Shorty Rogers | Artist

Milton Rajonsky aka Shorty Rogers was an American jazz musician born 1924 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He was one of the principal creators of West Coast cool jazz and recorded many excellent jazz records and soundtracks throughout the '50s and '60s. He played trumpet and flugelhorn and was in demand for his skills as an arranger. Rogers first worked as a professional musician with Will Bradley and Red Novo. From 1947-49 he worked with Woody Herman and between 1950-51 he played with Stan Kenton. From 1953 through 1962, Rogers recorded a series of albums for RCA Victor and Atlantic Records with his own group, Shorty Rogers and His Giants. Early albums including Shorty Courts the Count, The Swinging Mr. Rogers, and Martians Come Back incorporated some of his more avant-garde music which referenced the "hot" style of Count Basie, but also began exploring a more "cool" jazz style, more attuned to Miles Davis and Gerry Mulligan. On June 7, 1953, Rogers and his orchestra, including Johnny "Guitar" Watson performed for the famed ninth Cavalcade of Jazz concert at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. Also featured that day were Roy Brown and his Orchestra, Don Tosti and His Mexican Jazzmen, Earl Bostic, Nat "King" Cole, and Louis Armstrong and his All Stars with Velma Middleton. In 1957, Rogers composed the music for the Friz Freleng cartoon "Three Little Bops", and scored the music for the MGM film Tarzan the Ape Man two years later. His other film work included the scores to Fools (1970), The Teacher (1974), The Specialist (1975), Dr. Minx (1975) and The Return of the Mod Squad (1979). A selection of standout Shorty Rogers albums includes The Swinging Mr Rogers (1955), Afro-Cuban Influence (1958), The Big Shorty Rogers Express (1956), Wherever the Five Winds Blow (1957), Gigi in Jazz (1958), Chances are it Swings (1959), The Wizard of Oz and Other Harold Arlen Songs (1959), The Swingin' Nutcracker (1960), Bossa Nova (1962), The Fourth Dimension in Sound (1962) and Jazz Waltz (1963). Writing for the Hollywood studios, Rogers helped greatly to bring jazz into the movies; his scores for movies "The Wild One" and "The Man With the Golden Arm" are particularly memorable.

Artist Website: wikipedia.org/Shorty_Rogers

Featured Albums: Shorty Rogers

Related Artists: Shorty Rogers and his Giants, Perez Prado, Shelley Manne, Gerry Mulligan