|
Jazz trumpeter CHRIS ROGERS has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Japan, Canada, South America & Mexico as a featured soloist with many prominent artists in Jazz and Latin music; appearing at major jazz festivals, clubs, and concert halls; and recording on numerous projects. Chris’ debut jazz recording as a leader - the critically acclaimed “VOYAGE HOME” (Art of Life Records) - received 4.5 stars from DOWNBEAT and was ranked among the "Best Albums of 2017" (DOWNBEAT Jan '18). An album of original acoustic modern jazz, It features typically transcendent 'new' performances from special guest soloist MICHAEL BRECKER, the legendary 15-time Grammy-winning tenor man who left us back in 2007. "Voyage" also features the 2-time Grammy winning saxophonist/composer Ted Nash, and Grammy nominated guitarist Steve Khan, while also showcasing Chris as trumpeter/composer/arranger/producer on all tracks. His followup-album “ECHOES OF CYDONIA” is mastered and planned for a 2025 release, and features TED NASH, BRUCE BARTH, JAY ANDERSON & STEVE JOHNS! Throughout his student years and continuing well into his professional life, Chris was mentored by three of his heroes - Randy Brecker, Mike Lawrence and Lew Soloff - world-class jazz trumpeters who also happened to be close family friends! But Chris' first major break came at the age of nineteen when he joined Gerry Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band, replacing another one of his idols - the incredible Tom Harrell - as the featured trumpeter. This gig lasted for five years and had a huge impact on Chris' development as an improvisor. (It was actually Harrell himself who made the recommendation - two years after hearing & meeting a 17-year old Chris at a local rehearsal!) In addition to Gerry Mulligan, Chris has gigged and/or recorded with The Mingus Big-Band; Chaka Khan; Buddy Rich; Bob Moses; Toshiko Akiyoshi; The Tom Harrell Big Band; Eddie Palmieri, Mel Lewis & The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra; Hilton Ruiz; Ray Barretto & New World Spirit; Frank Sinatra; Mongo Santamaria (as trumpeter AND pianist!); The Vincent Herring Band; Tom Bones Malone Sextet; Lee Konitz; Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra; Mel Torme; George Russell, Maria Schneider; Aimee Mann; Eartha Kitt; Lionel Hampton; Danny Seraphine & California Transit Authority; Marc Anthony; Mercer Ellington; Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez; Richie Beirach; The Gil Evans Jazz Orchestra; Ryan Keberley's Living Legacy Big Band; Ada Rovatti Quintet; and many more (see a comprehensive list at bottom) LATEST NEWS!!! - Chris' next album "Echoes of Cydonia" (due in 2025) Intended as a 'sequel' of sorts to 2017's "Voyage Home" -once again features saxophonist Ted Nash, bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Steve Johns, with the esteemed Bruce Barth adding his talents on piano... - Chris proudly appears onthe brand new recording by Blue Lou Marini's big band coming out in Februrary 2025! Released as a double-CD called "Out of the Blue" with an all-star cast, and Chris has three trumpet & flugelhorn solos.... - Released in 2024, Chris is featured on 3 straight-ahead modern jazz tracks by tenor saxophonist Dan Wilkins on his new album "Moon Glow" on Deer Head Records, which was also a great opportunity for Chris to record with legendary drummer & producer Bill Goodwin! - Come see Chris and the band performing the music from the new album, at the famous DEER HEAD INN on Saturday Nov 9th 2024! - Work on the documentary project "Song For Barry" continues, with a great interview from pianist/producer/arrang/bandleader Oscar Hernandez in September '24. - During the summer of 2023, Chris became the musical director of the Mike Lawrence Tribute Band, with the help and leadership of Roberta Lawrence. We revived Mike's compositions for the first time played live in 40 years! With shows at the Jazz Forum and the Hampton's Jazz Festival, we hope for more coming soon! - During the summer of 2022, Chris performed for the first time with the Vince Herring Quintet at the Deer Head Inn, was a great success! - The "Chris Rogers Band Birthday Bash" with special guest trumpeter INGRID JENSEN at New York's Triad Theatre on December 5th, 2021 was a complete success! - Also in the summer of 2021, Chris has the great honor of stepping in for Mr. Randy Brecker in tandem with saxophonist Eric Marienthal - joining guitarist Dean Brown's Summer of Love Band for concerts at the Berks Jazz Festiva! - Lisa Maxwell's "Shiny" big band album was released as a tribute to the late Lew Soloff, one of Chris Rogers' mentors, and features Chris and Blue Lou Marini soloing on the track "Hello Wayne?" Additionally a truly all-star cast including solos from another one of Chris mentors - Randy Brecker! - With a nod towards the incredible collaborations between his father Barry Rogers and the legendary Eddie Palmieri, Chris appears on the 2018 release from Eddie entitled "La Luz Mayor". Although not a featured soloist, it was still a major honor for a "Rogers" to record with a "Palmieri" for the first time in over twenty five years! Chris Rogers was born in New York City in the early sixties to a family of musicians. His father - the late trombonist Barry Rogers - was a founding member of the ground-breaking jazz-rock band “Dreams” (with the Brecker Brothers & Billy Cobham) and recorded with artists ranging from James Taylor, Elton John, Todd Rundgren, & Aretha Franklin, to Spyro Gyra, Bob James, Chaka Khan, & Don Grolnick. Barry Rogers is also widely recognized as the most influential trombone soloist in the field of Salsa & Latin-jazz through his work with Eddie Palmieri, Conjunto Libre, The Fania All-Stars, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Machito, and many others. This rich and varied musical environment had a profound effect on Chris while growing up, cultivating a love of jazz, R&B and Latin music. At age 9 Chris received his first horn as a gift from family friend Lew Soloff who was just gaining worldwide fame for his iconic trumpet solo on “Spinning Wheel” with another great band - Blood Sweat & Tears. Chris began his formal training at the Manhattan School of Music Prep Division while being exposed to all sorts of music at home. His mom Lou Rogers (a/k/a L.K. Steiner) is a brilliant composer/lyricist; his older cousin Fred Steiner was the majority composer for the original Star Trek TV series; and his maternal grandmother Toni Koves Steiner was among the world's most renowned Hungarian "cimbalom" soloists - recording and working with the likes of Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein and many of the major symphony orchestras! Chris attended the High School of Music & Art (even appearing in the film “FAME”) where he and saxophonist Bob Franceschini co-led a band with powerhouse classmates like bassist Marcus Miller, drummer Omar Hakim and guitarist Bobby Broom! It was an awesome time to be a young trumpeter in New York and Chris found himself attending many major recording sessions with his father - gaining priceless experience observing the skill and professionalism of top trumpeters like Soloff, Randy Brecker, Alan Rubin, Mike Lawrence, Joe Shepley, John D'Earth, Tom Harrell, Victor Paz and Jon Faddis. At age 15 Chris' first professional jazz gig came as 4th trumpeter for a one-week road tour of upstate New York and Canada with the Larry Elgart Orchestra. Chris quickly gained more professional experience in all sorts of musical situations, including Salsa bands; recording sessions; church gigs; brass quintets; local symphony orchestras; rehearsal big-bands and the many jazz & funk gigs which were ubiquitous in NYC. While continuing his 'legit' studies (and also cultivating a deep admiration for Ronald Romm of the Canadian Brass), Chris immersed himself in the music of Miles Davis, Clark Terry, Freddie Hubbard, Clifford Brown, Chet Baker, Tom Harrell, Woody Shaw, Mike Lawrence, and Randy Brecker. Their recordings & live gigs literally provided the curriculum for Chris during an intensive period of self-motivated study and transcribing. Pretty soon he found himself rubbing elbows with the top professionals around town - gigging with the Latin bands of Eddie and Charlie Palmieri, Machito, Ray Barretto and Louie Ramirez; rehearsing with George Russell's group and the Mingus Dynasty Band; and even nightclub sit-ins with amazing musicians such as Woody Shaw at the Village Vanguard; Lew Soloff's Quintet with Branford Marsalis at Possible 20; and the Brecker Brothers Band at their legendary nightclub Seventh Avenue South. It was during this time that he met and made an impression on the great Tom Harrell. Harrell became a good friend and later recommended Chris to succeed him on the solo chair with Gerry Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band. The ensuing association with Mulligan was not only a chance to work closely with a true Jazz legend - but also led to meeting and performing with Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry and a young Wynton Marsalis. After a brief but invaluable stint as Harrell's sub with Mel Lewis and The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, things eventually came full circle when Chris joined Tom's own big band and appeared on his Grammy-nominated CD "Times Mirror". Chris’s formal schooling came at the Manhattan School of Music (Preparatory Division, trumpet student of William F. Rohdin); the ‘famed’ LaGuardia High School of Music & Art (under the direction of the acclaimed jazz educator Justin DiCioccio); Long Island University; and the University of Miami. While a high school senior, Chris served as co-principal trumpeter in New York's prestigious All-City Orchestra; and as featured trumpet soloist in the McDonald's Tri-State All-Star Jazz Ensemble. At UM under the guidance of Whit Sidener, Chris was recognized by DOWNBEAT magazine for "outstanding perfomance", and later by JAZZIZ as a winner of the 1997 “Brass Player on Fire’ talent search for his original composition “Pandora’s Box”. He's had the distinct honor of performing at many of the world's most famous venues and festivals including: Carnegie Hall; The Perugia Jazz Festival; Grand Parade Du Jazz, The North Sea Jazz Festival, The Pori Jazz Festival, The Maderao Jazz Festival, The Kool Jazz Festival, Concerts By The Sea, The Kennedy Center, The Newport Jazz Festival, The Saratoga Jazz Festival; The Playboy Jazz Festival; The Roberto Clemente Collesium; The JVC Jazz Festival; the SS NORWAY Floating Jazz Cruise, Avery Fisher Hall and classic New York clubs such as: The Village Vanguard, The Blue Note, The Village Gate, The Bitter End, The Jazz Standard, Iridium, and Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola. An accomplished studio & classical trumpeter as well - having studied extensively with Vincent Penzarella of the New York Philharmonic - he’s recorded on many jingles, record dates & soundtracks. His Broadway-Show credits include: "Fosse", "42nd Street", Paul Simon's "Capeman”, "Kiss Me Kate”, “Annie Get Your Gun”, “Wonderful Town”, “On Your Feet” and “CATS”; and national tours of "Chess", "CATS" and "Senator Joe". He's gigged with various classical ensembles including The New Amsterdam Symphony, The Bronx Symphony, The Sassafrass Brass, The Gotham City Brass, The Broadway Brass Quintet, The Waldo Park Brass Players, The Harlem Hellfighters Ensemble, The Santa Brass Band, and the Rochester-based Empire Film Music Ensemble as principal trumpeter for the web-based fan series "Star Trek Continues". Additionally, Chris has been a music copyist for Ornette Coleman, Larry Harlow, Orchestra Broadway, Eddie Palmieri, and composer Michael Kamen. As an educator, arranger, author and documentarian, Chris Rogers keeps busy in a multitude of arenas. His work has been performed by the critically acclaimed big bands of Tom Harrell and Diane Moser. He's directed clinics & workshops at The New York Jazz Academy (NYJA), The New York Jazz Workshop (NYJW), The University of Virginia (UVA), Long Island University, The New York Brass Conference for Scholarships, The Danish Academy of Music; The NY Society for Ethical Culture, and Union College; he's conducted & adjudicated entrance auditions for the prestigious LaGuardia High School of Music & Art; and has recently been a featured guest artist/lecturer for William Patterson University's “Jazz Room” concert series. In addition to his roster of private students, his instructional articles have been previously published in "The Brass Player"; and his highly personal & detailed recollections of the late, great musicians Michael Brecker and Lew Soloff have been widely appreciated and shared on Facebook. Since 2013, Chris has kept up an active performing schedule with his own bands at NYC clubs such as the Zinc Bar, The Bitter End, The Triad Theatre, The 55 Bar, and Silvana; and as a sideman with groups including The Mingus Big Band, The Tom Bones Malone Jazz Sextet; The Vincent Herring Band; Sammy Figueroa's Latin Jazz Explosion, The Arturo O’Farrill Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Eddie Palmieri, Valery Ponomarev's “Our Father Who Art Blakey Big Band", Danny Seraphine & CTA, The Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra, Diane Moser's Composers Big Band, Gary Morgan's PanAmericana, The Eddie Allen Aggregation, Big Beat, The Red Bank Jazz Orchestra, Oscar Hernandez' Spanish Harlem Orchestra, The Chardavoine Band, Mike Longo's State of the Art Jazz Ensemble, The Andy Farber Septet, The Mambo Legends Orchestra, Funk Shui, The New York Jazzharmonic, The Scranton Jazz Festival Big Band; The Harlem Hellfighters Ensemble (in a special performance conducted by Scottish trumpet virtuoso John Wallace at the Brass Historical Society Symposium); and on recordings as the featured trumpet soloist for the popular web-series "Star Trek Continues". Finally, Chris is a part-time “multi-instrumentalist” who occasionally is called upon to perform on mellophone, alto horn, AKAI EWI (electric wind instrument), and piano. (He filled in admirably as the "emergency pianist" for two unforgettable weeks during a 1991 Mongo Santamaria tour of Europe, and is probably one of the very few to have sat-in for an impromptu piano solo with the Maestro Eddie Palmieri's band!) UPDATE!! (Jan 2018) - A very special documentary project from Chris is now in the pre-production stage, entitled "Song For Barry". Drawing it's title from the classic Michael Brecker composition of the same name, "Song For Barry" will reveal "new" never-before-seen footage & unique insider perspectives on some of the most incredible music created during the 1960's and 1970s. Featuring Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Eddie Palmieri, DREAMS, The Fania All Stars, and of course, Barry Rogers! Stay tuned... - The VOYAGE HOME CD-release party at Zinc during August 2017 was a tremendous success. Video to be posted soon... Chris Rogers comprehensive performing/recording credits: Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band The Mingus Big-Band Chaka Khan Buddy Rich Band Bob Moses Toshiko Akiyoshi / Lew Tabakin Big Band Tom Harrell Big Band Mel Lewis & The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra Hilton Ruiz Eddie Palmieri Ray Barretto & New World Spirit Frank Sinatra Mongo Santamaria (as trumpeter AND pianist!) Lee Konitz Nonet Tom Bones Malone Jazz Sextet The Vincent Herring Band Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra Mel Torme George Russell George Shearing Maria Schneider Aimee Mann Danny Seraphine & California Transit Authority Marc Anthony La India The Royal Scam Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez Richie Beirach The Gil Evans Jazz Orchestra Eartha Kitt Lionel Hampton Mercer Ellington Ismael Quintana Oscar De Leon The Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra Tonya Pinkens Orlando Marin Charlie Palmieri Christy Baron Woody Herman Band Rafael DeJesus Fuego '77 The Westchester Jazz Orchestra (WJO) Lisa Maxwell Shiny Project; Mike Longo Gary Morgan & Pan Americana Valery Ponomarev The Marty Sheller Ensemble The Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra Louis Ramirez Charanga Sensual Marcus Miller The Hitmen Diane Moser The Woody Herman Orchestra Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks Paquito D'Rivera Machito Larry Harlow Terese Geneco The Red Bank Jazz Orchestra Marc Bernstein Steve Johns/Peter Brainin Group The Eddie Allen Aggregation The Spanish Harlem Orchestra Alex Brofsky (AB+) Mike Reiss Larry Elgart Orchestra Scranton Jazz Festival Big Band Marko Marcinko Jazz Quintet & Latin Jazz Quintet Andy Farber Bobby Broom Ryan Keberley's Living Legacy Big Band Ada Rovatti Quintet Lynn Welshman Tentet Glenn Monroig Max Weinberg Jazz Quintet Max Weinberg Orchestra Alexis Cole Bobby Sanabria Jean Chardavoine Band The New York Jazzharmonic Ricardo Marrero & The Group The Chelsea Funk Orchestra The White Carrot Big Band Big Beat Frank Griffith John D'earth Band Henry Fiol Sammy Figueroa's Latin Jazz Explosion Mike Zilber Big Band Star Trek Continues (with the The Empire Film Music Ensemble) Willie Bruno The Harlem Hellfighters The Mambo Legends Orchestra Jens Wendleboe Neil Sedaka Enzo Stuarti Anna Maria Alberghetti The Four Tops The Temptations The Waldo Park Players Gotham City Brass Broadway Brass The Sassafrass Brass The New Amsterdam Symphony The Bronx Symphony La Maldad and more... |
|