[2] A report at the time described Rogers as "...a cornet soloist of great merit... [who] executes the most difficult passages with a degree of skill and a nicety of intonation that display a wonderful command of the instrument...".
[4] Rogers also wrote pieces for the cornet; his best-known composition is "A Soldier's Dream", which he first recorded with Sousa's band for the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1900.
[2][5] Rogers left Sousa in September 1903 to join the Victor Company (then based in Philadelphia before moving across the Delaware River to Camden, New Jersey four years later) as first cornet of the firm's studio ensembles, then directed by Arthur Pryor.
He arranged and conducted the studio band for almost all of the Victor company's recordings until 1916, for singers including Enrico Caruso, Billy Murray, and Al Jolson.
[8] On one notable occasion in 1910, when American Quartet member Steve Porter was unavailable for a recording session, Rogers substituted for him in the vocal group.
[2] Rogers left Victor for unknown reasons in the summer of 1916 to become musical director at Paroquette, a short-lived recording company set up by singer Henry Burr and banjoist Fred Van Eps.