Shorty Rogers

Artist: Shorty Rogers

LP: Gospel Mission

Song: "Joshua's Saxes"

[ listen ]

Here's one of my favorite records I found in Bellingham when I was there for the turn of the New Year just over four months ago. According to his page on Wikipedia, after performing with the likes of Stan Kenton and Woody Herman, Shorty Rogers hung up his trumpet (and probably his flugelhorn too) in the early 1960s and stopped playing jazz, while he focused on composing and arranging instead (he contributed music to episodes of "Starsky and Hutch" in the show's 4th season). Shorty's "Gospel Mission" LP was released in June of 1963, so it was likely one of his last before a long break (thankfully, he returned to performing in the early 1980s). There's a terrific four-part interview from 1983 with Les Tomkins here, where you'll learn everything you've ever wanted to know about Shorty Rogers but were afraid to ask.

[ Shorty Rogers: April 14, 1924 — November 7, 1994 ]