Louie Bellson
Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni ( born July 6, 1924 in Rock Falls, Illinois, † February 14, 2009 in Los Angeles, California ) was an American jazz drummer, composer and arranger, best known under the name Louie Bellson. According to Richard Cook, he was the last of the great swing drummer.
Life and work
The son of a music store owner he already learned early on various instruments. Under drums enough he received from Roy Knapp, who was also a teacher of Gene Krupa. He became friends with Krupa, Dave Tough and Buddy Rich. In 1940 he won a percussion competition under the auspices of Krupa, which meant that he was still a teenager member of the band by Ted Fio Rito was in 1941, where he discovered Benny Goodman. Between 1943 and 1951 he played for such jazz greats as Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and Harry James. In 1952, he moved to Duke Ellington, for whom he wrote the pieces Skin Deep and The Hawk Talks. In 1952 he married Pearl Bailey and left the Duke Ellington Orchestra, in order for it to work as the musical director. With smaller and larger formations he established himself as one of the successful bandleader of American jazz; in his groups played musicians such as Bobby Shew, Don Menza, Blue Mitchell, Joe Pass, Larry Coryell and George Duvivier. In the late 1950s and the 1960s, he also appeared with Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Count Basie and Jazz at the Philharmonic, and again with Harry James and Duke Ellington. He played in 1956, Ellington's album A Drum is a Woman, but in 1965 the Sacred Concert. He also worked in the orchestra of the Saturday Night Show and Gesangssstars like Sarah Vaughan, James Brown and Frank Sinatra.
He also worked as a studio musician on numerous records with, among other things, some recordings of Ella Fitzgerald. In the 1970s, he often played in a trio with Oscar Peterson and Niels -Henning Danish bassist Ørsted Pedersen. 1987 Louie Bellson occurred in the series of the ARD Super Drumming, which was moderated by Pete York. He stood there for interviews.
In his nearly 60 year career Bellson played a more than 200 albums and wrote about a thousand compositions and arrangements. Among them were works of classical orchestra and percussion ensemble. Since the early 1970s he was on his drum Stylistics drummer to the next generations, among others, Marvin Smitty Smith. He died on 14 February 2009 at the age of 84 years in Los Angeles.
Achievements
Mid-40s, he began two 25 - or use 26- inch bass drums in his kit, and thus is considered the inventor of the double bass drum technique. He made a name for himself as a big band drummer and leader, but is equally in demand as a drummer for small bands and companion for singers and pianists like Count Basie, Art Tatum or Oscar Peterson and appreciated. On the occasion of the celebration of his eightieth birthday joked the double bass drum pioneer: "I'm not that old; I am 40 named in this leg and 40 in the other leg. "Charly Antolini Louie Bellson as his role model.
Auswahldiskographie
Lexigraphic entries
- Richard Cook Jazz Encyclopedia London: Penguin 2007
- Wolf Kampmann Reclams Jazz Encyclopedia Stuttgart: Reclam 2003