A Long Line of Improvisation

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 798, 5 November 1954, Page 28

A Long Line of Improvisation

HE jazz world suddenly became aware of Louis Bellson after he joined Duke Ellington’s Band. But Louis had already had over a decade of experience with Tommy Dorsey and Harry James, and many years before that of playing with various small jazz combinations. So when the opportunity came he was ready. Louis’s record of "$kin Deep," broadcast recently by "Turntable" in Rhythm on Record, has prompted Terry McLeod, of Stratford, to ask for more information about him. Louis has been drumming since he was six, and he played the xylophone before that. At High School he won the Gene Krupa national drumming contest, and then joined Ted Fio Rita. After that he played with Benny Goodman until he was called up for military service in 1943. After his discharge he rejoined Goodman, and then played with Dorsey and James until 1950, when he joined Duke Ellington. The first record he made with Ellington’s band, a version of his own composition "The Hawk Talks," was a big hit. With Ellington, Louis Bellson emerged as a drummer and percussion soloist of rare power, as well as a composer and orchestrator. "Ting-a-Ling" and "Skin Deep" are two of the most successful pieces that Louis wrote for the Duke’s band. In 1952 he left Ellington and has since led bands of his own and appeared with his wife, Pearl Bailey. One of his latest pieces is "Percussionistically Speaking." For an enthusiastic opinion of Louis Bellson’s ability, we can’t do better than quote Norman Granz, his recording supervisor: "There are many ~ good drummers, a few great ones, but Bellson is in a class by himself," Granz says. "It isn’t a question of how many rim shots he can fit into two bars, nor that he can play an umpteen-stroke roll with his left hand alone. It’s a question of the manner in which he does it. A Bellson drum solo is more than a mathematical building of rudiment upon rudiment, reversing, turning inside out and rebuilding. It is a long line of improvisation built in terms of tones and sounds."