Track Listing 1. Powder Puff 2. Pesky Serpent, The 3. Bunny 4. Pirouette 5. Morpo 6. Diablo's Dance 7. Mambo del Crow 8. Indian Club 9. Coop de Graas 10. Infinity Promenade 11. Short Stop 12. Boar-Jibu 13. Contours 14. Tale of an African Lobster 15. Chiquito Loco 16. Sweetheart of Sigmund Freud 17. Blues for Brando 18. Chino 19. Wild One, The (Hot Blood) 20. Windswept
Personnel: Shorty Rogers (trumpet); Art Pepper (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Bud Shank (alto saxophone, baritone saxophone); Herb Geller (alto saxophone); Jimmy Giuffre, Bob Cooper (tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Bill Holman, Bill Perkins (tenor saxophone); Conrad Gozzo, John Howell , Maynard Ferguson, Pete Candoli, Ray Linn (trumpet); John Graas (French horn); Milt Bernhart, Harry Betts, John Haliburton, Jimmy Knepper, Bob Enevoldsen (trombone); Gene Englund (tuba); Hampton Hawes, Marty Paich, Russ Freeman (piano); Shelly Manne (drums).
Liner Note Author: Todd Selbert.
Recording information: RCA Studios, Hollywood, CA (01/12/1953-??/??/1954).
This double LP offers listeners a strong introduction to the trumpet playing and arrangements of Shorty Rogers, but unfortunately it has gone out of print and was the first and last in its series. The 32 selections feature six different groups headed by Rogers during 1953-1954, ranging from an octet to a big band; all of the bands feature sidemen who essentially formed a who's who of West Coast jazz. Among the other soloists are altoist Art Pepper; tenors Bill Holman, Bill Perkins, Zoot Sims, Bob Cooper, and Jimmy Giuffre; trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison; pianist Hampton Hawes; and altoists Herb Geller and Bud Shank. The majority of the selections are Rogers originals; there is music from the Marlon Brando film The Wild One and a Count Basie tribute set. Swinging and surprisingly fiery "cool jazz" that deserves to be reissued on CD in full. ~ Scott Yanow
