Louie Bellson Interview With Jon Hammond HammondCast

by: Jon Hammond

Usage: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International

Topics: Louie Bellson, Jazz Drummer, Band Leader, Double Bass Drums, Johnny Hodges, Pearl Bailey, Educator, HammondCast, CBS Radio, KYOU, KYCY, Jon Hammond

Language: English

Louie Bellson Interview With Jon Hammond HammondCast on CBS KYOU / KYCY Radio - August 2003, he appeared at Jazz Club Nouveau in San Francisco with tenor saxophonist Don Menza -

Louie Bellson's Wiki:

Birth name	Luigi Paolino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni
Born	July 6, 1924 Rock Falls, Illinois
Died	February 14, 2009 (aged 84) Los Angeles, California
Genres	Jazz, big band, swing
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, arranger, bandleader
Instrument(s)	Drums
Years active	1931–2009
Labels	Roulette, Concord, Pablo, Musicmasters

Louie Bellson (born Luigi Paolino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni, July 6, 1924 – February 14, 2009), often seen in sources as Louis Bellson, although he himself preferred the spelling Louie, was an American jazz drummer. He was a composer, arranger, bandleader, and jazz educator, and is credited with pioneering the use of two bass drums.[1]

Bellson performed in most of the major capitals around the world. Bellson and his wife, actress and singer Pearl Bailey[2] (married from 1952 until Bailey's death in 1990), had the second highest number of appearances at the White House (only Bob Hope had more).

Bellson was a vice president at Remo, a drum company.[3] He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1985

Bellson was born in Rock Falls, Illinois, in 1924, where his father owned a music store. He started playing drums at three years of age. While still a young child, Bellson's father moved the family and music store to Moline, Illinois.[5] At 15, he pioneered using two bass drums at the same time, a technique he invented in his high school art class.[6] At age 17, he triumphed over 40,000 drummers to win the Slingerland National Gene Krupa contest.[7]

After graduating from Moline High School in 1942, he worked with big bands throughout the 1940s, with Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, and Duke Ellington. In 1952, he married jazz singer Pearl Bailey. During the 1950s, he played with the Dorsey Brothers, Jazz at the Philharmonic, acted as Bailey's music director, and recorded as a leader for Norgran Records and Verve Records.[8]

Over the years, his sidemen included Ray Brown, Pete and Conte Candoli, Chuck Findley, John Heard, Roger Ingram, Don Menza, Blue Mitchell, Larry Novak, Nat Pierce, Frank Rosolino, Bobby Shew, Clark Terry, and Snooky Young.

In an interview in 2005 with Jazz /wiki/Chiaroscuro_Records" rel="nofollow" style="background-image: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #795cb2; text-decoration: none;" title="Chiaroscuro Records">Chiaroscuro)

1995 Live at Concord Summer Festival (Concord Jazz)

1996 Their Time Was the Greatest (Concord Jazz)

1997 Air Bellson (Concord Jazz)

1998 The Art of Chart (Concord Jazz)[28]