Jimmy Rogers

For this slightly unusual LP Shorty Rogers and Andre Previn split the arranging chores in a somewhat competitive fashion. Rogers arranges a standard and then that is followed by a Previn original based on the same chord structure. This procedure is followed until the halfway point of the date when they reverse roles. As performed by a nonet featuring Rogers' trumpet, Previn's piano, altoist Bud Shank, Bob Cooper on tenor, baritonist Jimmy Giuffre, trombonist Milt Bernhart and a rhythm section, the result is a dead heat with some fine swinging solos on tunes (and variations) of such songs as "It's DeLovely," "You Stepped Out Of A Dream" and "You Do Something To Me."

The impressive debut! After touring for years with the likes of Jimmy Dawkins, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith and the Legendary Blues Band, and Jimmy Rogers, Nick put his own band together, and in 1998 released First Offense, a collection of songs deeply rooted in the Chicago tradition, yet showing remarkable variety and stylistic skill. A mixture of Classic '50s era Chicago blues, Texas Blues, and some West Coast jump. Guitar & vocals are featured, with guest Lynwood Slim on harmonica. This CD pays tribute to various stylists such as Jimmy Rogers, Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, Roscoe Gordon, Bill Jennings and Howlin' Wolf, to name a few.

With the recent loss of Detroit Jr. it becomes more acutely aware than ever that the piano blues is a dying art form. There's only a handful of old timers keeping the tradition alive such as Pinetop Perkins, Big Joe Duskin, Henry Gray and Ernest Lane. Barrelhouse Chuck represents one of the few younger generation pianists (he's 48) and has been well schooled in the art as he demonstrates on the fabulous "Slowdown Sundown."
Chuck has paid his dues the time honored way by apprenticing with piano masters such as Sunnyland Slim, Pinetop Perkins, Lafayette Leake and Little Brother Montgomery. Chuck spent 10 years studying with Sunnyland who he calls "the great-granddaddy of all the blues piano players." He also formed a special bond with piano legend Little Brother Montgomery. He honed his craft working and recording with a who's who of Chicago legends like Louis Myers, Jimmy Rogers, Jimmy Dawkins, Billy Boy Arnold, Detroit Jr. and Big Smokey Smothers and many, many others. Along the way Chuck has released several fine recordings under his own name such as 1999's fine "Salute To Sunnyland Slim" and 2002's strong "Prescription For The Blues." "Slowdown Sundown", on his own Viola label, finds Chuck in peak form playing both solo and with an all-star cast of Chicago bluesmen…..

Shorty Rogers - Courts The Count (1954) {2014 Japan Jazz Collection 1000 Columbia-RCA Series SICP 4272}
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© 1954, 2014 RCA / Sony Music Japan | SICP 4272 | Mono
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Trumpet

Reissue with latest remastering. Comes with liner notes. Shorty Rogers courts Count Basie – but he does so in a way that's definitely all his own! The material may have Basie roots, but the overall execution is Shorty at his early 50s best – in a way that makes the album one of his strongest for RCA at the time – and that's saying a heck of a lot, given the great run of records! The lineup is filled with well-chosen players who fall together wonderfully under Shorty's leadership – Buck Clayton, Pete Candoli, and Harry Edison on trumpets – and reed work from Jimmy Giuffre, Bob Cooper, and Bud Shank. The set swings with all the power of the Basie band, yet has all the wonderful arrangements we love from Rogers – and titles include "Basie Eyes", "Doggin Around", "Jump For Me", "Over & Out", and "Walk, Don't Run".

Shorty Rogers and Gerry Mulligan - Modern Sounds (1953) {Capitol Japan TOCJ-6887 rel 2007}
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© 1951-53, 2007 Capitol Records / Toshiba EMI Japan | TOCJ-6887
Jazz / Cool Jazz / West Coast Jazz / Saxophone / Trumpet

If bebop was ‘hot’, then with perfect timing Newton's third law of motion – that every action has an equal and opposite reaction -kicked in with emergence of ‘cool’ jazz at the end of the 1940s with a series of recordings under the auspices of Miles Davis that became known as the Birth of the Cool. Using six instruments in three groups each an octave apart – trumpet and trombone, alto and baritone saxes, French horn and tuba – plus piano, bass and drums, produced a unique sound in jazz.

The Blues Masters series, much to Rhino`s credit, adopts an expansive definition of blues, allowing the likes of Count Basie, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Muddy Waters and even Louis Prima admission. There is none of the purist`s quibbling over strict 12-bar form or the relative significance of prewar and postwar styles.
What Rhino delivers instead is the blues in all its myriad guises. This music is old and new, black and white, acoustic and electric, folksy and jazzy, performed by women and men, and yet it is all still blues at its core.

Controversial, misunderstood, and underappreciated, Jimmy Giuffre was an unlikely candidate to break as much ground as he did in the art of free improvisation. A swing orchestra veteran, Giuffre made his name as part of the West Coast school of cool jazz, but his restless creative spirit drove him to push the boundaries of texture, dynamic shading, counterpoint, and improvisational freedom in surprisingly avant-garde ways, despite maintaining a cool, cerebral exterior…