Arm .

After touring with the British National Youth Jazz Orchestra in 1982, he played again regularly, and in the early 1990s was involved in the revival of the Lighthouse All Stars with Bud Shank , Bob Cooper and Bill Perkins . For the label Concord and Candid he recorded a few more albums, on which companions like George Cables , Pete Jolly , Bud Shank, Monty Budwig and Lawrence Marable participated.

During his career, Shorty Rogers made recordings with Teddy Charles , Terry Gibbs , Red Norvo , Johnny Richards , Pete Rugolo and Kai Winding .

Despite his technically limited playing potential, Rogers was a trumpeter with a high recognition value . Most successfully he arranged for big bands , besides the Woody Herman Band also for Stan Kenton , Art Pepper and Maynard Ferguson .

Discographic notes

• The Sweetheart of Sigmund Freud (Giant Steps, 1946-53)
• Short Stops (RCA, 1953)
• Shorty Rogers & His Giants (RCA, 1953)
• Courts The Count (RCA, 1954)
• Collaboration (RCA, 1954)
• Wherever The Five Winds Blow (RCA, 1956)
• Plays Richard Rogers (RCA, 1957)
• Portrait Of Shorty (RCA, 1957)
• Gigi In Jazz (RCA, 1958)
• Chances Are, It Swings (RCA, 1958)
• Shorty Rogers Swings (RCA 1958/59)
• The Wizard Of Oz (RCA, 1959)
• Swinging Nutcracker (RCA, 1960)
• To Invisible Orchard (RCA, 1961)
• Yesterday Today And Forever (Concord, 1983)
• America The Beautiful (Candid, 1991)
• Eight Brothers (Candid, 1992)

collection

• The Complete Atlantic and EMI Jazz Recordings of Shorty Rogers (1951-56) . Mosaic , 1989 - 6 LPs or 4 CDs with John Graas , Art Pepper , Jimmy Giuffre , Hampton Hawes , Don Bagley , Shelly Manne , Bud Shank , Jimmy Rowles , Harry Babasin , Pete Jolly , Curtis Counce , Lou Levy , Ralph Peña , Conte Candoli , Pete Candoli , Harry Sweets Edison , Don Fagerquist , Bob Enevoldsen , Barney Kessel , Leroy Vinnegar , Herb Geller , Bill Holman ,

literature

• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP and Cassette . 2nd Edition. Penguin, London 1994, ISBN 0-14-017949-6 .
• Richard Cook, Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide of Jazz on CD. 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .