Biography
Major influences on Gene DiNovi included Teddy Wilson, Mel Powell, Ellis Larkins, and Duke Ellington. In 1943 the precocious fifteen-year-old pianist joined bandleader Henry Jerome at the moment the latter intended to transform his Hal Kemp-styled dance orchestra into a modern bop unit. DiNovi’s shift from swing to bop can be heard on recordings made with Chicago-style clarinetist Joe Marsala and with the forward-looking clarinetist and tenor saxophonist Aaron Sachs. While performing at the Three Deuces alongside guitarist Chuck Wayne in December 1947, DiNovi received an unexpected call to accompany Lester Young on what proved to be the saxophonist’s final Aladdin session; Wayne, bassist Curly Russell, and drummer Norman “Tiny” Kahn completed the quartet. The four titles cut on 29 December 1947 remain perhaps the clearest documents of DiNovi’s sound during those early years. On 9 September 1948 he sat in with Benny Goodman & His Septet, sharing the stand with Fats Navarro and Wardell Gray for a spirited reading of Fats Waller’s “Stealin’ Apples.” Steady work followed with tenor saxophonist Brew Moore and with clarinetists Buddy DeFranco and Artie Shaw; DiNovi also supplied the orchestral arrangement for bassist Chubby Jackson’s “So Wrong.” From 1950 onward he became a sought-after accompanist for popular singers. Although his appearance behind Una Mae Carlisle with the Bob Chester band carries historical interest, his subsequent associations with Peggy Lee, Tony Bennett, Thelma Carpenter, Lena Horne, Dinah Shore, and Carmen McRae reveal a musician keeping pace with changing tastes. Maintaining everyone’s artistic standards, DiNovi strengthened his connections to the entertainment industry while still contributing meaningfully to jazz’s development. At Horne’s request he prepared an arrangement of Harold Arlen’s “Out of This World,” and it was Horne who presented him to Billy Strayhorn, who in turn arranged an introduction to Duke Ellington. After becoming primarily a solo performer in the 1970s, DiNovi earned recognition as a perceptive interpreter of the Ellington/Strayhorn repertoire. In the late 1990s he inaugurated an annual seven-day birthday celebration of Ellington’s music in Toronto. Possessing both technical command and the sensitivity required for music of considerable nuance and emotional range, he has yet to receive the wider acclaim his achievements merit.
Albums
