Louie Bellson & His Jazz Orchestra

This is a band put together by a drummer and it sounds like one. It has the feel of Count Basie but a pulsating push more like that of Stan Kenton, because Bellson gives a lot of head room to his brass and sax players. And even though this is a house band for which a lot of New York musicians were handpicked, the arrangements are still complicated and full of contrasts; "Fascinating Rhythm" is full of key shifts and at one point slips into 3/4 time. Bellson has included a lot of his work with his sex­tet as well. The contrast between the muted Harry "Sweets" Edison character of trumpeter Glenn Drewes and the Ben Websterish playing of Ted Nash's tenor sax creates a beautiful tribute to the '50s when this kind of playing was in full flush.