The pleasures of Kenneth Norville can be a tough sell to listeners weaned on the lingoes of hardbop or free jazz. Norvo’s xylophone-derived style on vibes favors the instrument’s most dulcet and mellifluous associations. No quadruple mallet dissonance a la Dickerson or Hutcherson here. No eerie, gravity-nullifying sustains either. But what’s not always appreciated is his placeholder as one of the progenitors of free jazz. “Dance of the Octopus,” waxed way back in 1933 with the spare chamber combo of guitar, bass and Benny Goodman’s bass clarinet presaged the free-interplay of Tristano’s “Intuition” by fifteen years. Taped two decades later these trio sides for Fantasy were as adventurous in their own way and an evolution of Norvo’s earlier incarnation with Charles Mingus and Tal Farlow. Bassist Red Mitchell succeeded Mingus in ’52 while Jimmy Raney joined as a replacement for an injured Farlow in ’53. Norvo recalls that formal arrangements were rarely if ever employed and that collective improvisation was the strategy on every tune. The extrasensory nature of the trio’s rapport makes the absence of charts all the more suprising. Norvo may be the nominal leader, but when the three leave the starting gate all are equals. Raney swaps lead and accompanist roles without ceding a single wrong note, his delicate strumming approximating the scuttle of a brushed snare beneath his partners’ solos. The placement of Mitchell’s rotund pizzicato is always the harmonic equivalent of a bull’s eye. His may not be as edgy and angry as Mingus’ arco stylings in the earlier unit, but the trade-off arrives in a more consistent and cohesive swing. Norvo adjusts amicably to his colleagues youthful bop proclivities, encouraging their swift interlocking runs on tracks like the mercurial “’Deed I Do,” a number that finds Raney and Mitchell in full gallop race of neck-and-neck single notes. The three are like super-intelligent laboratory rats negotiating the twisting contrapuntal mazes of each track, the figurative cheese earned through flawlessly executed circuits from start to finish. Appended to the original fifteen titles are four more commemorating Farlow’s return to the ensemble. Sweet and charming on the surface, the extrasensory interplay in abundance here could put the vast majority of harder hitting ensembles to shame.
[this ROW respectfully dedicated to Tom Djll- mallets & planks, amigo!]
Posted by derek on November 13, 2005 3:54 PMI sort of like Red Norvo's idiophone work (as opposed to metallophone) just because it's such a weird, dry sound, with none of the cloyingness vibes so often bring out. "Dance of the Octopus" is one of my favorite pre-free "out there" pieces of music, second only, perhaps, to Claude Thornhill's "Portrait of A Guinea Farm" (which anybody with ears might confuse with some early Cecil Taylor big band). Norvo, of course, was at the helm when Eddie Sauter's prank arrangment of "Smoke Dreams" was waxed -- another classic of pre-free weirdness.
I also can tolerate Norvo in the small Woody Herman groups of 1946. "Igor" and "Fan It" are killer-dillers!
Posted by: djll at November 16, 2005 11:18 AMps. I hate jazz guitar of the post-Hall era even more than I hate vibraphones.
Posted by: djll at November 16, 2005 11:21 AMWhat's the post-Hall era?
Posted by: Michael Schaumann at November 16, 2005 11:52 AMYeah, Jim's still around!
Posted by: nd at November 16, 2005 6:24 PM"Post-Hall era" means anytime after Jim Hall first stepped into a recording studio and proceeded to strip the guitar of any sound or soul. O woebegone day that was!
Posted by: djll at November 18, 2005 9:55 AMWhen would that have been? Earliest I have here is All Night Session! from Hampton Hawes which is hardly soulless, though not as essential as The Bridge or a live recording with the Giuffre 3 from Italy 61 that's now playing on my PC and that's just sublime. Wrong culprit, blame Jimmy Raney instead, this record reviewed just can't compete with the Farlow/Mingus sides.
Posted by: Lutz at November 18, 2005 11:51 AMLooks like Djll’s been swigging from the fermented prune juice bottle again :) I’m looking forward to learning what other crater-sized chunks he’d like to see excised from jazz history.
And Raney’s innocent of any soul-stealing malfeasance by my estimation. Exhibit A for the defense: A on Prestige. Exhibit B: The Stan Getz Roost sessions. And I don’t think it’s a matter of competing with the Farlow/Mingus sides, the two trios are a bit like pears and nectarines to my ears. This stuff is cleaner, more mirthful and more mathematical while the sessions with Mingus carry more of mouth-puckering bite/edge, but both have ample charms. Now fidelity-wise there’s no contest, these later sessions take that particular prize easily. But I wouldn’t want to do w/o either.
Posted by: derek at November 18, 2005 6:46 PM"Looks like Djll’s been swigging from the fermented prune juice bottle again :) I’m looking forward to learning what other crater-sized chunks he’d like to see excised from jazz history."
-Well, that would be far less embarrassing for him than to see the parts he has blatantly ignored before deciding to pass himself off as a writer.
I can't claim to be a jazz guitar fan either, but I love this trio and the one with Mingus (and Red Mitchell's 2lp duo with Hall). Red Mitchell is one of the only straight jazz bass players I try to collect completely. I have a 45 and a 10" of this trio both on red vinyl even.
A little known fact is one of Mark Dresser's earliest musical experiences was playing in rock band with Red Mitchell's son that rehearsed in Red's garage.
I feel like Mitchell was always pushing the boundaries without getting avante garde ( recordings with George Russel and Ornette not withstanding), his later work more so.
His intonation is really astonishing considering it was still the gut string era, also the subtlty of his quarter notes and that huge, relaxed and refined tone were far ahead of the standards of that era.
Any creative music bass player that overlooks Mitchell's work is really in error.
Not mention the importance of this trio in terms of improvised chamber music, I believe it predates Guiffre's work by a while, but somehow escaped the scorn Jimmy's trio recieved.
Konitz's duo w/Red "I Concentrate On You" is the absolute shit.
Posted by: Michael Schaumann at November 20, 2005 7:56 PM"Konitz's duo w/Red "I Concentrate On You" is the absolute shit."
-Hands down my favorite straight jazz lp ever. Those guys just kill it. I don't have ANY love for Cole Porter, but man!!! Should be required listening for everyone.
Every note placed in such an interesting way, they do some of Red's concept of asymetrical soloing (keeping the form but trading odd phrases, bars of 3, 5, 15, whatever). Red's harmonies and counter lines are flawless. He had a whole different set of options because he was tuning fiths by that time.
They are just so relaxed and precise. It also perfectly illustrates what i mean by him pushing things with out being "out". Both of them are huge creative innovators.
How ‘bout some love for Red’s Big Two recordings with Warne Marsh on Storyville? Killer stuff therein', though I’m not as partial to the one on Fresh Sound.
Posted by: narew ramsh at November 21, 2005 7:23 PMGreat posts, Damon (and Schau :). Oddly enough, I think a chief reason why Norvo’s trios w/ Mitchell “escaped the scorn” so to speak actually goes back to Djll’s original point about vibes. Norvo never much went for dissonance, opting instead to emphasize the dulcet side of the instrument & in so doing make a buck. And no matter what chances the trio took in their improvisations they always ended up on a melodic dime, tunes tied up in neat, if highly inventive, little bows. The other ace-in-the-hole for public approval was their penchant for songbooks stocked with standards. Giuffre’s trio never catered in that way; plus there was the crazy horn-rimmed Bley monkeying around under the piano hood, not exactly endearing to the cocktail set.
Posted by: derek at November 21, 2005 7:37 PMwow - not liking jim hall? i've heard maybe 3 or more recordings:- jim hall live!, undercurrent w/ bill evans and one other that escapes me. all of these are pure sonic gold to my ears. fantastic harmonies, sophisticated interplay. just because the soul in the music isn't being shoved down your throat doesn't mean it's not there.
sorry djll, try again. next you'll be hating bill evans for 'stripping the piano of any soul'.
BTW the jimmy giuffre/paul bley/steve swallow trio is some of the best music ever.
Posted by: scott r. looney at December 2, 2005 1:19 PMScott,
You wouldn't be trying to draw me out, would you? ;) The problem is not Bill Evans but all the people who came after him and talked as if he was God and his work somehow embodies the highest development possible on the instrument. I had an insufferable piano teacher at Berklee who fed me toxic levels of all that bullshit at every opportunity. To my ears, too many players today are over-beholden to Bill Evans. And engineers seem to have forgotten how to make the instrument sound natural on recordings.
Posted by: djll at December 2, 2005 4:41 PMI love Jim Hall! And I love Red Mitchell!
A pal of mine recently hipped me to the yet-to-be-reissued-on-CD Jimmy Giuffre album "7 Pieces" which features both Jim and Red. It's a really lovely record. Damon, if you don't have this one yet, you need it.
I like those Red Norvo cuts in small doses. Mingus really had his chops together back then.
Posted by: Reuben Radding at December 2, 2005 8:59 PM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................