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Louie Bellson & His Jazz Orchestra (with special guest Clark Terry): Hot
Louie Bellson & His Jazz Orchestra (with special guest Clark Terry): Hot
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Louie Bellson never ceases to amaze me. Not simply on the basis of his talent, though that in itself would be cause enough; nor for his adaptability, since at any given moment he may be leading a West Coast band, or a New York ensemble, or heading up a small group in Chicago, or touring with his wife of 35 years, the no less versatile and gifted Pearl Bailey. No, it's Louie's enthusiasm, the freshness of his outlook, the undimmed brightness of his disposition, that I find most remarkable of all. After all, he has been on the road most of the time since the early 1940s, and sooner or later, in many traveling musicians, a law of diminishing fervor tends to take over. In his case, though, talking about some new addition to the personnel or the latest composition and arrangement, he displays a concern that is reflected vividly in his performance, and in the attitude he manages to inculcate among his sidemen.
This has been said before, by me and many others, yet it needs to be reiterated: any Louie Bellson orchestra, simply on the strength of its leader's personality and popularity, starts with a built-in advantage. Along with the enthusiasm I mentioned earlier, Louie conveys a sense of humility and a lack of ego that have proved endearing to everyone who has been fortunate enough to work with him. To paraphrase an old remark made by Will Rogers: I never heard a Bellson album I didn't like. And Bellson heading for the 1990s displays the same contagious verve that marked his work in those great Ellington days when he was the hottest young drummer on the scene.
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