It's not Red's fault. Few did more for jazz than mallet instrument pioneer Red Norvo. Yet one would never guess the scope of his achievements from reading jazz writers or listening to jazz radio stations. Long before he died, the jazz world wrote off Mr. Norvo. Now for a few days, it will pay tribute to someone it spent decades ignoring.

Only a few early pioneers of jazz remained with us in the 1990s. But Mr. Norvo was the one everybody forgot. I was always delighted to see the others receive honorary degrees at Harvard, tribute concerts at Lincoln Center, awards or grants, or have their names emblazoned in sidewalk stars. But in the back of my mind, I wondered, "Why not Red?"

And why not? One struggles to find a reason for this particular "Red" scare. Perhaps Norvo's efforts were diffused over too much ground, from traditional to modern, hot to cool, making it difficult for the jazz world to fit him into a neat and memorable pigeonhole. Or perhaps Mr. Norvo's curse was his devotion to the unwieldy mallet instruments -- the xylophone, the marimba, the vibraphone -- which have always been at the periphery, never the center, of jazz styles and revolutions. One hopes that the fact that Mr. Norvo was white did not play a factor in this neglect. (Yet one suspects that cultural institutions seeking to honor early pioneers of jazz rarely think to put red-haired caucasians at the top of their list.) Probably all of these contributed, in varying degrees, to Mr. Norvo's low profile during the last three decades of his life. No matter what stereotypical image of a jazz musician you had stored in your head, Red Norvo was likely to violate one or more of its parameters.

But who did more than Mr. Norvo to define the popular and jazz musical styles of our century? One could hold a jazz trivia contest, covering all styles and eras, and every answer would be "Red Norvo."

Let's try it. Here is the quiz:

1) This legendary player and his wife were known as Mr. & Mrs. Swing. Their hits from the pre-war years included "Rockin' Chair,'' "Please Be Kind,'' "Says My Heart'' and "Have You Forgotten So Soon?" Who was he?

2) Name the jazz musician who enjoyed a 20-year association with Frank Sinatra, appeared with the Rat Pack in the movie "Ocean's Eleven" and backed up the Chairman of the Board on his legendary 1959 Australian tour that resulted in a live recording that many devotees believe to be the best neglected classic in Sinatra's oeuvre?

3) Almost at the start of the bebop era, this bandleader recorded several sides in June 1945 with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, which introduced many to the exciting new modern style that was soon to transform the jazz world. Who was he?

4) Can you identify this founding father of jazz, who played with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in the 1920s? He heard, and was influenced by, Bix Beiderbecke, and one of his early recordings features an exceptional version of Beiderbecke's impressionistic composition "In a Mist."

5) A Pioneer of West Coast jazz, this player formed a memorable Los Angeles trio with Charles Mingus and Tal Farlow at the start of the 1950s, which ranks among the best jazz combos of the decade. Can you name this important bandleader?

6) No one did more than this figure to establish mallet instruments as legitimate jazz voices. His early work featured the xylophone and marimba, while after 1942 he concentrated on the vibraharp. Who was he?

7) A close associate with the early Chicago jazz players, he performed with Eddie Condon, Gene Krupa, Wingy Manone, Bud Freeman and others. The finicky Condon praised him as the best on his instrument. What was his name?

8) A major figure from the big band era, he played in Woody Herman's First Herd and was an important sideman with Benny Goodman. Who was he?

9) Virtually all of the notable female singers of the era performed or recorded with him, from the great (Billie Holiday) to the merely famous (Dinah Shore). In fact, his wife, Mildred Bailey, was recently featured on a U.S. postage stamp series devoted to great singers. What was his name?

10) With his sextet, octet and big band he created a style of chamber jazz that still impresses listeners over a half century later with its memorable recordings, such as "Dance of the Octopus" and his performances featuring the arrangements of Eddie Sauter. Name this major bandleader.

The answer to all of the above questions is the same: Red Norvo. It is hard to believe that one man could have done so much, been so many places, left so many important legacies. Yet Mr. Norvo somehow crammed several careers into just one.

But no biography tells his life story. No movie is in the works. Mr. Norvo's recordings are either unavailable or found on obscure labels from remote places. One can safely predict that the jazz magazines will run short tributes next month, and then file them away.

But, Red, don't feel bad about these half-hearted eulogies. In the jazz world, only one type of testimonial really matters. The recordings tell no lies, and yours stand up with the best of them. In the vinyl grooves -- or, as we say today, in the digital data hidden on the polycarbonate disks -- your legacy will go round and round forever.
salon.com | April 10, 1999

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