CD1
Dancing On The Ceiling
1. Dancing On The Ceiling
2. Lover, Come Back To Me
3. I Remember You
4. Skylark
5. Good Bait
6. Strike Up The Band
7. The Spider’s Web
8. Tenderly
Red Norvo - Vibes
Tal Farlow - Guitar (tracks 3, 4, 8)
Jimmy Raney - Guitar (tracks 1, 2, 5-7)
Red Mitchell - Bass
Red Norvo In Stereo
9. I Hadn’t Anyone Till You
10. Says My Heart
11. You Leave Me Breathless
12. My Last Affair
13. Garden Of The Moon
14. They Can’t Take That Away From Me
15. Why Do I Love You
16. It’s Wonderful
17. I Was Doing All Right
18. (I’ve Been) Saving Myself For You
19. I See Your Face Before Me
20. Some Like It Hot
Red Norvo – Vibes
Don Fagerquist, Conrad Gozzo, Ollie Mitchell - Trumpet
Dick Nash, Ray Sims - Trombone
Gus Bivona, Bud Shank, Eddie Miller, Bill Perkins - Reeds
Jimmy Rowles, John Williams - Piano
Jimmy Wyble – Guitar
Red Wooten – Bass
Karl Kiffe - Drums
Helen Humes - Vocals (tracks 9, 10, 12, 14, 16-19)
Red Plays The Blues
21. Britt’s Blues
22. The Night Is Blue
CD2
Red Plays The Blues
1. Shed No Tears
2. Easy On The Eye
3. Just A Mood
4. I Sing The Blues
5. Sunrise Blues
Red Norvo – Vibes, xylophone
Don Fagerquist, Ed Leddy, Ray Linn, Don Paladino - Trumpet (tracks I/21, II/1, 4)
Ray Sims - Trombone (tracks I/21, II/1, 4)
Willie Smith, Harold Land, Chuck Gentry - Reeds (tracks I/21, II/1, 4)
Jimmy Rowles - Piano
James Wyble - Guitar (tracks I/21, II/1, 4)
Lawrence Wooten - Bass (tracks I/21, II/21-22)
Mel Lewis - Drums (tracks I/21, II/1,4)
Helen Humes – Vocals (tracks II/1, 4)
Harry Edison - Trumpet (tracks I/22, II/2, 3, 5)
Ben Webster - Tenor sax (tracks I/22, II/2, 3, 5)
Bob Carter - Bass (tracks I/22, II/2, 3, 5)
Bill Douglass – Drums (tracks I/20, II/2, 3, 5)
Music To Listen To Red Norvo By
6. Poeme
7. Red Sails
8. The Red Broom
9. Rubricity
10. Paying The Dues Blues
11. Divertimento - 1st Movement
12. Divertimento - 2nd Movement
13. Divertimento - 3rd Movement
14. Divertimento - 4th Movement
Red Norvo – Vibes
Buddy Collette - Flute
Bill Smith - Clarinet
Barney Kessel - Guitar
Red Mitchell - Bass
Shelly Manne - Drums
My favourite recordings by Red Norvo have always been his trio sessions, which
is why I was so enthusiastic when reviewing an album called Red
Norvo Trio: Complete Recordings.
In fact that album didn’t contain all the trio’s recordings but we
have to be grateful for what we can get.
This new compilation from Avid Records starts with a trio LP called Dancing On The Ceiling, recorded in 1952 and 1953 with two different
guitarists. It is full of the beautifully integrated playing and arrangements that have been the hallmark of all the trio’s recordings. As I suggested in
my previous review, all three members of the trio contribute equally and, as they are all virtuosos, the results are astonishingly good. The only
misjudgement is the sharply picked guitar at the start of Skylark and Tenderly, which hinders the necessary lyrical atmosphere.
Red Norvo In Stereo
is a 1958 album in which Red Norvo led a big band. It revisits some arrangements which Eddie Sauter wrote for the “Mr and Mrs Swing” band that Norvo formed
in the mid-thirties with his then-wife Mildred Bailey. In this new version, Mildred is replaced by Helen Humes, a singer who has little of Mildred
Bailey’s subtlety. Indeed, she often verges on raucousness. There’s no need to shout, dear! Unfortunately there are only four non-vocal tracks, and even
the best of these tend to be closer to dance music than jazz.
There is thankfully more jazz content in Red Plays The Blues, an LP from the late 1950s, especially on the four tracks by a sextet featuring
trumpeter Harry Edison and saxist Ben Webster. Ben does a nice breathy tenor solo in Easy On The Eye, and Red Norvo sounds as if he is using the
xylophone on Just A Mood. I suspect that the personnel listings have gone awry with this album, as this track sounds like the sextet rather than
the larger group, particularly as Webster again solos feelingly and the trumpeter sounds like Harry Edison.
Music To Listen To Red Norvo By, recorded in Los Angeles in 1957,
has a decidedly West Coast ambience, with Buddy Collette’s flute and
Bill Smith’s clarinet fusing with Red Norvo’s vibes in more “serious”
tracks. Smith composed the four-part Divertimento, which
might be described as Third Stream in its mixture of jazz with classical
features. The whole of this session is thoughtful and repays careful
listening.
So, a mixed bag of varied music, but worth trying at its budget price. Now some record company should reissue all Red Norvo’s trio recordings in one
package, as they really were ground-breaking.
Tony Augarde
www.augardebooks.co.uk
CD Reviews
Avid AMSC 1110
