Shorty Rogers was a highly respected jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player who
became a key influence in the creation of the so-called West Coast jazz scene,
but his real talent lay as a composer/arranger. He served his musical
apprenticeship in the late 1940s and early 1950s with the likes of Woody Herman
and Stan Kenton before progressing to the more experimental, avant-garde style
of jazz alongside Texan Jimmy Giuffre, the free form jazz clarinettist and sax
player.
Rogers was influenced by the music of Count Basie and went on to form his own
ensemble, Shorty Rogers and Hi...