Louie Bellson
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]
Louie Bellson
Luigi Paolino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni
July 6, 1924
Rock Falls, Illinois
February 14, 2009 (aged 84)
Los Angeles, California
Musician, composer, arranger, bandleader
Drums
1931–2009
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.[4]
Drum tutoring[edit]
Bellson was known throughout his career to conduct drum and band clinics at high schools, colleges and music stores.[17]
Bellson maintained a tight schedule of clinics and performances of both big bands and small bands in colleges, clubs and concert halls. In between, he continued to record and compose, resulting in more than 100 albums and more than 300 compositions. Bellson's Telarc debut recording, Louie Bellson And His Big Band: Live From New York, was released in June 1994. He also created new drum technology for Remo, of which he was vice-president.[18]
Bellson received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 1985 at Northern Illinois University. As of 2005, among other performing activities, Bellson had visited his home town of Rock Falls, Illinois, every July for Louie Bellson Heritage Days, a weekend in his honor close to his July 6 birthday, with receptions, music clinics and other performances by Bellson.[1] At the 2004 event celebrating his 80th birthday, Bellson said, "I'm not that old; I'm 40 in this leg, and 40 in the other leg."[19] He celebrated his birthday every year at the River Music Experience in Davenport, Iowa.
Awards and honors[edit]
Bellson was voted into the Halls of Fame for Modern Drummer magazine, in 1985, and the Percussive Arts Society, in 1978. Yale University named him a Duke Ellington Fellow in 1977. He received an honorary doctorate from Northern Illinois University in 1985. He performed his original concert – Tomus I, II, III – with the Washington Civic Symphony in historic Constitution Hall in 1993. A combination of full symphony orchestra, big-band ensemble and 80-voice choir, "Tomus" was a collaboration of music by Bellson and lyrics by his late wife, Pearl Bailey. Bellson was a nine-time Grammy Award nominee.[20]
In January 1994, Bellson received the NEA Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts.[21] As one of three recipients, he was lauded by NEA chair Jane Alexander, who said, "These colossal talents have helped write the history of jazz in America."[22]
Personal life[edit]
On November 19, 1952, Bellson married American actress and singer Pearl Bailey, in London. Bellson and Bailey adopted a son, Tony, in the mid-1950s, and a daughter, Dee Dee (born April 20, 1960).[23] After Bailey's death in 1990, Bellson married Francine Wright in September 1992.[24] Wright, who had trained as a physicist and engineer at MIT,[25] became his manager. The union lasted until his death.[26] Dee Dee Bellson died on July 4, 2009, at age 49, within five months of her father.