Jazz / Cool, West Coast Jazz, Jazz Instrument, Trumpet Jazz
Recorded: 1954
Alain Tercinet Liner Notes
Bill Holman Reeds
Bob Cooper Reeds
Bob Enevoldsen Trombone
Bud Shank Reeds
Clyde Reasinger Trumpet
Conrad Gozzo Trumpet
Curtis Counce Bass
Dave Pell Liner Notes
Harry "Sweets" Edison Trumpet
Harry Betts Trombone
Herb Geller Reeds
Jimmy Giuffre Reeds
John Graas French Horn
Marty Paich Piano
Milt Bernhart Trombone
Paul Sarmento Tuba
Pete Candoli Trumpet
Shelly Manne Drums
Shorty Rogers Trumpet
Zoot Sims Reeds
After cutting seminal material with both his Giants group and first big-band contingent (1953's Cool and Crazy album), Shorty Rogers recorded some prescient sides for the Marlon Brando movie The Wild Ones (Rogers would spend the majority of the '60s and '70s doing film and TV work) and paid homage to Count Basie with these 12 titles from 1954. Having found his own voice through stints with Woody Herman and Stan Kenton, Rogers gets a chance to show his appreciation for one of his early influences, with charts that both reflect the supple bounce of Basie and the complexly cool sound the trumpeter had been forging since the late '40s. Including new arrangements of such classic Basie sides as "Topsy" and "Doggin' Around," plus three Rogers charts in the Basie style, Shorty Rogers Courts the Count provides ample room for fine solo work by West Coast luminaries like trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, alto saxophonist Bud Shank, tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims, bassist Curtis Counce, and the great drummer Shelly Manne. Kansas City goes Hollywood and the feeling's fine. ~ Stephen Cook, All Music Guide
Shorty Rogers
Active Decades: '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s
Born: Apr 14, 1924 in Great Barrington, MA
Died: Nov 07, 1994 in Van Nuys, CA
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Big Band, Bop, Cool, Swing, Bossa Nova, West Coast Jazz, Afro-Cuban Jazz
A fine middle-register trumpeter whose style seemed to practically define "cool jazz," Shorty Rogers was actually more significant for his arranging, both in jazz and in the movie studios. After gaining early experience with Will Bradley and Red Norvo and serving in the military, Rogers rose to fame as a member of Woody Herman's First and Second Herds (1945-1946 and 1947-1949), and somehow he managed to bring some swing to the Stan Kenton Innovations Orchestra (1950-1951), clearly enjoying writing for the stratospheric flights of Maynard Ferguson. After that association ran its course, Rogers settled in Los Angeles where he led his Giants (which ranged from a quintet to a nonet and a big band) on a series of rewarding West Coast jazz-styled recordings and wrote for the studios, helping greatly to bring jazz into the movies; his scores for The Wild One and The Man With the Golden Arm are particularly memorable. After 1962, Rogers stuck almost exclusively to writing for television and films, but in 1982 he began a comeback in jazz. Rogers reorganized and headed the Lighthouse All-Stars and, although his own playing was not quite as strong as previously, he remained a welcome presence both in clubs and recordings.
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide |
