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Word: norvo (lookup in dictionary) (lookup stats)
Dates: during 1939-1939
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Usage:

...kind of speakeasy--swing-easies"--behind sound proof doors? "Joe sent me"--furtive men carrying hot choruses around in black satchels--"Yeah, the straight stuff's here--Norvo, Basie, they're all beatin' it out downstairs"--black trucks being hijacked for rare records--raids on dives where Louis Armstrong is tearing "Dinah" to shreds? We'll probably all end up playing Mickey Mouse piano with Shep Fields...

Author: By Michael Levin, | Title: Swing | 3/10/1939 | See Source »

...That wouldn't be an advertisement, would it? The first side is uniformly bad, sounding something like one of Ray Scott's compositions. The second, done in boogie-woogie tempo is better, but shows that Teddy Wilson can't play this style . . . To find why many musicians like Red Norvo's band, listen to "I Get Along Without You Very. Well" (Vocation) . . . Teddy Wilson's "More Than You Know" (Brunswick) with Billie Holiday vocal and Benny Carter alto sax has that proper feeling that goes into a real swing record . . . Made three days before she started to sing regularly with...

Author: By Michael Levin, | Title: Swing | 3/3/1939 | See Source »

...Basic a good scare . . The second of the Goodman bands to leave the mother organization (Harry James' being the first) is Teddy Wilson's bunch, scheduled to start in late March . . . The height of something is that Doctor Randall, formerly professor of medicine at Columbia University, is joining Red Norvo's band at the Raymor to take over the clarinet chair...

Author: By Michael Levin, | Title: Swing | 3/3/1939 | See Source »

...regard to the above that I find Red Norvo's band to rank with Jimmy Dorsey and Bob Crosby as the best white band in the country. Norvo himself is superb, plays delicate expressive solos that cut right through you while at the same time managing to yield fine swing. The band itself has that colored lag, playing just behind the beat, that is so essential to good swing, while at the same time playing with a precision that few colored bands ever reach. Ray Noonan (trombone), Stewy McKay (tenor sax), and Buddy Christian (drums) all contribute to the fine...

Author: By Michael Levin, | Title: Swing | 2/24/1939 | See Source »

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