[Dixielandjazz] Louis Bellson Obit from the Telegraph (UK)

[Stephen G Barbone]

Here is the Louis Bellson Obit from the Telegraph (UK)
Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.barbonestreet.com
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband

Louie Bellson
Louie Bellson, who died on February 14 aged 84, was the youngest and  
last of the "great three" showman-drummers in jazz, the others being  
Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich.
He was the most diversely talented of the three and, many would argue,  
the most musically gifted. Duke Ellington pronounced him "not only the  
world's greatest drummer, but also the world's greatest musician".
In addition, he had the reputation of being almost embarrassingly  
obliging and affable. In a business not noted for such qualities, this  
aspect was regularly commented on. Tony Bennett called him "the best  
person I ever met", while Count Basie declared, "He's just so nice!  
He's a sweetheart!"
Bellson's fame rested on his dynamic big-band playing. At various  
times he sat in the driving seat behind the orchestras of Benny  
Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Duke Ellington and (briefly) Count  
Basie, not to mention several bands of his own. But he was equally at  
home with small, informal groups, where he displayed great poise and  
finesse.
Louie Bellson was born Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio  
Balassoni at Rock Falls, Illinois, on July 6 1924. His father was the  
proprietor of a music shop. He appears to have tried out every  
instrument in the store before settling on the drums, although his  
first public appearance was as a tap dancer with the boogie-woogie  
pianist Speckled Red. At the age of 16 he won a nationwide junior  
drumming contest sponsored by Gene Krupa and joined Benny Goodman's  
band two years later.
Bellson served in the US Army between 1943 and 1946, when he rejoined  
Goodman, before spending two years with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra,  
where he struck up a firm friendship with the trumpeter Charlie  
Shavers. The two left to form their own sextet in 1950. After a brief  
spell with Harry James in 1951, Bellson joined Ellington, causing a  
sensation in the jazz world.
There were two reasons for this. Firstly, his predecessor, Sonny  
Greer, who had been a fixture with Duke Ellington from the beginning,  
was still very much alive and not a little aggrieved. Secondly, not  
only was Bellson white, which upset many people's notion of the  
fitness of things, but his drumming was prominently featured. He  
certainly could not be ignored. Sonny Greer had surrounded himself  
with a famously impressive array of percussion, but even he had never  
gone to the extent of sporting twin bass drums. These were Bellson's  
own innovation, and to display their magisterial power he created his  
own solo drum feature, Skin Deep.
The most famous recorded drum solo in history, supplanting Krupa's  
1938 Sing Sing Sing feature with Goodman, Skin Deep achieved real pop  
status. It took up both sides of a 78rpm record and rose to a  
shattering climax, with both bass drums thundering away, endangering  
the loudspeakers of radiograms from Los Angeles to London. In 1952,  
long before the advent of rock-and-roll, it served as a rallying call  
for youthful anarchy and exuberance. As a kind of drum concerto, it  
was also notably well constructed, if anyone cared to notice.
In January 1953 Bellson was at the centre of another commotion, this  
time concerning his personal life, when he married the black Broadway  
star Pearl Bailey. Today the event would attract little attention, but  
they chose to get married in London because, as the bride made clear,  
they would meet with a friendlier reception at Caxton Hall,  
Westminster, than they might expect in New York.
The London papers certainly made a fuss of them. When Bellson recorded  
a session under his own name later that year, one of the tunes was  
entitled Caxton Hall Swing. Following the marriage, Louie Bellson  
spent much of his time as Pearl Bailey's musical director, writing her  
arrangements and leading her accompanying bands. He also joined the  
travelling jazz repertory company Jazz At The Philharmonic for  
occasional tours.
His complete professionalism and even temper caused him to be in  
constant demand and he was regularly called on to undertake tricky or  
high-profile jobs. He returned to Ellington for the first performance  
of the suite A Drum Is A Woman (1956) and again in 1965 for  
Ellington's first Sacred Concert, during which Bellson played a six- 
note motif to echo the syllables of the phrase "In the Beginning  
God..." He made a notable last-minute appearance on Basie's 1962  
European tour.
 From the late 1960s Bellson led his own permanent big band for about  
a decade and re-formed it occasionally thereafter. In later years he  
devoted an increasing amount of time to teaching. He also wrote  
several percussion tutors and latterly made a number of instructional  
DVDs.
Composition became an increasing passion. Along with many jazz pieces  
his work included a ballet and some sacred music. During his career he  
received many honours and awards, including one from the US National  
Endowment for the Arts.
Pearl Bailey died in August 1990. Louie Bellson's second wife,  
Francine, is a physicist and engineer who trained at MIT. She survives  
him. He had no children.


Steve Barbone

www.barbonestreet.com
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband