Red Norvo

[danasgoodstuff]

https://www.discogs.com/Red-Norvo-Giants-Of-Jazz-Red-Norvo/release/6274185

 

I've been listening to this fine collection ever since buying a xylophone for my daughter for xmas (it's mostly xylophone, some vibes).  Wasn't sure whether to put this in currently listening, fav of the day/week, reissues, misc instruments, or what.  But went with Artists to open it up to general discussion of Red's whole thing...

[mjzee]

I don't really know Red's place in the firmament of jazz, but he did a lot of interesting, eclectic things.  I have some early things on this Portrait LP compilation, which includes some tracks with Mildred Bailey:

I have his trio tracks on Savoy and Prestige:

 

 

The session with Bird that's on the Complete Savoy, the Australia gig with Sinatra, and something on Charlie Parker records:

I know his discography is much larger than just the above.  His playing strikes me as happy, along the lines of Lionel Hampton.  I prefer the more soulful stylings of Milt Jackson, but Norvo is very listenable indeed.

[danasgoodstuff]

I do have a collection of the trio with Mingus, but that's vibes and I think I actually prefer him on xylophone...not that there's much difference since he played vibes with the motor off.  The early side have lots of Teddy Wilson (always a good thing) and some nice Goodman, Shaw, Harry James, Dorseys, Chu Berry, etc.

[GA Russell]

Gerry Mulligan formed his pianoless quartet because Red Norvo's group didn't use a piano, so the club didn't have it available.

[Big Beat Steve]

I really wouldn't link Red Norvo with Lionel Hampton. Both have their place, both are great, both are fantastic virtuosos, but their approaches are quite different IMO. The light touch and delicacy of Norvo's chamber music-styled "miniatures" on the one hand was unmistakeably unlike Hampton's exuberant "workouts" on the vibes. Even if you focus on the small-group sessions by Hampton and not so much on his big band recordings that really were one forerunner of R&B  there is a sense of Hampton always pushing ahead where Norvo lets things flow ahead easily. Both great, both fine, but different. Very different IMHO.

I am saying this because I tend to pick up recordings from the "golden age" by both of them in a sort of "can't go wrong" approach (so I am biased both ways). I guess I have most of his output from his "vibraphone period" of the early 40s to c.1960 and cherish it all - Keynote, Dial, Brunswick, Discovery/Savoy, Decca, Fantasy, "X"/RCA, Contemporary, Liberty, Rave, etc., and not least of all his transcriptions from his early Trio periods that have been issued through the years. And a special mention to "The Forward Look" on the Reference label (privately recorded date from 1957 isued for the first time much later and discussed elsewhere here some time ago.

As for the pre-war Norvo xylophone period, this long-OOP LP IMO is a nice introduction and has many of his key recordings from that period:

https://www.discogs.com/de/Red-Norvo-And-His-All-Stars-Original-1933-1938-Recordings/master/937056

The Hep label covered that period more in-depth in a series of CDs. Some of his not so obvious recordings from that period, however, have left me a little dizzied - at times he sounded almost like he was trying to "out-raymondscott" Raymond Scott. Though I consider myself a fan, these recordings are among those I prefer to take at smaller doses.

BTW, there is a previous thread on Red Norvo's opus here (sorry, can't insert links to previous threads in any other way, it seems - click on the "Red Norvo" header to access the thread):

 

Edited December 30, 2016 by Big Beat Steve

[Stonewall15]

A terrific Red Norvo session is when he backed-up Frank Sinatra in Australia in 1959. The session does not usually show-up in Norvo discographies.

It was released under Sinatra by Blue Note in 1997.

[Dave Garrett]

10 hours ago, Stonewall15 said:

A terrific Red Norvo session is when he backed-up Frank Sinatra in Australia in 1959. The session does not usually show-up in Norvo discographies.

It was released under Sinatra by Blue Note in 1997.

Great music, and Sinatra was at the peak of his powers then. Unfortunately the BN CD is marred by the heavy-handed use of noise reduction. The set had circulated among collectors for years in better sound quality before it was issued by BN. 

[JSngry]

Pee Townsend studied Red Norvo, look!

 

 

[mjzee]

What was that all about?  Was Red genuinely pissed, or just for fun?

[JSngry]

Schtick, apparently.

[Larry Kart]

Schtick definitely. A regular feature when Red was on the band. My guess is that he came up with it  in his vaudeville days, long before he began to do it with Benny. It fits Red's impish nature; Benny, by contrast and by reputation was not a barrel of laughs, though that only made the bit work better.

[JSngry]

Teo, otoh, found Benny to be quite the imp!

 

[mikeweil]

17 hours ago, Dave Garrett said:

Great music, and Sinatra was at the peak of his powers then. Unfortunately the BN CD is marred by the heavy-handed use of noise reduction. The set had circulated among collectors for years in better sound quality before it was issued by BN. 

... and I was wondering about the sound ...

[Peter Friedman]

8 hours ago, JSngry said:

Pee Townsend studied Red Norvo, look!

 

 

Not mentioned were the very fine solos by Zoot and Hank Jones.

[duaneiac]

In addition to Sinatra, Red Norvo's band recorded another really good album with another notable singer -- Dinah Shore.  She may not be thought of very much these days, but she was an enormously popular singer in her day and she had a feel for jazz.  Here's a track from the album:

 

And here is Red Norvo and his band as guests on her TV show back in the day:

 

[Larry Kart]

I've got  the excellent Shore-Norvo album on a Capitol two-fer, coupled with Shore's "Down Home." Do you know who the trumpeter on the Norvo date is? He's not listed in the personnel. Sounds like it might be Don Fagerquist. 

[JSngry]

DS came to the fore singing jazz, or some real close relation! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chamber_Music_Society_of_Lower_Basin_Street

[danasgoodstuff]

The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street was a big favorite of my fathers, good stuff.

On 12/30/2016 at 0:41 AM, Big Beat Steve said:

I really wouldn't link Red Norvo with Lionel Hampton. Both have their place, both are great, both are fantastic virtuosos, but their approaches are quite different IMO. The light touch and delicacy of Norvo's chamber music-styled "miniatures" on the one hand was unmistakeably unlike Hampton's exuberant "workouts" on the vibes. Even if you focus on the small-group sessions by Hampton and not so much on his big band recordings that really were one forerunner of R&B  there is a sense of Hampton always pushing ahead where Norvo lets things flow ahead easily. Both great, both fine, but different. Very different IMHO.

I am saying this because I tend to pick up recordings from the "golden age" by both of them in a sort of "can't go wrong" approach (so I am biased both ways). I guess I have most of his output from his "vibraphone period" of the early 40s to c.1960 and cherish it all - Keynote, Dial, Brunswick, Discovery/Savoy, Decca, Fantasy, "X"/RCA, Contemporary, Liberty, Rave, etc., and not least of all his transcriptions from his early Trio periods that have been issued through the years. And a special mention to "The Forward Look" on the Reference label (privately recorded date from 1957 isued for the first time much later and discussed elsewhere here some time ago.

As for the pre-war Norvo xylophone period, this long-OOP LP IMO is a nice introduction and has many of his key recordings from that period:

https://www.discogs.com/de/Red-Norvo-And-His-All-Stars-Original-1933-1938-Recordings/master/937056

The Hep label covered that period more in-depth in a series of CDs. Some of his not so obvious recordings from that period, however, have left me a little dizzied - at times he sounded almost like he was trying to "out-raymondscott" Raymond Scott. Though I consider myself a fan, these recordings are among those I prefer to take at smaller doses.

BTW, there is a previous thread on Red Norvo's opus here (sorry, can't insert links to previous threads in any other way, it seems - click on the "Red Norvo" header to access the thread):

 

Thanks!

[Dave Garrett]

On 12/31/2016 at 9:31 AM, mikeweil said:

... and I was wondering about the sound ...

This one is somewhat better (but you still shouldn't expect audiophile quality):

[kh1958]

The Forward Look (Reference Records), a live 1957 recording in excellent sound, is a good one.

[mikeweil]

Thanks for posting this issue - it seems to be out of print and goes for rather high prices. 

[Big Beat Steve]

1 hour ago, mikeweil said:

Thanks for posting this issue - it seems to be out of print and goes for rather high prices. 

Which record are you referring to exactly?

[mikeweil]

The Frank Sinatra with Norvo, Tour de Force, pictured  a few posts above, on Bravura. The Blue Note Issue can be found easily, got a rather cheap copy in December after it was mentioned in another thread. At the moment I will stick to the Blue Note issue and spend my money on other discs ...

The Forward Look, otoh, can't be had cheaply, either: on amazon.de, one copy for 32,49 € plus shipping, all other copies for 100 or more.

Two copies of the Bravura issue are for sale there, one for  EUR 26,75 and one for EUR 378,82 

[kh1958]

There are inexpensive copies of the Forward Look available on U.S. amazon.  https://www.amazon.com/Forward-Look-Red-Norvo/dp/B00000156L/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1483571297&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=Red+Norvo+forward+collection