Rogers Stelljes

2005 double-disc collection features Kenny's solo work as a Country Pop hit-maker including #1 hits 'Lucille' and 'Coward of the County' as well as coveted B-sides and album tracks. Also features notable collaborations with other country stars such as Sheena Easton, Kim Carnes and Dottie West.

There certainly has been no shortage of Kenny Rogers compilations over the years – some might even say there's been a surplus – all covering essentially the same territory, mixing up his solo hits from the late '70s and early '80s with cuts from the late '60s when he fronted the First Edition. Hip-O's 2004 collection 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection uses that same approach, but it's better than nearly all of the collections currently on the market since it contains nearly all the big hits – "Lady," "She Believes in Me," "You Decorated My Life," "The Gambler," "Lucille," "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town," "Ruben James," "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Is In)" – on an affordable single disc.

A northern California-based blues guitarist, Roy Rogers works firmly out of a Delta blues acoustic style and is particularly good with a slide. A member of John Lee Hooker's '80s Coast to Coast Band, Rogers produced and played on Hooker's Grammy-winning comeback album, The Healer, and its follow-up, Mr. Lucky. During the early '70s, Rogers played with a variety of Bay Area bar bands. In 1976, he and harpist David Burgin recorded A Foot in the Door, which was released on Waterhouse Records. For the next few years, he played in various bands before he formed his own, the Delta Rhythm Kings, in 1980.

Avid Jazz here presents four classic Shorty Rogers albums including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered double CD. "The Big Shorty Rogers Express" (1956) - here we find the famed arranger and trumpeter Shorty Rogers moving away from the small group format and into the big band field. Shorty and his fellow musicians Art Pepper, Bud Shank, Jimmy Giuffre, Marty Paich to name but a few, bring a fresh West Coast spirit to the traditional big band swing ethic!
"Shorty Rogers & His Giants" 1953 - Shorty is once again joined by many fine players including Milt Bernhart on trombone, Hampton Hawes on piano, John Grass on French horn alongside stalwarts Art Pepper, Jimmy Giuffre, and Shelly Manne for a combination of swing and small group numbers…

Grammy Award-nominated singer and songwriter Maggie Rogers will be releasing a 16-track retrospective project titled Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011 – 2016 on December 18 via her own record label Debay Sounds via Caroline.

This LP has one of trumpeter Shorty Rogers' finest small group sessions of the 1950's. Rogers, Jimmy Giuffre (on clarinet, tenor and baritone), pianist Pete Jolly, bassist Curtis Counce and drummer Shelly Manne are the epitome of cool on a well-rounded and consistently interesting set. Highlights including "Isn't It Romantic," "Trickleydidlier," "Not Really The Blues" and Rogers' "hit" "Martians Go Home."

Rogers re-emerged after a long layoff with a 1972 album for Leon Russell's Shelter label called Gold Tailed Bird. It wasn't the equivalent of his immortal Chess stuff, but the Shelter sides, here in their entirety, are pretty decent themselves (and no wonder, with the Aces, Freddy King, and reliable Chicago pianist Bob Riedy all involved). A few extra numbers not on the original Shelter LP make this 18-song set even more solid.

Mavis Rivers meets Shorty Rogers - and the result is a hell of a swinging session that may well be the greatest record ever from this overlooked vocalist! Shorty brings a groove into play right from the start - one that pushes Rivers past her sometimes-trilling style, and into a mode that's rock-solid and soulful all the way through - very much in the same spirit that Marty Paich or Oliver Nelson might bring to their own great arrangements for a singer. Mavis has this way of keeping up with the groove while still being really expressive, especially in her vocal range - in that way that was the rising challenge of the 60s that only a handful of vocalists could do this well - very hip, mod, and adult.