The Red Norvo Trio is one of those underrated jazz bands that can get lost in the shuffle. I love everything they recorded – which unfortunately isn’t a whole lot.
Norvo had been playing jazz since the 1920s, so by 1950 I suppose by this time he was a bit of an old timer. And vibes can sometimes unfairly get a bad rap by jazz fans who need to hear horns to deliver adequate dopamine to their jazzistic nerve. So there are two strikes already against this act. Not to mix metaphors here, but Norvo found two aces to play a winning hand.
He started the trio with Mundell Howe (g) and Red Kelly (sb) but they left and he turned to two relatively unknown artists who turned out to be future deities in the pantheon of jazz.
Talmage “Tal” Farlow, only started learning guitar in 1943 and was working the night shift as a sign painter before Norvo invited him to join the trio – which turned out to be his big break.
Mingus had been playing as a sideman in the NYC scene for years with cats like Howard McGhee, Illinois Jacquet, Dinah Washington, Ivie Anderson, and Lionel Hampton – even leading a few of his own sessions. But he was far from the legendary status and fame that he would go on to earn later that decade and beyond.
This tune “Move” was here oddly credited to Miles Davis but was written by drummer Denzil Best (part of the excellent rhythm section of the George Shearing Quintet) and arranged by John Lewis.
“Move” was famously recorded by the Miles Davis Nonet in early 1949 and was released on Capitol records as a 78 rpm single. It later famously started off the seminal “Birth of the Cool” album which compiled eleven tunes from these early sessions but was not released as an LP until 1957.
The original arrangement for nonet called for tuba and french horn – and the stripped down instrumentation of a trio might at first cause some alarm. However, the trio here clips through the tune like an ice storm – driven by Mingus’ furious bop tempo – and it’s telling how immaculately cool they sound while playing so hot!
0:00 Intro
0:28 Vibe solo (Red Norvo)
1:18 guitar solo (Tal Farlow)
2:08 Outro
Recorded in Chicago on October 31, 1950.
Released as Discovery 145.
Credits:
Red Norvo – vibes
Tal Farlow – guitar
Charles Mingus – bass
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