Milton "Shorty" Rogers (April 14, 1924 – November 7, 1994) was a trumpeter, bandleader and arranger and a principal creators of West Coast jazz He was also one of the earliest jazz musicians to use the flugelhorn.
Born Milton Rajonsky in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, he began as a bugler with the Furriers Post of Jewish War Veterans Boy Scout drum and bugle corps in The Bronx, and attendance at the famed New York city high school of music and arts. By 16 he was a professional, playing trumpet in the bands of Will Bradley and the vibraphonist Red Norvo, who later married Mr. Rogers's sister, Eve.After a World War II stint in the Army, he worked extensively with Woody Herman's First and Second Herds (1945-1946 and 1947-1949) and began to attract attention as an arranger.
From 1950 to 1951, Stan Kenton hired him away from Herman and Rogers' compositions and arrangements for Kenton made him as much of a star as any of Kenton's soloists.
Rogers left Kenton and pulled together a small group that included Art Pepper, Shelley Manne, Jimmy Giuffre, and Hampton Hawes to record Modern Sounds for Capitol where his tight and innovative arrangements on this recording are considered by many to be as influential as Gil Evans' for Miles Davis' small group on Birth of the Cool. Much of the music he recorded with
Giuffre showed his experimental side, resulting in an early form of avant-garde jazz. He also made notable recordings with Art Pepper and Andre Previn, among others.
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| Rogers & Kenton 1950 |
Rogers left Kenton and pulled together a small group that included Art Pepper, Shelley Manne, Jimmy Giuffre, and Hampton Hawes to record Modern Sounds for Capitol where his tight and innovative arrangements on this recording are considered by many to be as influential as Gil Evans' for Miles Davis' small group on Birth of the Cool. Much of the music he recorded with
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| Rogers & Previn |
Rogers had with his Orchestra including Johnny "Guitar" Watson, perform for the famed ninth Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on June 7, 1953. 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.
Here’s “Powder Puff” from Shorty Rogers And His Giants 1953
From 1953 through 1962, Rogers recorded a series of albums for RCA Victor (later reissued on RCA's Bluebird label), as well as a series of albums for Atlantic Records with his own group, Shorty Rogers and His Giants, including Shorty Courts the Count (1954),
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The Swinging Mr. Rogers (1955), and Martians Come Back (1955), the album title alluding to the tune "Martians Go Home" which Rogers had composed and performed on The Swinging Mr. Rogers, earlier the same year. These albums incorporated some of his more avant-garde music. To some extent they could be classified as "cool" jazz; but they also looked back to the "hot" style of Count Basie, whom Rogers always credited as a major inspiration.
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| Rogers & Sinatra |
He was a prolific contributor to television and to a lesser extentfilms through the 1980s. Among the series he scored or wrote incidental music for were "The Partridge Family,""The Mod Squad,""The Rookies,""Starsky and Hutch," and "The Love Boat." His tune "Chelsea Memorandum" shows up in the midst of Lalo Schifrin's cuts on the second "Mission: Impossible" soundtrack album. He also composed and conducted the music for a number of the innovative UPA cartoons featuring the work of Theodore Geissel (Dr. Seuss) and Stan Freberg.
Finally, in 1982, he was persuaded to pick up his trumpet and return, playing first with Britain’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra and soon with Bud Shank and others. In the 1990s he formed a Lighthouse All Stars group along with Shank, Bill Perkins and Bob Cooper. Although Rogers own playing was not quite as strong as previously, he remained a welcome presence both in clubs and recordings but sadly he died during KLON's West Coast Jazz festival.Shorty Rogers died of melanoma in 7 November 1994, at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, California, at the age of 70. Bud Shank said that Mr. Rogers had had a recurring problem with internal bleeding for at least eight years.
(Edited from Wikipedia, Spaceagepop, NY Times & AllMusic)
Here’s Shorty Rogers and His Giants on Jazz Scene USA (1962)
Hosted by Oscar Brown Jr. Shorty Rogers- Flugelhorn.
Lou Levy - Piano. Gary Peacock - Bass.
Larry Bunker - Drums. Gary Lefebvre - Woodwinds