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.
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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.
Discography
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)
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