Louie Bellson as his Big Band Explosion at the Cork Jazz Festival 1980 featuring Bobby Shew playing his own composition 'Blue' as a tribute to the great trumpet player Blue Mitchell. More of this concert to follow shortly.
I saw this band in 1980 at Ronnie Scott's it was amazing. Bobby Shew made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Alan Downey was in the trumpet section.
When I played w/ Blue Mitchell he puffed his cheeks out, a la Dizzy! And everybody loves Bobby Shew, who moved back to New Mexico a decade & a half ago, I believe.
I was very fortunate to have been at this concert in the Cork Opera House.The Band were incredible! The line up was amazing with John Heard on bass, Frank Strazzeri on Piano, Arnie Lawerence on alto, Kenny Hitchcock on Tenor, I think Don Menza was also in the band. And of course Louie Bellson. An Amazing band. The Cork Jazz festival was a great festival back then. Nowadays it's "The Guinness Jazz Festival." I'm afraid it has become "How many pints can we sell," The artist line up has suffered greatly. It's very difficult to find anything resembling Jazz on that given weekend. Ah well, Happy Days..........
In the early 80's when I was about 12, Bobby came to the UK and ran a workshop with a bunch of local schools - he was truly inspirational. That evening he played in a small pub with the Southampton All Stars big band and was joined by Alan Downey and Derek Watkins - they pretty much blew the roof off the place. He played 'Blue' and watching this makes the hairs on my neck stand up as much as it did then.
I played this at a state jazz festival for school and it's a really good piece! At the climax part with the melody in the trumpet section, the judges supposedly stand up and clap, but I don't notice it until I listen to the recording afterward haha
OK, Y'all hear how beautifully and minimally the bassist anchors Shew's ballad? That is possible because he is amplifying his bass intelligently so that you can hear the sustain of his very modern set up. Geez, it's starting to sound like 1937 out there. I hope this Mr. Natural phase passes quickly into the dust bin of jazz history. Let me tell you that's also the sound many Trio pianists (My hands up here) are looking for because that kind of amplification puts the bassist on a more even Evans like footing with the pianist. Boy Shew..
Mike, is this video Something the family ( myself if you will ) can place among the many other videos, pictures, awards, etc ? I would love to include it for future viewing. Thank in advance! Sincerely, Gary
So 1980 makes sense then. I used to go see Louie's band pretty regularly around LA at the time. A few other bands as well. Many of the top LA players would do these gigs (Bobby Shew played with a few before he started his quartet). Just amazing to be able to see these guys all the time. My biggest issue was having the money to go see them.
