Shorty Rogers Info requested..
JazzLover
I considered searching for the Mosaic Shorty Rogers Box (Emi and Atlantic)..
Can anybody provide me a link or some infos (containing musicians and rec dates)
about this box?
I think, that this box contains the "golden era" of West Coast Jazz
.. so are there better recordings to get familar with Shorty Rogers??
Thank you very much!
Dirk Ludigkeit
wrote:
Mosaic doesn't seem to have a discography of their old titles online
so I guess I need to pull that box out of the shelves for you ;-)
Here goes, written to the Sounds of Shorty:
DISC I:
*Shorty Rogers-tp; JohnGraas-frh; Gene Englund-tu; Art Pepper-as;
Jimmy Giuffre-ts; Hampton Hawes-p; Don Bagley-b; Shelly Manne-dr.
Rec. in L.A., October 8, 1953:
Popo - Didi - Four Mothers - Over the Rainbow - Apropos - Sam and the
Lady
*Shorty Rogers-flh; Bud Shank-afl, as; Jimmy Rowles-p; Harry
Babasin-b; Roy Harte-dr.
Rec. in L.A., March, 1954:
Shank's Pranks - Case de Luz - Lotus Bud - Left Bank - Jasmine - Just
a Few
*Shorty Rogers-tp; Jimmy Giuffre-cl, ts, bs; Pete Jolly-p; Curtis
Counce-b; Shelly Manne-dr.
Rec. in L.A., March 1, 1955:
Isn't It Romantic - Not Really the Blues - Martians Go Home
DISC II:
*Same personnel as above:
My Heart Stood Still - Loaded - Oh Play that Thing - Bill - Twelth
Street Rag - The Lady in Red - Trickleydidlier - Solarization - That's
What I'm Talkin' 'Bout - Michele's Meditation
*Same personnel as above but Lou Levy-p for Jolly & Ralph Peña-b for
Counce.
Rec. in L.A., October 21, 1955:
Barbaro - Planetarium - Martians Come Back - March of the Martians
DISC III:
*Same personnel as above.
Rec. in L.A. October 29, 1955:
Papouche (alt tk)
*Same personnel as above.
Rec. in L.A. November 3, 1955:
Papouche - Martians Stay Home - Pearls - Lotus Bud - Easy - Amber
Leaves
*Shorty Rogers-tp, flh; Pete Candoli, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Don
Fagerquist-tp; Lou Levy-p; Ralph Peña-b; Shelly Manne-dr.
Rec. in L.A., December 6, 1955:
Serenade in Sweets - Astral Alley - Pixieland
*Shorty Rogers-tp, flh; Bob Enevoldsen-vtb; John Graas-frh; Paul
Sarmento-tu; Bud Shank-as; Jimmy Giuffre-cl, ts, bs; Lou Levy-p; Ralph
Peña-b; Shelly Manne-dr.
Rec. in L.A., December 9, 1955:
Wail of Two Cities - Baklava Bridge - Chant of the Cosmos
DISC IV:
*Shorty Rogers-flh; Harry "Sweets" Edison-tp; Bud Shank-as; Pete
Jolly-p; Barney Kessel-g; Leroy Vinnegar-b; Shelly Manne-dr.
Rec. in L.A., December 16, 1955:
Dickie's Dream - Moten Swing - Blues Way Up There - Blues Way Down
There
*Shorty ROgers-flh; Herb Geller-as; Buss Shank-as, bs, bass-s; Bill
Holman-ts; Jimmy Giuffre-cl, ts, bs; Lou Levy-p; Ralph Peña-b; Shelly
Manne-dr.
Rec. in L.A., March 27, 1956:
Toyland - I Dig Ed - Adam in New York - Clickin' with Clax
*Same personnel as above.
Rec. in L.A., March 30, 1956:
Put the Goodies On - Our Song - Pete's Meat - Mike's Peak
****************************************************************************************
The first session is ABSOLUTELY essential West Coast stuff. The
quintet sessions are fine music throughout, and the "Shorty in Space"
series woven into this entirecollection is simply hilarious, right on
down to Shelly Manne'w drum break on "Martians Go Home" where he just
spins a coin on his snare and lets it drop.
The three tracks with fellow trumpeters Candoli, Edison and Fagerquist
are sheer bliss and one of my favorite rare gems on CD. And the sax
ensemble stuff is chamber music à la Rogers, showing off his
formidable arranging skills outside the big band context.
RCA has reissued a number of his big band albums, mostly available in
Europe, though. amazon.de, *.fr or *.co.uk should have a few of those.
Good luck with your efforts of finding a copy for sale.
D.
John Monroe
> I considered searching for the Mosaic Shorty Rogers Box (Emi and Atlantic)..
Dirk's already posted the discography, so you're in business there. The
set turns up from time to time on Ebay, though it generally sells for a
huge amount of money.
> I think, that this box contains the "golden era" of West Coast Jazz
> .. so are there better recordings to get familar with Shorty Rogers??
Yes, I agree with you. There's some absolutely wonderful music on the
Mosaic Rogers box, largely -- in my opinion -- thanks to the brilliant
reed work of Jimmy Giuffre and the extremely sophisticated drumming of
Shelly Manne. Probably my favorite of all the sessions is the one that
yeilded the LP "The Swinging Mr. Rogers." The track "Martians Go Home,"
in particular, is masterful. Giuffre's long clarinet solo, accompanied by
Manne's subtle drumming (he plays the toms with his fingers, spins a quarter on
the snare, does amazing, understated, hugely swinging things left and
right, never getting louder than a whisper) is one of the most beautiful
passages in Jazz, to my ears.
Unfortunately, this session is still unavailable as a single-disc
reissue. The Collectables label has put out a two-fer containing the two
follow-up sessions, "Martians Come Back!" and "Way Up There," both of
which are also quite good, though they don't rise to the same heights.
You can check out Collectables' website at www.oldies.com. Be warned,
though, that their remastering can be pretty iffy.
Spanish RCA has reissued a lot of Rogers' 50s Victor albums. In my
opinion, they are patchier than the stuff on the Mosaic box, but there is
nevertheless plenty of good material available. In particular, you might
want to seek out the following two CDs:
"The Big Shorty Rogers Express" -- this album contains the work Rogers is
most famous for as a leader, a series of big-band sessions recorded in
1953. Hampton Hawes' brilliant, feverish piano on "Diablo's Dance" is a
particular highlight; the piece crackles with the tension between
written form and improvisation that characterized the best of fifties Cool
Jazz.
"Shorty Rogers Courts the Count" -- Rogers does Basie here. The result is
very impressive. Giuffre, as usual, lifts the record to a new level.
In a lot of ways, I think the appeal of Rogers' brand of Jazz is similar
to the appeal of Mozart (to hark back to an earlier thread). The music is
always well-ordered and subtle; it places a greater premium on conveying
a sense of effortless invention than on making big emotional statements.
An element of ironic distance often creeps in, too. For some, the result can
sound glib or excessively cerebral. It's certainly true that Rogers' albums
occasionally have an "assembly-line" quality, especially in the late 50s
RCA period, when his approach seems to have hardened into a formula.
Nevertheless, when Rogers' composing is at its most inventive and his
sidemen are at their sharpest, his music has a remarkable capacity to
simultaneously delight and engage the mind. It's nice to see him get
discussed a little here.
John Monroe
Check out my webcast, "Jazz on the Out Side"
www.live365.com/cgi-bin/directory.cgi?autostart=jmonroe
Dirk Ludigkeit
<jmo...@pantheon.yale.edu> wrote:
[...]
>In a lot of ways, I think the appeal of Rogers' brand of Jazz is similar
>to the appeal of Mozart (to hark back to an earlier thread). The music is
>always well-ordered and subtle; it places a greater premium on conveying
>a sense of effortless invention than on making big emotional statements.
>An element of ironic distance often creeps in, too. For some, the result can
>sound glib or excessively cerebral. It's certainly true that Rogers' albums
>occasionally have an "assembly-line" quality, especially in the late 50s
>RCA period, when his approach seems to have hardened into a formula.
>Nevertheless, when Rogers' composing is at its most inventive and his
>sidemen are at their sharpest, his music has a remarkable capacity to
>simultaneously delight and engage the mind. It's nice to see him get
>discussed a little here.
>
>John Monroe
Couldn't have said it any better myself. Rogers' music is often very
playful, light-hearted and, yes, funny. But that doesn't make his
music any less serious or involved.
There are enough pompously serious artists out there. Leave it to
Shorty Rogers to delight you with a little bit of calculated
irreverence.
"Ding-dong, the witch is dead...."
D.
JAZZCORNER
"John Monroe" <jmo...@pantheon.yale.edu> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:Pine.GSO.4.32.01051...@mars.its.yale.edu...
> On Fri, 11 May 2001, JazzLover wrote:
>
> > I think, that this box contains the "golden era" of West Coast Jazz
> "The Big Shorty Rogers Express" -- this album contains the work Rogers is
> most famous for as a leader, a series of big-band sessions recorded in
> 1953. Hampton Hawes' brilliant, feverish piano on "Diablo's Dance" is a
> particular highlight; the piece crackles with the tension between
> written form and improvisation that characterized the best of fifties Cool
> Jazz.
>
> "Shorty Rogers Courts the Count" -- Rogers does Basie here. The result is
> very impressive. Giuffre, as usual, lifts the record to a new level.
A.. and dont`t forget ...plays Richard Rogers / Portrait of Shorty /Chances
are it swings/ MANTECA / The wizard of OZ.
Also his solowork on the Johnny Richards "Something Elsle" on bass-tp.
On RCA where ever the 5 winds blow and on Pacific Jazz with Bud Shank etc
etc.
> In a lot of ways, I think the appeal of Rogers' brand of Jazz is similar
> to the appeal of Mozart (to hark back to an earlier thread). The music is
> always well-ordered and subtle; it places a greater premium on conveying
> a sense of effortless invention than on making big emotional statements.
> An element of ironic distance often creeps in, too. For some, the result
can
> sound glib or excessively cerebral. It's certainly true that Rogers'
albums
> occasionally have an "assembly-line" quality, especially in the late 50s
> RCA period, when his approach seems to have hardened into a formula.
> Nevertheless, when Rogers' composing is at its most inventive and his
> sidemen are at their sharpest, his music has a remarkable capacity to
> simultaneously delight and engage the mind. It's nice to see him get
> discussed a little here.
> John Monroe
> Check out my webcast, "Jazz on the Out Side"
> www.live365.com/cgi-bin/directory.cgi?autostart=jmonroe
>
Yes you`re welcome. As an arranger he had (especially for bigbands) his own
handwriting comparing with
another personal sound as Bill Holman. A Sh.Rogers bigband arrangement
mostly creates a sound with emphasis
on the trumpetsection, so you can hear after a few bars "Mr. Short Stop" is
at work.
I may point out that the newer issues on AUREX/ CONCORD /ATLAS (= reunion
with his old pals) are nice but
lack the fire of the real west coast days of the midfifties.
W.B.
jazztrpt
Bobby Knight
Its revealing to know that you're as knowledgable about Shorty Rogers,
one of the more influential musicians ever on the instrument that you
play, as you are about George Bush.
0 for 2.
bk
Dirk Ludigkeit
("jazztrpt") wrote:
>Shorty's the MAN! I notice he played flugel a lot... did he predate =
>Clark Terry in discovering that instrument for jazz? I hope Mosaic =
>re-releases that box set, because as much as I'd like it I'm sure not =
>paying $500 or so that it is currently fetching on ebay.
>
>Mark
>jazztrpt.freeservers.com
Well, he played flugel on the March '54 date. According to Todd
Selbert, who wrote the notes to the Mosaic set, Rogers got his first
flugelhorn from the owner of his favorite restaurant, Robaire's, who
bought the horn on Paris.
And you can count on Mosaic not reissuing this set or anything else in
their catalogue, as their licenses run for a few years only.
D.
Alan David Mills
from John Monroe <jmo...@pantheon.yale.edu> contains these words:
> Yes, I agree with you. There's some absolutely wonderful music on the
> Mosaic Rogers box, largely -- in my opinion -- thanks to the brilliant
> reed work of Jimmy Giuffre and the extremely sophisticated drumming of
> Shelly Manne. Probably my favorite of all the sessions is the one that
> yeilded the LP "The Swinging Mr. Rogers."
> Unfortunately, this session is still unavailable as a single-disc reissue.
Why there should be no decent coverage of Shorty Rogers in the
current CD catalogues is beyond my comprehension. "The Swinging Mr.
Rogers." was one of the earliest LPs I bought and one of my
favourites. Sadly, its also one which I have managed to lose
sometime during the last 40 years. I would dearly love to be able to
hear it again.
--
Alan Mills (living in Devon, England)
Simon Weil
>Why there should be no decent coverage of Shorty Rogers in the
>current CD catalogues is beyond my comprehension. "The Swinging Mr.
>Rogers." was one of the earliest LPs I bought and one of my
>favourites. Sadly, its also one which I have managed to lose
>sometime during the last 40 years. I would dearly love to be able to
>hear it again.
If you go to gemm.com and use the power search, it does seem to bring up some
copies. They seem cheap.
I don't know if this link will come out:
http://www6.gemm.com/c/search.pl?sid=7946169&key=53694&filt_skip=1&search_
detailed=1&command=SEARCH&artist=Shorty+Rogers&title=The+Swinging+Mr.+Roge
rs&media=ANY&a_country_radio=ANY&a_country=&price_radio=ANY&price=&gemm_gu
arantee=0&new_date_radio=ANY&new_date=&quant_on_hand=1&condition_media=ANY
&label=&release_number=&produce_remix=&category=&seller=&source_item_ref=&
a_refno=
Short[y] link...
Simon Weil
jazztrpt
Bobby Knight
At least I know about Shorty, and George Bush...and not to post to
Usenet in HTML. Sorry I bullied you....but weak minds always cry
that.