Shorty Rogers

Biography

Milton "Shorty" Rogers (born Milton Rajonsky; April 14, 1924 – November 7, 1994) was an American jazz musician, one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played trumpet and flugelhorn and was in demand for his skills as an arranger.

Biography

Rogers was born as Milton Rajonsky in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, United States. He worked first as a professional musician with Will Bradley and Red Norvo. From 1947 to 1949, he worked extensively with Woody Herman and in 1950 and 1951 he played with Stan Kenton.
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, produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. 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.
From 1953 through 1962, Rogers recorded a series of albums for RCA Victor (later reissued on RCA's Bluebird label) including Shorty Courts the Count (Shorty Rogers and His Orchestra, 1954), as well as a series of albums for Atlantic Records with his own group, Shorty Rogers and His Giants, including 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. In 1957, Rogers composed the music for the Friz Freleng cartoon Three Little Bops, notably the first Warner Bros. cartoon short in decades not to have music by either Carl W. Stalling or Milt Franklyn, 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).
Rogers died of melanoma on November 7, 1994, in Van Nuys, California, at the age of 70.

As leader

Modern Sounds (Capitol, 1951 [1955])
Popo (Xanadu, 1951 [1980])
Shorty Rogers and His Giants (RCA Victor, 1953)
Cool and Crazy (RCA Victor, 1953)
The Wild One [4-song 45 rpm 7-inch vinyl EP] (RCA Victor EPA-535, 1953)
Shorty Rogers Courts the Count (RCA Victor, 1954)
Bud Shank – Shorty Rogers – Bill Perkins (Pacific Jazz, 1955)
Collaboration (RCA Victor, 1955)
The Swinging Mr. Rogers (Atlantic, 1955)
Martians Stay Home (Atlantic, 1955 [1980])
Martians Come Back! (Atlantic, 1955)
Way Up There (Atlantic, 1955 [1957])
Clickin' with Clax (Atlantic, 1956 [1978])
Wherever the Five Winds Blow (RCA Victor, 1956)
The Big Shorty Rogers Express (RCA Victor, 1956) – reissue of Cool And Crazy with 4 tracks added on
Shorty Rogers Plays Richard Rodgers (RCA Victor, 1957)
Portrait of Shorty (RCA Victor, 1957)
Gigi in Jazz (RCA Victor, 1958)
Afro-Cuban Influence (RCA Victor, 1958)
Chances Are It Swings (RCA Victor, 1958)
The Wizard of Oz and Other Harold Arlen Songs (RCA Victor, 1959)
Shorty Rogers Meets Tarzan (MGM, 1960)
The Swingin' Nutcracker (RCA Victor, 1960)
An Invisible Orchard (RCA Victor, 1961 [1997])
The Fourth Dimension in Sound (Warner Bros., 1962)
Bossa Nova (Reprise, 1962)
Jazz Waltz (Reprise, 1962)
Mavis Meets Shorty (Reprise, 1962)
Gospel Mission (Capitol, 1963)
Re-Entry (Atlas, 1983)
Yesterday, Today and Forever (Concord Jazz, 1983)
Back Again (Choice, 1984)
California Concert (Contemporary, 1985)
America the Beautiful (Candid, 1991)
Eight Brothers (Candid, 1992)

As sideman

With Elmer Bernstein

The Man with the Golden Arm (Decca, 1956)
With Teddy Charles

Collaboration West (Prestige, 1953)
Evolution (Prestige, 1957)
With Jimmy Giuffre

Jimmy Giuffre (Capitol, 1955)
The Jimmy Giuffre Clarinet (Atlantic, 1956)
With Stan Kenton

Innovations in Modern Music (Capitol, 1950)
Stan Kenton Presents (Capitol, 1950)
Popular Favorites by Stan Kenton (Capitol, 1953)
The Kenton Era (Capitol, 1940–1954 [1955])
The Innovations Orchestra (Capitol, 1950–1951 [1997])
With Eartha Kitt

St. Louis Blues (RCA Victor, 1958)
With Perez Prado

Voodoo Suite (RCA Victor, 1955)
With Pete Rugolo

Introducing Pete Rugolo (Columbia, 1954)
Adventures in Rhythm (Columbia, 1954)
Rugolomania (Columbia, 1955)
New Sounds by Pete Rugolo (Harmony, 1954–1955 [1957])

As arranger

With Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass

Christmas Album (A&M, 1968)
Warm (A&M, 1969)
With Ernie Andrews

Soul Proprietor (Dot, 1968)
With Chet Baker

Chet Baker & Strings (Columbia, 1954)
With Elmer Bernstein

Baby the Rain Must Fall (Mainstream, 1965)
With Les Brown and His Band of Renown

The Young Beat (Capitol, 1963)
With Bobby Bryant

The Jazz Excursion Into "Hair" (Pacific Jazz, 1969)
With Bobby Darin

You're the Reason I'm Living (Capitol, 1963)
Bobby Darin Sings The Shadow of Your Smile (Atlantic, 1966)
With Frances Faye

You Gotta Go! Go! Go! (Regina, 1964)
With Bobbie Gentry

Ode to Billie Joe (Capitol, 1967)
Local Gentry (Capitol, 1968)
The Delta Sweete (Capitol, 1968)
With Terry Gibbs

Reza (Dot, 1966)
With Jerry Goldsmith

Stagecoach (Mainstream, 1966)
With Vince Guaraldi

Alma-Ville (Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, 1969)
With Lena Horne

Lena Like Latin (CRC Charter, 1963)
With Helen Humes

Midsummer Night's Songs (RCA, 1974) with Red Norvo and His Orchestra
With Dean Jones

Introducing Dean Jones (Valiant, 1963)
with Frankie Laine

You Gave Me a Mountain (ABC, 1969)
With Peggy Lee

In Love Again! (Capitol, 1964)
Pass Me By (Capitol, 1965)
With Harvey Mandel

Righteous (Philips, 1969)
Baby Batter (Janus, 1971)
With Shelly Manne

The West Coast Sound (Contemporary, 1955)
My Son the Jazz Drummer! (Contemporary, 1962)
With Carmen McRae

The Sound of Silence (Atlantic, 1968)
Portrait of Carmen (Atlantic, 1968)
With The Monkees

"Daydream Believer"/"Goin' Down" (Colgems, 1967)
"D. W. Washburn"/"It's Nice to Be with You" (Colgems, 1968)
The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (Colgems, 1968)
The Monkees Present (Colgems, 1969)
With Michael Nesmith

The Wichita Train Whistle Sings (Dot, 1968)
With Jack Nitzsche

Heart Beat (Soundtrack) (Capitol, 1980)
With Buddy Rich

Big Swing Face, Pacific Jazz, 1967)
Buddy & Soul (World Pacific, 1969)
With Bud Shank

A Spoonful of Jazz (World Pacific, 1967)
With Mel Tormé

Comin' Home Baby! (Atlantic, 1962)