Jazz Articles about Red Norvo

About Red Norvo

Album Review

Red Norvo's The Secret Session arrives like a message in a bottle, its cork finally loosened after more than 80 years. Recorded in late 1942, in the dead of night and against the grain of wartime caution and a recording ban called by the American Federation of Musicians union, these sides capture a septet caught between eras. Besides Norvo, the band featured musicians who would go on to become stars in their own right, including trumpeter Shorty Rogers, trombonist Eddie ...

Extended Analysis

Red Norvo: Four Classic Albums

by David Rickert
March 18, 2014

Red Norvo played the vibes while leading his own band during the swing era and grew into smaller groups in the forties and fifites once the practicality of leading a large ensemble became too much. He was one of the first to specialize of what has always been somewhat of an unusual instrument for jazz, but his nimble soloing and chords provided a template for others like Milt Jackson to follow. The four sessions collected here are from his fifties ...

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Album Review

Red Norvo: The Modern Red Norvo

Read "The Modern Red Norvo" reviewed by Charlie B. Dahan

by Charlie B. Dahan
July 17, 2002

The most interesting of the initial three Savoy Jazz reissues is the Modern Red Norvo release. This long overdue collection features Norvo’s virtuostic vibraphone playing, but while he comes from the big band school (having played with Paul Whitehead orchestra), the personel that surround Norvo provide a fascinating glimpse into an artist and a music in transition. Not concerned with whether a particular artist fit his style, it is apparent that Norvo on these two sessions was ...

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Album Review

Red Norvo: Music to Listen to Red Norvo By

by AAJ Staff
May 1, 1999

In many ways it was the perfect match. Contemporary Records loved the soft sound of “chamber jazz”, and recorded it often. Woodwinds were used for a lush blanket, and many albums had an unlikely feature: a four-movement suite (Bob Cooper recorded one; Shelly Manne had two!) Red Norvo was born elsewhere, but his gentle interplay with his trios and the Jazz Pickers put him squarely in the “West Coast” sound. This is a warm breeze of an album, as Red ...