Norvo, Red

▪ 2000

Kenneth Norville 

      American jazz musician and swing bandleader (b. March 31, 1908, Beardstown, Ill.—d. April 6, 1999, Santa Monica, Calif.), was a pioneer of mallet instruments in jazz, becoming the only great jazz xylophone player in the 1930s, when he led a popular dance band that featured his wife, the great jazz singer Mildred Bailey; the pair were billed as Mr. and Mrs. Swing. He then became one of the three great jazz players of vibes (also called vibraphone and, as Norvo insisted, vibraharp), creating a bubbling, staccato, melodic style first with swing bands and then with his innovative “chamber jazz” groups. As a youngster Norvo was introduced to jazz on Illinois River showboats. He played marimba and xylophone in dance bands and vaudeville during the 1920s, studied briefly at the University of Missouri and the University of Detroit, and played in Paul Whiteman's orchestra before recording his innovative 1933 works “Dance of the Octopus” and “In a Mist,” with radical harmonies, rhythms, and instrumentation (xylophone, bass clarinet, guitar, bass). Bailey hits, notably “Rockin' Chair,” were featured by Norvo's swing band, which was also distinguished by Norvo's xylophone soloing and Eddie Sauter's adventurous arranging. After switching to vibes, Norvo was among the first bandleaders to record with bebop greats Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, in a 1945 session that included the near-classic “Congo Blues” and “Slam Slam Blues.” Norvo toured with the Benny Goodman and Woody Herman bands in the mid-1940s and spent the early '50s with the singular Red Norvo Trio, which initially featured Tal Farlow on guitar, Charles Mingus on bass, and Norvo on vibes. The group played intricate yet light-textured jazz and enjoyed national nightclub success. Norvo went on to lead groups primarily in California and Las Vegas, Nev., and recurrently, for two decades, his combos accompanied Frank Sinatra, with whom he toured Australia in 1959. A rare artist who moved effortlessly from early jazz to swing to bop, Norvo continued performing until he suffered a stroke in the 1980s.

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