The Swingin' Nutcracker facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Swingin' Nutcracker |
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1960 | |||
| Recorded | May 3, 17 & 26, 1960 | |||
| Studio | RCA Victor's Music Center of the World, Hollywood, CA | |||
| Genre | Jazz, Christmas | |||
| Length | 52:56 | |||
| Label | RCA Victor LPM/LSP 2110 |
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| Producer | Lee Schapiro | |||
| Shorty Rogers chronology | ||||
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The Swingin' Nutcracker is a cool 1960 album by American jazz trumpeter and arranger Shorty Rogers. This album takes famous songs from The Nutcracker ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and turns them into exciting jazz tunes. Imagine classic ballet music with a fun, swing twist!
What is "The Swingin' Nutcracker"?
This album is a special project where Shorty Rogers, a talented jazz musician, reimagined the music from The Nutcracker. The Nutcracker is a very famous ballet, especially popular during the Christmas holidays. It tells the story of a girl's Christmas Eve adventure.
Shorty Rogers took Tchaikovsky's original melodies and changed them into jazz pieces. This is called "arranging" music. He made them sound fresh and new, with a lively jazz beat. It's like taking a classic story and telling it in a totally different, modern way.
The Music: A Jazz Twist
The album features many well-known songs from The Nutcracker suite, but with new, jazzy titles. Each track is a creative adaptation of Tchaikovsky's original work. Shorty Rogers and his band brought a lot of energy and improvisation to these classic melodies.
Here are the songs on the album:
- "Like Nutty Overture (Finale)" - 5:23
- "A Nutty Marche (Marche)" - 3:28
- "Blue Reeds (Reed Flute Blues)" - 5:27
- "The Swingin' Plum Fairy (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy)" - 2:58
- "Snowball (Waltz of the Snowflakes)" - 3:03
- "Six Pak (Trépak)" - 2:44
- "Flowers of the Cats (Waltz of the Flowers)" - 3:28
- "Dance Expresso (Coffee)" - 2:55
- "Pass the Duke (Pas de Deux)" - 2:51
- "China Where? (Tea Dance)" - 2:09
- "Overture for Shorty (Overture in Miniature)" - 4:01
Meet the Musicians
To create this amazing jazz album, Shorty Rogers brought together many talented musicians. He was the conductor and arranger, guiding the whole project. The band included a full brass section with trumpets and trombones.
There were also different kinds of saxophones, flutes, and clarinets. The rhythm section, which keeps the beat, had a piano, a bass, and drums. All these instruments working together created the unique "swingin'" sound of the album.
Some of the musicians who played on the album were:
- Shorty Rogers - conductor, arranger
- Johnny Audino, Conte Candoli, Ray Triscari, Jimmy Zito - trumpet
- Harry Betts, Frank Rosolino, Kenneth Shroyer - trombone
- George Roberts - bass trombone
- Bud Shank - flute, alto saxophone
- Art Pepper - alto saxophone
- Jimmy Guiffre - clarinet
- Bill Holman, Richie Kamuca, Bill Perkins - tenor saxophone
- Chuck Gentry - baritone saxophone
- Pete Jolly, Lou Levy - piano
- Joe Mondragon - bass
- Mel Lewis - drums
