Home » Jazz Musicians » Walter Norris
Walter Norris
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 27, 1931, Norris first studied piano at home with his mother, then with John Summers, a local church organist. His first professional performances were with the Howard Williams Band in and around Little Rock during his junior high and high school years. After graduating from high school, Norris played briefly with Mose Allison, then did a two-year tour in the US Air Force. After his time in the Air Force, Norris played with Jimmy Ford in Houston, Texas, then moved to Los Angeles where he became an integral part of the West Coast Jazz scene. While in Los Angeles, he played on Jack Sheldon's first album and on Ornette Coleman's first album, Something Else! The Music of Ornette Coleman (1958) for Contemporary Records.
In 1960, Norris relocated to New York City and formed a trio with guitarist Billy Bean and bassist Hal Gaylor, and the group made one album. Norris took a job at the New York City Playboy Club in 1963 and in time became the club's Director of Entertainment, remaining there until 1970. Between 1970 and 1974, Norris was a free-lance performer and taught in the New York area. In 1974, he replaced Roland Hanna in the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Band. After a tour of Scandinavia, he remained in Europe to record a duo album with double bass player George Mraz, titled Drifting.
Returning to the states, Norris joined the Charles Mingus Quintet in 1976. In the dressing room prior to a performance, according to Norris, he made the mistake of calling the temperamental Mingus "Charlie" instead of "Charles," which angered Mingus. At that moment, the stage manager entered the room and told the musicians they were needed onstage immediately, which provided a temporary escape from confrontation. Norris quit the band and accepted a job in Berlin, Germany, as pianist with the Sender Freies Berlin-Orchestra. He moved to Berlin in January 1977 and lived there from that point. He insisted that his fear of Mingus was the primary cause of the move to Europe.
n 1990, Norris signed a five-album contract with Concord Records. The resulting recordings were all significant, but especially Sunburst (with saxophonist Joe Henderson), Hues of Blues (with George Mraz), and the Live at Maybeck Recital Hall solo piano album. In 1998, without a record contract, Norris self-financed the album From Another Star, made in New York with bassist Mike Richmond, pressing 1,000 copies.
Read moreTags
Ornette Coleman: Genesis of Genius: The Contemporary Albums
by Jeff Kaliss
For many an Ornette Coleman devotee, devotion was pledged with the singular saxophonist's The Shape of Jazz to Come (Atlantic). It was recorded in May and released in November of 1959, and it's a matter of when in our life we caught up with it. For some of us, that's when we first felt liberated by jazz. That album, produced by Nesuhi Ertegun, remains a hard act to follow, even for Coleman himself. Or to precede. But “Hollywood ...
read moreWalter Norris: From Another Star
by Jorg Knobloch
Now in his late sixties, Walter Norris is one of the elder statesmen of the Jazz piano. It has been said that these don't grow older, they just become better, which is certainly true in Norris' case. From Another Star is Norris' ninth CD as a leader. Here he teams up with bassist Mike Richmond to present his best recording to date. The CD contains three standards ("Yesterday's Gardenia", “All the Things You Are" and “Tiger Rag"), six originals and ...
read moreOrnette Coleman: Something Else!!!! - The Music Of Ornette Coleman
by AAJ Staff
Here it is: Ornette's first recording, containing his most conventional compositions, one ("The Blessing") written in 1951. Even so, it came only after a long period of struggle ("...most musicians didn't take to me; they said I didn't know the changes and was out of tune.") He was an elevator operator in an L.A. department store; he'd take the elevator to the top floor and practice for hours. He was about to return to Forth Worth when Red Mitchell heard ...
read moreJazz Musician of the Day: Walter Norris
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Walter Norris' birthday today!
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 27, 1931, Norris first studied piano at home with his mother, then with John Summers, a local church organist. His first professional performances were with the Howard Williams Band in and around Little Rock during his junior high and high school years. After graduating from high school, Norris played briefly with Mose Allison, then did a two-year tour in the US Air Force. After ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Walter Norris
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Walter Norris' birthday today!
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 27, 1931, Norris first studied piano at home with his mother, then with John Summers, a local church organist. His first professional performances were with the Howard Williams Band in and around Little Rock during his junior high and high school years. After graduating from high school, Norris played briefly with Mose Allison, then did a two-year tour in the US Air Force. After ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Walter Norris
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Walter Norris' birthday today!
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 27, 1931, Norris first studied piano at home with his mother, then with John Summers, a local church organist. His first professional performances were with the Howard Williams Band in and around Little Rock during his junior high and high school years. After graduating from high school, Norris played briefly with Mose Allison, then did a two-year tour in the US Air Force. After ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Walter Norris
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Walter Norris' birthday today!
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 27, 1931, Norris first studied piano at home with his mother, then with John Summers, a local church organist. His first professional performances were with the Howard Williams Band in and around Little Rock during his junior high and high school years. After graduating from high school, Norris played briefly with Mose Allison, then did a two-year tour in the US Air Force... Read ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Walter Norris
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Walter Norris' birthday today!
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 27, 1931, Norris first studied piano at home with his mother, then with John Summers, a local church organist. His first professional performances were with the Howard Williams Band in and around Little Rock during his junior high and high school years. After graduating from high school, Norris played briefly with Mose Allison, then did a two-year tour in the US Air Force... Read ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Walter Norris
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Walter Norris' birthday today!
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 27, 1931, Norris first studied piano at home with his mother, then with John Summers, a local church organist. His first professional performances were with the Howard Williams Band in and around Little Rock during his junior high and high school years. After graduating from high school, Norris played briefly with Mose Allison, then did a two-year tour in the US Air Force... Read ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Walter Norris
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Walter Norris' birthday today! Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 27, 1931, Norris first studied piano at home with his mother, then with John Summers, a local church organist. His first professional performances were with the Howard Williams Band in and around Little Rock during his junior high and high school years. After graduating from high school, Norris played briefly with Mose Allison, then did a two-year tour in the US Air Force... Read ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Walter Norris
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Walter Norris' birthday today! Classical piano studies with John H. Summers from age four and a half until eighteen. Working professionally (`44-`50) with Howard William’s 19 piece band in Little Rock; also in \'49 with Bitsy Mullin\'s tentet. After graduating from High School, June `50, he joined Mose Allison’s Quartet but left in August `50 to serve with the U.S. Air Force in Japan and Korea. Returning from Asia, summer of `52... Read more. Place ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Walter Norris
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Walter Norris' birthday today!
Classical piano studies with John H. Summers from age four and a half until eighteen. Working professionally (`44-`50) with Howard William’s 19 piece band in Little Rock; also in \'49 with Bitsy Mullin\'s tentet. After graduating from High School, June `50, he joined Mose Allison’s Quartet but left in August `50 to serve with the U.S. Air Force in Japan and Korea. Returning from Asia, summer of `52... Read more.
Place ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Walter Norris
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Walter Norris' birthday today!
Classical piano studies with John H. Summers from age four and a half until eighteen. Working professionally (`44-`50) with Howard William’s 19 piece band in Little Rock; also in \'49 with Bitsy Mullin\'s tentet. After graduating from High School, June `50, he joined Mose Allison’s Quartet but left in August `50 to serve with the U.S. Air Force in Japan and Korea. Returning from Asia, summer of `52... Read more.
Place ...
read more
Photos
Music
Videos
Similar
Dizzy Gillespie
trumpet
Art Tatum
piano
McCoy Tyner
piano
Bud Powell
piano
Andrew Hill
piano
Gary Burton
vibraphone
Don Pullen
piano
Joe Diorio
guitar
Pharoah Sanders
saxophone, tenor
Billy Cobham
drums
Steve Swallow
bass
Marian McPartland
piano
Mulgrew Miller
piano
Ran Blake
piano
Von Freeman
saxophone, tenor
Bill Mays
piano
Walter Norris
Instrument: Piano
Born: December 27, 1931
Died: October 28, 2011
