I used to be in the business, and I had the pleasure of being Mr. Bellson's guest at a New Year's Eve party in 1972/1973. It has been a lot of years -- and, as the evening wore on, my memory of events becomes cloudier -- but I think we were at the Brown Derby in Hollywood. I recall some wise guy asking for a Buddy Rich chart, and Mr. Bellson responded by performing "You Rotten Kid" from "West Side Story" with the same arrangement used by Mr. Rich. "So there, kid!" Rest in peace, Louie.
I was at this concert and packed Louie's drums after the concert. After that, I met Louie, Pearl and Feidler in the editing room in the basement and watched the whole concert again. I was studying at Berklee at the time.
THAT'S how I remember him exactly. I remember seeing Louie at Dante's in LA so many times when I was growing up just learning drums. OK, most of the time my parents had to drive me there.....But he influenced me/my playing/my life so much. Thanks Louie. You are the greatest.
Yeah, every Thursday night at Dante's. It was a ritual. If u were a drummer, it was heaven to hear the master every week. And always happy to talk. What a nice guy. There were some weeks where he outdid even himself!
In the summer of '74, my drum teacher took me to Disneyland to see Louie at the Plaza Gardens. These same drums. Pearl was sitting in the Audience. I got to meet both. I was 16. Quite a memory.
Like the old west, if you were a fast gun, some punk was always bd mouthing and challenging you. Same with Buddy-some were always saying he couldn't play softly or with finesse. These people never heard his recordings with Tatum, Fitzgerald, Sweets, etc. Buddy could make you cry with his playing but dumb people were always yelling for a drum solo!
thanks for posting mikebuddy1, your a gent.!! lots is said about buddy's boston pops concert but heres louie going one further...playing HIS chart with the orchestra..!! and hes really on form here.!! fantastic..!!!
What i meant about outplaying Buddy Rich was comparing thier performances on the Boston Pops PBS show, i think on this one occasion Louie definatly outplayed Buddy. This was usually not the case however, thier so called drum battles on youtube, i think Buddy always came out on top. As Johnny Carson said one time how do you compare drummers when they are this good. Buddy will always be my all time favorite and the best there ever was.
Love Louie Bellson, only minor complaint I have would be in the orchestration that xylophone in my opinion would of sounded better and would of had a more authentic jazz sound played on vibraphone or glockenspiel played with medium hard rubber mallets.
While Mr. Bellson is without question one of the worlds greatest drummers, I would respectfully disagree with your statement. Louie would be the first one to tell you that he never "outplayed" Buddy Rich. Louie in his own words once stated he was no where near the drummer Buddy Rich was. However they were never competitors, just great friends who admired each others talents, and it was Louie himself who said privately and publicly many times," Buddy is by far the greatest drummer of all time".