Red Norvo
Encyclopedia
Red Norvo was one of jazz
's early vibraphonists
, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone
, marimba
and later the vibraphone as viable jazz instruments. His major recordings included "Dance of the Octopus", "Bughouse", "Knockin' on Wood", "Congo Blues", and "Hole in the Wall".
. The story goes that he sold his pet pony to help pay for his first marimba. Norvo's career began in Chicago
with a band called "The Collegians", in 1925. He played with many other bands, including an all-marimba band on the vaudeville
circuit, and the bands of Paul Whiteman
, Benny Goodman
, Charlie Barnet
, and Woody Herman
. Norvo recorded with Mildred Bailey
(his wife), Billie Holiday
, Dinah Shore
and Frank Sinatra
, among others. Together, Red and Mildred were known as "Mr. and Mrs. Swing." He also appeared in the film Screaming Mimi (1958), playing himself and in Ocean's 11 (1960 film) backing Dean Martin
's "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?
".
In 1933 he recorded two sessions for Brunswick
under his own name. The first "Knockin' on Wood" and "Hole in the Wall" pleased Brunswick's recording director Jack Kapp
and he was booked for another session. This time, Kapp was out of town and Norvo went ahead and recorded two of the earliest, most modern pieces of chamber jazz
yet recorded: Bix Beiderbecke
's "In a Mist" and Norvo's own "Dance of the Octopus". Playing marimba
instead of xylophone in the second session, he was accompanied by Benny Goodman
in a rare performance playing a bass clarinet, Dick McDonough
on guitar and Artie Bernstein
on slap bass. Kapp was outraged when he heard the recordings and tore up Norvo's contract and threw him out. Nevertheless, this modern record remained in print all through the 1930s.
Norvo recorded 8 modern swing sides for Columbia
in 1934–1935, and 15 sides of Decca
and their short-lived Champion
label series in 1936 (strangely enough, Jack Kapp ran Decca, so they must've patched things up by then).
Starting in 1936 through 1942, Norvo formed a Swing Orchestra and recorded for ARC
first on their Brunswick
label, then Vocalion and finally Columbia
, after CBS bought out the ARC company. Featuring the brilliant arrangements of Eddie Sauter
and often featuring Mildred Bailey
as vocalist, this series of recordings were among the more sophisticated and elegant swing records of the era.
In 1938, Red Norvo and His Orchestra reached number one with their recordings of "Please Be Kind", which was number one for two weeks, and "Says My Heart", with lead vocals by Mildred Bailey, which was number one for four weeks on the pop charts, reaching number one during the week of June 18, 1938.
In June 1945, while a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet, he recorded a session for Comet records using a sextet which featured members of the Goodman group and also Charlie Parker
and Dizzy Gillespie
. He said: "Bird and Diz were dirty words for musicians of my generation. But jazz had always gone through changes and in 1945 we were in the middle of another one. Bird and Diz were saying new things in an exciting way. I had a free hand so I gambled".
In 1949, while trying to find work near home on the West Coast and running into difficulties with large groups, Norvo formed a trio with the novel combination of vibes, guitar, and bass. When the original guitarist and bassist quit (Mundell Lowe
and Red Kelly
), he brought in two previously little-known players. Tal Farlow
became one of the most important of the post-War generation of guitarists, in part because the demands of the trio led him to explore new levels of both speed and harmonic richness on the instrument. Farlow left the group in 1953 and guitarist Jimmy Raney
took his place. Charles Mingus
's prominence as a bass player increased through this group, though its reportoire did not reflect the major career he would develop as a composer. Mingus left in 1951 and Red Mitchell
replaced him. The Norvo, Farlow and Mingus trio recorded two LPs for Savoy.
In 1959 Norvo's group played concerts in Australia with Frank Sinatra; Blue Note
released these recordings in 1997. Red Norvo and his group also made several appearances on The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
in the late 1950s and early '60s.
Norvo recorded and toured throughout his career until a stroke
in the mid-1980s forced him into retirement (although he developed hearing problems long before his stroke). He died at a convalescent home in Santa Monica, California
at the age of 91.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
's early vibraphonists
Vibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone
Xylophone
The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...
, marimba
Marimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
and later the vibraphone as viable jazz instruments. His major recordings included "Dance of the Octopus", "Bughouse", "Knockin' on Wood", "Congo Blues", and "Hole in the Wall".
Career
Red Norvo was born Kenneth Norville in Beardstown, IllinoisBeardstown, Illinois
Beardstown is a city in Cass County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,123 at the 2010 census. The public schools are in Beardstown Community Unit School District 15.-Geography:Beardstown is located at...
. The story goes that he sold his pet pony to help pay for his first marimba. Norvo's career began in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
with a band called "The Collegians", in 1925. He played with many other bands, including an all-marimba band on the vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
circuit, and the bands of Paul Whiteman
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...
, Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
, Charlie Barnet
Charlie Barnet
Charles Daly Barnet was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.His major recordings were "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "Southland Shuffle".-Early life:...
, and Woody Herman
Woody Herman
Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...
. Norvo recorded with Mildred Bailey
Mildred Bailey
Mildred Bailey was a popular and influential American jazz singer during the 1930s, known as "The Rockin' Chair Lady" and "Mrs. Swing"...
(his wife), Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
, Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
and Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, among others. Together, Red and Mildred were known as "Mr. and Mrs. Swing." He also appeared in the film Screaming Mimi (1958), playing himself and in Ocean's 11 (1960 film) backing Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
's "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?
Ain't That A Kick In The Head?
Ain't That a Kick in the Head? is a song which was written in 1960 with music by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Sammy Cahn. It was first recorded on May 10, 1960 by Dean Martin, with conducting by Nelson Riddle...
".
In 1933 he recorded two sessions for Brunswick
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
under his own name. The first "Knockin' on Wood" and "Hole in the Wall" pleased Brunswick's recording director Jack Kapp
Jack Kapp
Jack Kapp was a record company executive with Brunswick Records who founded Decca Records in 1934. After his death, his brother Dave Kapp took over American Decca. Dave Kapp later founded Kapp Records, based in New York....
and he was booked for another session. This time, Kapp was out of town and Norvo went ahead and recorded two of the earliest, most modern pieces of chamber jazz
Chamber jazz
Chamber jazz is a genre of jazz based around small, acoustic-based ensembles where group interplay is important. It is influenced aesthetically by musical neoclassicism and is often influenced by classical forms of non-Western music. That stated in many cases the influence is traditional Celtic...
yet recorded: Bix Beiderbecke
Bix Beiderbecke
Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke was an American jazz cornetist, jazz pianist, and composer.With Louis Armstrong, Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s...
's "In a Mist" and Norvo's own "Dance of the Octopus". Playing marimba
Marimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
instead of xylophone in the second session, he was accompanied by Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
in a rare performance playing a bass clarinet, Dick McDonough
Dick McDonough
Dick McDonough was an influential American jazz guitarist and composer. His major recordings included "Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jibe" with the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra with Johnny Mercer, "Stage Fright" with Carl Kress, "Chasin' a Buck", "Feelin' No Pain", recorded in 1927 with Red Nichols, and...
on guitar and Artie Bernstein
Artie Bernstein
Arthur "Artie" Bernstein was an American jazz bassist.Born in Brooklyn, New York, he started his musical career playing cello on board cruise ships to South America, and also studied law at New York University. However, by 1929 he had started playing bass, and began performing in clubs around New...
on slap bass. Kapp was outraged when he heard the recordings and tore up Norvo's contract and threw him out. Nevertheless, this modern record remained in print all through the 1930s.
Norvo recorded 8 modern swing sides for Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
in 1934–1935, and 15 sides of Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
and their short-lived Champion
Champion
A champion is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition.There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, and even further divisions at one or more of these levels, as in soccer. Their champions...
label series in 1936 (strangely enough, Jack Kapp ran Decca, so they must've patched things up by then).
Starting in 1936 through 1942, Norvo formed a Swing Orchestra and recorded for ARC
American Record Corporation
ARC, the American Record Company, also referred to as American Record Corporation, or as ARC Records, was a United States based record company...
first on their Brunswick
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
label, then Vocalion and finally Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, after CBS bought out the ARC company. Featuring the brilliant arrangements of Eddie Sauter
Eddie Sauter
Edward Ernest Sauter was a composer and jazz arranger who achieved renown among musicians during the swing era.-Biography:...
and often featuring Mildred Bailey
Mildred Bailey
Mildred Bailey was a popular and influential American jazz singer during the 1930s, known as "The Rockin' Chair Lady" and "Mrs. Swing"...
as vocalist, this series of recordings were among the more sophisticated and elegant swing records of the era.
In 1938, Red Norvo and His Orchestra reached number one with their recordings of "Please Be Kind", which was number one for two weeks, and "Says My Heart", with lead vocals by Mildred Bailey, which was number one for four weeks on the pop charts, reaching number one during the week of June 18, 1938.
In June 1945, while a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet, he recorded a session for Comet records using a sextet which featured members of the Goodman group and also Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
and Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
. He said: "Bird and Diz were dirty words for musicians of my generation. But jazz had always gone through changes and in 1945 we were in the middle of another one. Bird and Diz were saying new things in an exciting way. I had a free hand so I gambled".
In 1949, while trying to find work near home on the West Coast and running into difficulties with large groups, Norvo formed a trio with the novel combination of vibes, guitar, and bass. When the original guitarist and bassist quit (Mundell Lowe
Mundell Lowe
Mundell Lowe is an American jazz guitarist.Lowe was born in Laurel, Mississippi on 21 March 1922. In the 1930s he played country music and Dixieland jazz. He later played with big bands and orchestras, and on television in New York City. In the 1960s, Lowe composed music for films and television...
and Red Kelly
Red Kelly
Leonard Patrick "Red" Kelly, CM is a retired Canadian ice hockey player in the NHL. He played on more Stanley Cup winning teams than any player who never played for the Montreal Canadiens, and is the only player to be part of two of the nine dynasties recognized by the NHL in its history...
), he brought in two previously little-known players. Tal Farlow
Tal Farlow
Talmage Holt Farlow was an American jazz guitarist. Nicknamed the "Octopus", Farlow's extremely large hands spread over the fretboard as if they were tentacles. He is considered one of the all-time great jazz guitarists. Michael G...
became one of the most important of the post-War generation of guitarists, in part because the demands of the trio led him to explore new levels of both speed and harmonic richness on the instrument. Farlow left the group in 1953 and guitarist Jimmy Raney
Jimmy Raney
Jimmy Raney was an American jazz guitarist born in Louisville, Kentucky most notable for his work from 1951–1952 and 1962–1963 with Stan Getz and for his work from 1953–1954 with the Red Norvo trio, replacing Tal Farlow. In 1954 and 1955 he won the Down Beat critics poll for guitar...
took his place. Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
's prominence as a bass player increased through this group, though its reportoire did not reflect the major career he would develop as a composer. Mingus left in 1951 and Red Mitchell
Red Mitchell
Keith Moore "Red" Mitchell Keith Moore "Red" Mitchell Keith Moore "Red" Mitchell (September 20, 1927, New York City - November 8, 1992, Salem, Oregon, was an American jazz double-bassist, composer, lyricist, and poet. He was the brother of Whitey Mitchell....
replaced him. The Norvo, Farlow and Mingus trio recorded two LPs for Savoy.
In 1959 Norvo's group played concerts in Australia with Frank Sinatra; Blue Note
Blue note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
released these recordings in 1997. Red Norvo and his group also made several appearances on The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show is an American variety series hosted by Dinah Shore, and broadcast on NBC from October 1956 to June 1963. The series was sponsored by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors and its theme song, sung by Shore, was "See the U.S.A...
in the late 1950s and early '60s.
Norvo recorded and toured throughout his career until a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
in the mid-1980s forced him into retirement (although he developed hearing problems long before his stroke). He died at a convalescent home in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
at the age of 91.