Red Norvo has a meltdown with the Goodman band

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 24 May 2010 5:28 am

Has to be seen to be believed. Red's solo starts at about 2:50.

http://www.youtube.com/v/xQyt2n-Jh_A

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 24 May 2010 6:54 am

Mike, can you give us the back story on this? I can't find out much about it on Google. Hope b0b doesn't get any ideas after seeing this ....

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 24 May 2010 7:02 am

I'm afraid I don't know any more than what is on the clip; however, I will add that Red kept the company of guys like Goodman, Sinatra, Mingus and Buddy Rich. It had to rub off on him a little.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 24 May 2010 7:15 am

That is hysterical.

It is odd that a quick Google search yields nothing. It's better than the Buddy Rich bus tapes for my money and you would think there would be all kinds of comments.

Thanks for posting that, Mike.

Carson Leighton · Post by **Carson Leighton** » 24 May 2010 8:05 am

I'm not sure how to take that,,unless it's part of the act...He looks a bit p.o.'d though...

...

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 24 May 2010 8:21 am

From what I know about Goodman's reputation, I don't think it was part of any act. He seems po'd about something.

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 24 May 2010 10:24 am

It doesn't look like part of the act to me, looks realllllly mad about something. Piano player is getting a big kick out of it.

What a player though. Look what he (and Barney Kessel, one of my favorites) could do with this old chestnut:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3fqv6 ... 1974_music

Such great lines and barely even looks at his instrument during his solo.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 24 May 2010 12:36 pm

It looked to me like he was waving off the horn fills on the latter half of his solo and then got mad when they didn't bag 'em. Or maybe he just wanted to stretch the solo and this was their way of trying to shut him down. Whatever it was, it didn't look like an act, but you never know.

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 24 May 2010 12:40 pm

It also sounded like the vibes were not working properly. It sounded like he was getting some clunkers instead of a note. Maybe the equipment was malfunctioning.

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 24 May 2010 1:50 pm

Looks to me more like what Dave M said.

Carson Leighton · Post by **Carson Leighton** » 24 May 2010 2:03 pm

I gave it another listen,,and watched very closely...The vibes weren't putting out,,I thought they sounded dead..I think it was bothering him,,and then when the band came in,,it overpowered was he was doing and made matters worse...Right after that,,he blew his top...It's not very professional though,,and what about the people that paid to hear/see that performance...? Carson

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 24 May 2010 2:06 pm

"what about the people that paid to hear/see that performance..

They got a story they will never forget.

I'd rather see this than Keith Jarrett lecturing/scolding the audience to not take photos. Which he did see when I saw Jarrett at Carnegie Hall.

Chris Bauer · Post by **Chris Bauer** » 24 May 2010 4:34 pm

Might have been an early inspiration for Pete Townsend!

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 24 May 2010 5:00 pm

The more I think about it, the more I think it must have been bad equipment. You can see him getting frustrated and starting to bang away on a note that wasn't responding. I think perhaps he was upset because it was carnegie hall, it was being filmed, and his equipment wasn't working.

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 24 May 2010 7:36 pm

As far as I kinow the bars on a set of vibes are attached with screws. This looked like part of the show to me. You just can't lift a set of vibe bars like that off a set of vibes. Maybe I'm wrong.

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 24 May 2010 7:41 pm

Apparently on his, he could. He had hearing problems, I think he was having difficulty hearing himself over the band, so when they starting doing the fills he tried waving them down, didn't work, he started pounding on his vibes in frustration because he couldn't hear it. I can't believe pounding like that, throwing your mallets and then tearing apart and throwing pieces of your instrument would be part of the show, this wasn't a rock band and look at the crowd. It just doesn't seem like this type of band would put on a "show" of that sort.

Dave Biller · Post by **Dave Biller** » 24 May 2010 11:18 pm

I have read somewhere that this was indeed a setup like Kevin said. A shtick they had done since the 40's. It sure had me fooled. Red looks furious! Also, Kevin, there are no screws. The bars are laid loosely in their felt-lined slots, the whole row being tethered together with string to keep them in sequence. You can easily just rip 'em all off at once as Mr. Norvo so gracefully demonstrated.

Morgan Scoggins · Post by **Morgan Scoggins** » 25 May 2010 4:08 am

If this was a setup, they sure had me fooled. I saw on PBS a Ken Burns film about the history of Jazz and there was an intersting piece about Benny Goodman. The segment was called "The Ray" and it was a reference to Goodmans habit of staring down band members as they played their solos.It was very uncomfortable for a lot of them just as if you have someone watching your every move while you are completing a task.
I don't know what it is about musicians, but the most gifted of them sometimes have personality disorders. One of my favorites, Miles Davis, was legendary in his boorishness and arrrogance, but what a talent!!!

Franklin · Post by **Franklin** » 25 May 2010 4:24 am

Look closely the bars started to come apart at the beginning of his solo.....Towards the end he is banging on the loose bars of the top deck out of total frustration with the instrument...PF

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 25 May 2010 6:05 am

Before he loses his cool, he waves his left arm in a downward motion several times at the band... I don't know what else that can mean, other than bring down the level... it could be the level of the orchestra made it hard to hear the vibes, or if as suggested there was a problem with the vibes that in turn made the sound not quite up to what it should have been, causing him to try and quiet the band down.

I had the idea he was pounding on those top bars in frustration and demonstration of how hard he has to hit them to hear himself. Hard to say if that was because of a problem with the instrument, the orchestra being too loud for him, or his own problems with hearing loss.

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 25 May 2010 6:11 am

Just read about Vibes on Wikipedia. Interesting. Still seems like not that much to go wrong IMO.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 25 May 2010 6:44 am

He's royally pissed. I don't think it's part of the show. And he is banging the crap out of that thing. Get a load of the piano player trying to figure out what the hell is going wrong!

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 25 May 2010 7:15 am

I agree with you Mike.. plus, he doesn't seem to have any problem with his instrument until the horns start their fills, when he starts waving his arm at them and it all goes downhill from there. If there was a problem with his vibes, it didn't bother him until the horns came in.

Greg Vincent · Post by **Greg Vincent** » 25 May 2010 8:44 am

GOTTA be an act.

Goodman is cracking up!

Plus, the camera knows to follow the "tantrum" when Red comes back out and throws the bars onto the floor in a heap. That really suggests that it is staged.

-GV

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 25 May 2010 9:34 am

Apparently, a lot of the folks posting comments on the video know this was a staged routine. Looked real to me, so kudos to Red Norvo.

BTW, that is the recently departed Hank Jones on piano. RIP.