In 1942 musicians were being drafted and the A.F.M. had closed the recording studios. Red Norvo, a musician not one to to let the union's actions stand in his way, bribed a studio engineer to give him access to his studio and, in the dead of night in late 1942 these tracks were recorded, hence the title of The Secret Session.
A small group, reminiscent of those jazz chamber music combos such as Raymond Scott, John Kirby and the Benny Goodman Sextet it sits comfortably in that musical twilight zone between swing and bop. By today's standards the rhythm is a bit rumpty-tumpty and although Rogers and Bert later made their name with Stan Kenton it had yet to rub off on them. Both solo well although Bert's tone is a bit bombastic with his solos not as cool as Rogers. Sachs' clarinet slots in nicely although his alto tends to sound a bit leaden.
Needless to say Norvo is the star of the show his xylophone playing comparable with the vibes players who were emerging at the time. As a footnote I fondly remember hearing him in Gostorth with Tal Farlow back in the 1980s. There's a gravel voiced vocal on Keep Smilin' which isn't credited but I'm guessing it's Norvo.
Piano, bass and drums are listed as probable. Whatever, they do the job.
A delightful vignette to be released on Jan. 30 as part of the Legends series. Lance
One Note Jive; Liza; Speculatin'; I May be Wrong; Keep Smilin': Rose Room; Russian Rag; Bugle Call Rag; Slender, Tender and Tall; Optical Illusion
No comments :
Post a Comment