Eddie Sauter (1914-81) was one of the most innovative arrangers to come up during the Swing era. In addition to his work for Artie Shaw and Tommy Dorsey, in the early 1940s he wrote some of the most radical arrangements that Benny Goodman ever recorded. His work for the Ray McKinley Orchestra later in the decade were also futuristic, he teamed up with Bill Finegan to co-lead the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra for much of the 1950s, and his arrangements for tenor-saxophonist Stan Getz in 1961 resulted in the classic Focus album. But before all of that, Sauter played mellophone and contributed arrangements to xylophonist Red Norvo’s octet in 1936 and Norvo’s big band of 1936-39 which featured singer Mildred Bailey.
Long a champion of Eddie Sauter, Loren Schoenberg (a notable educator, historian, producer, and bandleader) knew that Red Norvo had donated the arrangements of his orchestra to the library at Yale. He dug through the files and selected all of the Sauter charts that Norvo had not had the opportunity to record. Schoenberg next put together a big band comprised of 15 young players from Juilliard’s jazz program. Together with veteran Warren Wolf (normally a vibraphonist) on xylophone and singer Kate Kortum, they recorded 16 songs for So Many Memories.
While Wolf is a major vibist, he hints at Norvo (who did not switch to the vibes until 1943) on xylophone throughout many of
