When I say the name “Chuck Norris,” who do you think of?  OK, OK, I get it!  Your thoughts no doubt immediately turn to the martial arts practitioner and action film actor who is known primarily because of his role playing “Sergeant Cordell Walker” in the long-running CBS series entitled Walker Texas Ranger.  By golly, there wasn’t an individual or assemblage of numerous men who could take down the goateed, highly masculine, tough-as-nails, erudite, and extremely virile law man.  He was the walking, talking embodiment of what it means to be a male.  Period.  Uh, if so tough a bloke, why did Norris also hawk Era Laundry Detergent and Red Baron Pizza on television, as well as single-handedly defeating entire nations with one hand tied behind his lethal weapon appendages?  I guess that even a dangerous man has to eat.

But, no, that isn’t the Chuck Norris who is the subject of this week’s artist profile.  If the name Chuck Norris isn’t familiar but to all but a very few ardent blues fans, I am in no way surprised.  But I will do all I can in this brief outline of his life and career to rectify what I consider an unfortunate wrong.

Chuck Norris, in addition to recording some phenomenal tracks under his own name, also was an integral cog on the recordings of numerous of the artists who were foundation in blues and rhythm-and-blues.  Though Norris’ profession was substantially based upon acting as an in demand recording session specialist, oftentimes with the great Maxwell Davis, the notable saxophonist, bandleader, arranger, and producer, his work on countless records on labels as illustrious as Aladdin, Modern Records, Specialty Records, and Imperial, among others belies the fact that he was a formidable artist worthy of a musical career as eminent of any of the big names he supported. 

Who did Norris work with?  How about this very partial list, but please note the significance of the artists.  Little Willie Littlefield.  Amos Milburn.  Charles Brown And His Smarties.  Pete Johnson.  Jesse Belvin.  Floyd Dixon’s Trio.  Roy Hawkins.  Lionel Hampton And His Hamp Tones.  Calvin Boze And His All Stars.  Dinah Washington.  Ray Agee And the Richard Brown Orchestra.  The Robins.  And on and on I could go.

With all these dynamic and “name” artists always desirous of Norris’ broad skill sets, I again wonder why his relative obscurity remains intact.  After all, Norris played wonderous guitar complete with velvety, jazz- infused solos, ones that were always spot-on for taste, economy, and adding the idyllic touches on whatever project he found himself involved within.  Though Norris only had fewer than 25 titles released under his name. his sophisticated yet scorching guitar stands alongside others who are far better known.  Something just seems amiss.

Charles Eldridge Norris came into the world in early August, 1921 in the blues and jazz fertile Kansas City, Missouri, though he was raised from roughly the age of five in the equally musically important metropolis of Chicago, Illinois.  The reason for this move was that Norris’ mother was having difficult time of it in Kansas City, and with his father being more stable and located in Chicago, it was thought he would be able to do better there.

Interestingly, Norris didn’t take up music of any form until about the age of 17, while he was in high school, when he started playing the cumbersome tuba in the school’s marching band.  However, Norris found the instrument hard to physically manage, and the whole choreographed routine of a marching band problematic to commit to memory.  I’ve even seen where Norris is quoted as indicating that dedicating himself to a good shine on his band uniform’s shoes was also just too much for him.

Nonetheless, an interest in music remained for the young Norris, so he decided to try his hand at the guitar.  Norris’ first guitar, like many blues and jazz players, was found in a pawn shop.  As his high school band teacher knew absolutely nothing about the guitar and how to go about teaching its intricacies, Norris made the trip into downtown Chicago and enrolled in the Chicago School Of Music, being assigned to a man by the name of Arthur Pick to teach him the particulars of playing the guitar.

Now, Norris did have some things working in his favor, as he already new how to read bass clef charts from his days playing the tuba.  But with the guitar, he would need to learn the treble chart.  As he progressed in his downtown guitar studies, Norris was able to acquire an electric guitar, and this was said to have gotten himself some level of notoriety in his high school, as he was the first student to own one, though it was a kit model that he had to assemble.

By this time, Norris was listening to the recordings of esteemed guitarists such as Charlie Christian, the American jazz and swing giant, and he became part of a three-piece band dedicated to the marimba sound, that form of calming and relaxing background music.  Norris was the guitarist, and the small assemblage included a bassist and drummer, as well.  Together, the outfit played for varied school events.

One point that is very important to realize is that, in his Chicago high school, Norris was surrounded by some eventual formidable musicians.  That lot included tenor saxophone titan Eugene Ammons, Eugene Wright, the amazing jazz bassist who started out playing cornet in high school, and stride and boogie woogie piano great Dorothy Donegan, among others.

After high school, with his interest in music as a career still at the forefront, Norris joined the musicians union, and it placed him in jobs with a greatly varying lot of artists.  Of course, these exposures provided the still-developing Norris with invaluable music educational opportunities.  He played with music craftsmen such as Eddie South, the otherworldly jazz violin player, Stuff Smith, he too a violinist in the jazz genre, and Oscar Pettiford, the legendary jazz double bass specialist.  All during this formative period, Norris made valuable alliances within the musicians union, and at a young age he became a first-call backing guitarist for many acts that came to Chicago to ply their musical trades.

Time was flying by for the young Norris with his guitar studies, both formally as a student at the aforementioned Chicago School Of Music and via the bandstand.  He was being taught by his teacher Arthur Pick to play the guitar using his fingers, but yet on-stage he often utilized a guitar pick when performing in the various venues when he backed others.  As previously indicated, he was a Charlie Christian devotee, and he liked the heavy metrical sound he could achieve with a pick.  Norris felt that if playing with a pick was allowing him to be able to earn money backing others then it was the style he would adopt.  Interestingly, the abovementioned Pettiford saw great value in Norris’ rhythmic picking manner of playing, and that tremendously bolstered Norris’ confidence.

As the WW II years rolled around, Norris, who miraculously was not drafted, continued to play music in Chicago in the evenings while he took different jobs to support his marriage.  However, his nuptials eventually dissolved, and in the middle portion of the 1940s he made the decision to make a major geographic move westward to another large city, Los Angeles.

As any blues fan understands, the west coast was alive with jump blues and R&B in the 1940s, a real hotspot for these musical styles.  And with his excellent guitar skill set, Norris decidedly found a large contingent of bands in need of a guitarist with exemplary aptitudes.  The groups that were everywhere in Los Angeles were largely formed in the duality of the sterling blues that came out of the deep central Southern U.S., primarily that found in the fertile Texas scene, fused with certain elements of big band music; it was more sophisticated than raw and down-and-dirty. 

This amazingly popular form of music permeating the west coast caused a challenge to Norris.  He had always been, as indicated earlier, a fan of the Charlie Christian school of guitar playing, but in the new, wildly popular California musical styles, he was confronted with the reality that he would need to make adjustments to his playing approach to be more in line with certain blues structure sensibilities.

Not only was Norris wanted and valued for his “live” performing with different bands, but because of his high level of playing and the word-of-mouth that there was this guy who rose above the rest, he began to get the calls from the big west coast labels of-the-day to be utilized during recording sessions.

No less than the very important Modern Records imprint and its renowned owner Jules Bihari strove to have Norris provide his ideal combination of guitar skills to his recording stable of artists.  However, as Norris found, much of this work demanded that he play in a blues vein, one, again, that was distinctly different from his early jazz efforts.

Admittedly, while developing his guitar skills in Chicago, though he was in the city where the blues was a hugely impactful and popular music, Norris did not frequent the joints where the blues was being played due to his allegiance to a more jazz-oriented approach.  But Norris would also go on to admit that when the records came out on the west coast upon which he was a session musician, once he heard his guitar contributions coming back at him over the radio or out of a juke box, he was then all-in on the blues and R&B styles.

Norris also certainly struggled early on when performing “live” when he toured with various blues and R&B artists, though the miles on the road and the opportunities to see and learn from various blues and R&B stars afforded him yet another “school” from which to hone his innate musical gifts.  For example, being able to witness someone such as blues guitar giant T-Bone Walker opened his eyes to a whole array of guitar intricacies he could then use to further build his base of musical knowledge.

It seemed to happen in a whirlwind, but soon Norris was making waves with the biggest of the big of the stars in quick order.  No less than B.B. King and Pee Wee Crayton were taking notice of his vast guitar playing skills, one wanting to learn from him (B.B.) and Crayton wanting him to join him, thinking that collectively they could rule the blues and R&B landscape.  Norris declined Crayton’s overtures, but in hindsight, he witnessed Crayton’s meteoric rise and must’ve wondered “what if.”  B.B.’s interest came when Norris was touring with the fine blues piano man Floyd Dixon.

In the late 1940s, Norris aligned himself with the great piano playing west coast crooner Charles Brown and his group The Smarties.  This led to touring with Brown, who not long before this had left his legendary band The Three Blazers. 

It was also during this time that the normally supporting studio musician Norris first recorded his own songs for a variety of west coast and other labels including Mercury, Atlantic, Modern Records, and Imperial, among others.  He even scored a minor hit with “Money’s Getting Cheaper.”

Norris continued to do some touring with Brown during this period, and also had a stint on the road with Jimmy Witherspoon.

During the 1950s, Norris had taken the initiative to found his own band, the Chuck Norris Trio, a group that was very popular in the San Francisco and Oakland areas.  This created quite a challenge for Norris and his crew, as being based in Los Angeles, it was an extremely arduous road trip up the coast to the Bay area. 

But also during this time, Norris was continuing to tour with Floyd Dixon, yet here, too, the drives to shows were often gruelingly long, but Norris was very loyal to Dixon, so he endured the often hundreds of numbing miles between shows.  But finding himself with Dixon in New York City, Norris had the opportunity to provide his guitar skills on a session with Dixon for the powerhouse east coast Atlantic label’s subsidiary Cat.  Norris was introduced to the celebrated co-owner of Atlantic, Ahmet Ertegun, who saw the high value of Norris’ talents and convinced him to record a couple of tunes under his own name. 

So very impressed was Ertegun with Norris that he did all he could to try to convince Norris to stay in New York City and continue to work with Atlantic.  Ertegun made bold overtures that he would do all he could to make Norris a star via his own strong merits.  However, feeling his unwavering loyalty to Dixon, Norris turned down Ertegun’s advances, and continued to tour with the piano man.

When not touring with Dixon in the late 1950s, Norris continued to do elite session work with various notable individuals and groups.  He played on the seminal “Only You” by The Platters, and not long after was when he was signed to Mercury.  But Norris continued his road work as the main guitar cog with artists as diverse as Little Willie Littlefield, Mickey Champion, and Jimmy “T-99” Nelson.  His strong musicality always kept him working.

For Norris, it continued to be a steady procession of working in the studios backing countless artists, for labels mentioned previously, plus others such as Class, and being a frequent presence in various capacities at the famed Dolphin’s Of Hollywood record store, a spot that did so much for west coast blues and R&B, one located in Los Angeles, an establishment that operated a full 24 hours daily.  And still, in the evenings, Norris could be found in the clubs, offering his stellar guitar work to whoever needed the best-of-the-best behind them.  Such continued to be Norris’ reputation.

John Dolphin, the owner of the record store, also recorded various blues and R&B musicians, and yet again there was Norris in the middle of that scene.  With Dolphin, he would record with differing artists. 

As the 1950s melted into the 1960s, it was the same story, as the major record labels wouldn’t get behind a musician unless they already had an established and familiar name with the buying public.  Despite Norris appearing on so very many records with others over the years, him getting his own songs recorded and released in sufficient quantities to become a known musical factor was next to impossible.

Norris did a session with the superb piano man Jay McShann for Capitol in the 1960s, and despite efforts to get his work noticed by Capitol, it too was to no avail.  So, Norris continued to do session work, virtually every month, and support others in the evening in the clubs.  Norris’ professional routine continued.

Norris did support the astounding blues and R&B singer Percy Mayfield on session work during the 1960s, and even, if one can believe it, cut a song for an adult movie with Bumps Blackwell, a bandleader, producer, and songwriter who had worked with stars such as Little Richard, Ray Charles, Lloyd Price, and Sam Cooke, among many others.  Norris has indicated that he made good money from the job, though it was not his only movie music work, as he found himself also in demand for that type of opportunity from time-to-time.

Norris remained on the west coast, and while he wasn’t getting rich playing blues and R&B, he was able to grind out a living, even with his lofty reputation as a top-flight guitar player.  He was able to keep his family fed and housed.  He continued a schedule over the course of his later years that saw him playing an average of six nights weekly in the clubs, often with up to six separate bands.  He was playing jump blues and R&B with the famous Roy Milton & The Solid Senders, again both blues and R&B with The Johnny Otis Show, jazz with Red Callender and his trio, along with a whole host of other groups.

In 1982, Stockholm Records released the “live” outing entitled The Los Angeles Flash, a nine-selection offering where Norris is joined by a mix of Swedish musicians, one that covers songs by Pee Wee Crayton, Memphis Slim, Band ill Doggett, but also includes Norris’ own tunes.

Prolific as Norris was as a guitar stylist, and as in demand as he was for session work and touring, Norris remains to this day virtually unknown to many.  Hopefully this profile assists in some small measure rights that wrong.  Norris touched so many blues and R&B songs and artists; his impact was and is profound.

My goodness, the blues and jazz scenes are strewn with amazingly talented musicians whose high-level work graced the recordings and performances of others, but unfortunately whose own recorded legacies and remembrances are scant, at best.  These were and are extremely proficient artists who each played on dozens, if not hundreds, of work by others, only they forever toil in unlit backgrounds.  Regarding guitarists, names such as Teddy Bunn, Lefty Bates, Lee Jackson, and William Lacey, among many others are members of this club.  Hopefully, this short writing on Chuck Norris at least brings an affiliate of the guild of relative guitar unknowns out of the dark and into the light.

Norris passed away in late August, 1989 in Tustin, California, a city in the greater Los Angele area.

For those interested in Norris’ work, there is no better place to start than the terrific collections below:

• Chuck Norris and Various Artists – Right Hand Man – Volume 1 – 1946/1955 – Koko Mojo Records (KM-CD 212) – CD
• Chuck Norris – The Complete 1947 To 1953 Recordings – West Coast Guitar – CRJO label (CJROCD 105) – CD
• Chuck Norris – “The Los Angeles Flash” – Stockholm Records (RJ-201) – LP