The Three Little Bops - who played the music?

My son and i were grooving to Friz Freleng's way cool Three Little Bops this evening (we hadda watch it twice!). The credits mention Shorty Rogers for the musical credit, but who else played on that short?

 

Was that the Looney Tunes thing with the Three Little Pigs?

 

Stan Freeberg was in there. It's on the Looney Tunes DVD Box II, disc 4 has both the original track, vocals isolated and commentary by Jerry Beck. He mentions that Carl Stalling didn't get credit for the music (even though you can hear him and the production team in it) but skips over which "contemporary band" did the music on purpose.

 

Shorty Rogers and his band were the ones who played the music in that cartoon if I remember correctly.

 

Yeah, but who else? I found Art Pepper played with Shorty Rogers, but I donno about this one.

 

Just mono I assume?

 

Well, it sounds great on the soundtrack of the cartoon (and the cartoon itself looks WONDERFUL)!!!!

 

Also on the same collection....

 

I shot an email to Jerry Beck - perhaps he knows (as Paul Harvey would say) THE REST......OF THE STORY!!!

 

What year was that short made? I can look on some of my Shorty Rogers albums and see who the suspects might have been.

Shorty would be on trumpet/flugelhorn. Anyone in his group would be some of the west coast regulars. Pete Jolly *may* be on piano, although it's hard to tell--Jolly played on most of Shorty's RCA recordings in the 50s.

I remember asking this same question about a decade ago, probably in one of Compuserve's jazz forums, and if I recall, someone *did* tell me who played on it. But that's all lost to time now...

 

I've watched that cartoon several times since I purchased the DVD box set. It's great!

 

1957 would be the year it was unleashed. You mean to tell me you don't have the waaaaaaay cool set #2 of classic Warner Brothers animation yet? Brother, add it to your list of New Year's Resolutions to snag a copy!!!

 

My son asks to see "The Pigs" every now and then, and I know exactly what he means...

 

I have it, but have only watched the Road Runner disc so far. But, I've had it for years on Laserdisc (Looney Tunes Curtain Calls). I don't remember if I ever saw before 1992, when the LD came out, but it was actually that cartoon that made me get into Shorty Rogers' music.

I've just e-mailed Bud Shank...I'll see if he might know, as he played on some of Shorty's albums from around that era. A few guesses: again, Pete Jolly could be our piano. Joe Mondragon may be on bass. Drums could be Mel Lewis or Shelly Mann, both having played with Rogers around this time. During this era, Shorty had his Orchestra, but utilized his smaller Giants combo within the orchestra setting. Thing is, Three Little Bops does not credit the Giants, which makes it confusing. And all of this could be thrown out the window if for some reason, union affiliations could determine who worked on a film soundtrack.

BTW, this 2-CD set has "Three Little Bops" on it...

 

Jerry B. is checking with someone who might possibly know - when I get a reply I'll be sure to post...

 

Watch those toons - it's nice to see A Corny Concerto clean and bright, and I Love to Singa is nutty fun ("I love ta singa, about the moon-a and the June-a and the spring-a")...

 

I haven't heard anything back yet.

"I wish my brother George was here."

 

Perhaps I'd best pester JB again...

 

Jerry B. emailed back and refeered me to Daniel Goldmark, a toon music luvver. Daniel relayed that Shelly Manne is the likely culprit manning the sticks, and probably Pete Jolly is tickling the 88's. This info came from a book about Friz Freleng that came out maybe 10 years ago. Daniel also mentioned that the next time he spoke to Greg Ford he'd confirm all of the players involved...

 

About the same as what I guessed...in fact, I can't think of any other piano player with Shorty's bands in that era. And Shelly's the Manne.