Word: norvo
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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DIED. RED NORVO, 91, jazz's original mallet virtuoso (vibraphone, xylophone and marimba); in Santa Monica, Calif. Born Kenneth Norville, he changed his name after an emcee mispronounced it. A masterly improviser known for moody, delicate arrangements, Norvo led several experimental--and highly respected--drummerless jazz bands. He also worked with Benny Goodman and Frank Sinatra...
Sinatra has always occupied a gray area between jazz and pop. The small group setting here--vibraphonist Red Norvo's quintet plus longtime Sinatra pianist Bill Miller--frees him to the extent that on some numbers his sense of swing and invention approaches Ella Fitzgerald's joyous, ineluctable pulse (and justifies Capitol's releasing this find on its Blue Note jazz subsidiary). With I've Got You Under My Skin, Sinatra even surpasses the vocal on his famous Songs for Swingin' Lovers version, which really belongs to arranger Nelson Riddle. And as wonderful as that studio performance is, it doesn...
FRANK SINATRA: A TOUR DE FORCE (Bravura). A live bootleg recording of a 1959 concert in Melbourne, Australia, with the Red Norvo Quintet. It's not only Sinatra's generic greatness that makes this one a must. He seldom worked with small groups, and the agility of Norvo and friends really gives the Chairman room to move. And when Sinatra moves, the earth does...