Shorty Rogers - Portrait of Shorty '1958

Tracks list

"This Portrait of Shorty is an unfinished portrait, of course, but no less
pleasing because of it. Rogers called his big band The Giants, which is entirely
appropriate, as he himself was widely recognized as one of the giants of the
socalled West Coast school of cool Jazz that was born in the early 50s and
flourished for the next decade and beyond. While Portrait, recorded in 1957,
gives a pretty fair representation of Shortys skills as bigband composer /
arranger, it cant compete with most of his other recordings of the period such
as Short Stops, Shorty Courts the Count or The Wizard of Oz. Still, as with
anything Rogers devised, theres plenty of cleverly contoured music to
appreciate. And it must be said that no other trumpeter ever sounded exactly
like Shorty, who had a lively and swinging language all his own. His voicings
for the trumpet section were similarly unexampled, and made any Rogers
arrangement almost immediately identifiable. He favored brief solos and seldom
allowed space for more than a chorus, even by such renowned sidemen as Herb
Geller, Richie Kamuca, Bill Holman, Jack Montrose, Pepper Adams, Sweets Edison,
Conte Candoli, Frank Rosolino, Bob Enevoldsen or Lou Levy, all of whom appear on
Portrait. Still, everything works, thanks to Shortys remarkable charts and the
uncanny ability of his colleagues to speak volumes in only a few phrases. Rogers
withdrew into the Hollywood studios in the early 60s and didnt reappear until
1983, when he and old friend Bud Shank recorded Yesterday, Today and Forever for
Concord Records. Shorty and the Lighthouse AllStars then regrouped for a couple
of wellreceived albums before his death in November 1994 at age 70. Shorty
Rogers was a true original, as one can readily hear on Portrait, which is
recommended for its many virtues and in spite of its modest 41minute playing
time."

Jack Bowers
www.allaboutjazz

Tracklist:
1.01 - Shorty Rogers And His Giants - Saturnian Sleigh Ride (3:49) 
1.02 - Shorty Rogers And His Giants - Martian's Lullaby (7:16) 
1.03 - Shorty Rogers And His Giants - The Line Backer (4:13) 
1.04 - Shorty Rogers And His Giants - Grand Slam (4:57) 
1.05 - Shorty Rogers And His Giants - Play! Boy (5:44) 
1.06 - Shorty Rogers And His Giants - A Geophysical Ear (3:47) 
1.07 - Shorty Rogers And His Giants - Red Dog Play (4:47) 
1.08 - Shorty Rogers And His Giants - Bluezies (6:34)

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