Liberty Records • Jazz in Hollywood Series (XII)

Red Norvo • In Hi-Fi

Vibe-Rations

✤Liberty (LJH 6012)✤

That Red Norvo now wears a beard (which makes him look somewhat like one of Saul Steinberg's cats) has nothing whatever to do with his having been born Kenneth Norville about forty-seven years ago in Beardstown, Illinois, but it is symbolic of his standing as one of the evergreen geniuses of jazz; Red was in Chicago in the late twenties when Eddie Condon and that bunch were, and although it was difficult for him to wheel his instrument, then the xylophone (Red says "zillaphone"), to the sessions at which they drank bad gin and played much music that was probably almost as bad but sounded great partly because it was fresh and exciting (and partly 

because of the gin), he nevertheless won the respect of all, even that of the staid Goodman, who later hired him when he was between combinations of his own; and at the risk of challenging the Times' Gilbert Millstein's title of World's Longest-Opening-Paragraph Writer, I must add that Red continued to grow and grow until the kids who play progressive began to pay strict awestruck attention to his work on the vibes (which replaced the "zillaphone"), a continuing homage which he has acknowledged by uttering the beard. 

Few other musicians can make that claim, let alone that transition. 

⁂

I don't want to talk about the music except to say that it is strikingly representative of the personality of its creator: I am no musician, and it speaks for itself, swinging with lightness of touch beautifully fitting for the profound and humorous imagination that conceives it. I have spent the happiest times I've ever had with jazz listening to Red Norvo play, and I have had some of the happiest times I've ever had with another human being listening to Red Norvo talk. I want to talk about Red the human being: 

In the summer of 1956 when I was in Hollywood on some magazine jobs, I went to hear him (Norvo) every night I could make it at Ken Brown's place in Santa Monica. I would sit there marveling as he played "Rhee! Oh Rhee!" (my favorite) and the rest, and between sets we would sit around and talk about the days seven or eight years ago when he was playing at the Embers in New York and after hours hd and I and Eddie Condon would go to a Chinese restaurant where the proprietor would bring us a teapot full of what Condon always called "slant-eyed whisky". After the playing and reminiscing were over – I'm talking about the Hollywood visit again – Red and I would go out somewhere and eat. One night I noticed that he was strangely quite. I didn't want to ask what was wrong. He is sometimes shy, I thought this was one of his shy nights, and he couldn't bring himself to say much (in that Embers period, he often thought of more to say than some of us felt was necessary; but he had not yet gone on the wagon, then) We ate, said good night, and he went over to his house in Santa Monica and I went back to my hotel. The next evening he apologized. He said, "I'm sorry for being so quiet last night. We had to take our little boy to the hospital yesterday. It was sort of serious. I started to tell you about it but then I knew you'd worry and I didn't want to spoil your evening".

That is one side of him. Adjectives may now be filled in at random, and all the noble one will do.

⁂

That's Red. Here, on these selections, is the man's music. He has augmented his trio with Jack Montrose, who plays tenor, second flute and clarinet; Bob Drasnin, first flute: Bill Kosinski, English horn; and Bill Douglass, drums. Eugene Wright plays bass, and Bill Dillard, who was burned to death a few weeks after these sides were recorded, is the guitarist and composer, with Red, of "Rhee! Oh Rhee!" and "Porsche". 

Like everything else about Norvo, they are remarkable, and it is my great pleasure to commend them to everyone who loves jazz. *Richard Gehman (liner notes)*

On Vibe-Rations, Red's associates are the late Bill Dillard, guitar; Jack Montrose, tenor, clarinet, flute; Robert Drasnin, flute; Bill Kosinski, English horn; Gene Wright, bass; Bill Douglass, drums. The rhythm section has the rare combination of pulsating sureness and a light, ensemble-conscious, fluid, knitted sound. Dillard's loss was obviously a great one. He plays here with impressive warmth, ideas, and time. Red himself is, as always, youthfully imaginative and a marvelously relaxed master of the vibes. At 47, he remains a musician who transcends stylistic lines. His contributions to jazz have been many and major. He is the best and the most personal soloist on the date. Montrose blows good, vigorous tenor, Drasnin's flute is skilled but lacks funk. Kosinski makes his assignments. Chief liability of the set are the anemic arrangements, most bloodless in the rather wispy ensemble sound, and the rather routine nature of the ensemble figures. The date would have been more successful either as a straight blowing session or with more challenging frameworks. Anyway, it's worth owning for Red, the rhythm section, and Dillard. Good, pointed notes by Dick Gehman, and fine sound. *Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, December 12, 1956)*

Side 1

1 - Sweet Georgia Brown

(Bernie, Pinkard, Casey)

2 - It Could Happen To You

(Burke, Van Heussen)

3 - All This And Heaven Too

(DeLange, Van Heusen)

4 - Fascinatin' Rhythm

(G. and I. Gershwin)

Side 2

5 - Rhee! Oh! Rhee

(Dillard, Norvo)

6 - Get Out Of Town

(Cole Porter)

7 - Ship Without A Sail

(Rodgers, Hart)

8 - Porsche

(Dillard, Norvo)

Red Norvo (vibes), Jack Montrose (tenor sax, clarinet, flute), Robert Drasnin (flute),

Bill Kosinski (English horn), Bill Dillard (guitar), Gene Wright (bass), Bill Douglass (drums).

Recorded in Hollywood, California, May 21 [#1 to #4, #6, #7] and May 28 [#5, #8], 1956