Louie Bellson's drums fall silent: Rock Falls' favorite son dies at 84
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LOS ANGELES - Rock Falls native Louie Bellson, one of the world's most respected jazz drummers, has died of complications related to Parkinson's disease.
According to his wife, Francine, Bellson died Saturday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after breaking a hip in November, the Los Angeles Times reported.
His death marks the end of one of jazz's most fabled careers, one that overlapped with fellow greats such as Louie Armstrong, Dizzie Gillespie, Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald, to name just a few.
"He had the 'it' factor - he knew how to do it," singer Tony Bennett told the Chicago Tribune, speaking from New York. "He was [also] the best person I ever met. He was like an absolute brother to me."
As for the drummer's sense of time, Bennett described it in a single word: "perfect."
Bellson "was an extremely significant figure in jazz," noted drummer Dana Hall, music director of the Chicago Jazz Ensemble.
"He was a master technician," said Chicago drummer Paul Wertico, who heads the jazz studies department at Roosevelt University.
"He could figure out what was going on around him and play the right thing at the right time - it was all about his radar," noted the eminent New Orleans drummer John Vidacovich.
Although Bellson's career eventually took him to highs that were marked by six Grammy nominations and countless concerts in some of America's most prestigious venues, his beginnings were more humble.
Born in Rock Falls as Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni, Louie Bellson was one of eight children born of first-generation Italian parents. His father, Louis Sr., taught music for a
living.
"He knew every aria from every opera," Bellson said of his father, who worked odd jobs as an instructor proficient in "all instruments," according to a 2005 interview with the Smithsonian Institute.
Bellson was first introduced to drums at a parade with his father. He was 3, and immediately fell in love.
"When the drum section passed me by, I said, 'That's what I want to play.' My dad said my little finger pointed right at the drums. I was so definite that he started me at 3-and-a-half years old."
After several years studying under his father and later under Chicago drummer Roy Knapp (whose other famous students include Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich), Bellson was drafted to take part in a national drum competition that launched his career.
"I wasn't too interested in joining that contest," Bellson said in the interview. "I had a funny feeling about contests, because I figured it's based on your performance at that time. You could have done a lot of things prior to that, but faltered in that 3 or 4 minutes as a contestant. So I wasn't interested in joining it."
With encouragement from his father, the 17-year-old survived four rounds of competition before winning the finals in New York City.
"I gained a lot of publicity from that," Bellson said. "Down Beat [magazine] gave me a lot of coverage. Metronome magazine in those days gave me a lot of coverage. That gave me a lot of publicity, so the name was starting to bounce around."
Within months, Bellson was contacted by Ted FioRito, a "society bandleader" out of Davenport, Iowa, who offered Bellson a spot with his band before he'd even finished high school.
That soon led to Bellson's next major break. The band booked a gig at the Florentine Gardens in California, where he crossed paths with Benny Goodman's brother and band manager, Freddie Goodman.
"When Freddie heard me play, he sent a note for me to come over to the table. I did. He
said, 'How would you like to join Benny Goodman's band?' I said, 'B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-
b-b-b-b-b.'"
Bellson struggled with the offer, according to the interview, because of his allegiance to Ted FioRito, who brought Bellson out of Moline and into the West Coast music scene. In the end, however, the offer was too big to refuse.
"So he picked me up the next day in a limousine. Took me out to Paramount Studios. I heard Benny Goodman say, 'Tell the kid, put a tuxedo on. I'll see him on the set.' No audition at all."
Bellson met the singer-actress Pearl Bailey in London in 1952, and they married 2 weeks later.
"If that man looked at me the way he looks at his drums, I'd be delighted," she once quipped.
In addition to a star-studded biography that includes an American Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, Bellson left behind a virtually unrivaled legacy of one musician's kindness.
"To me, Louis is just one of the nicest guys I have every known," Count Basie once said. "His playing is absolutely on top - on top of everything! He is just so nice! He's a sweetheart. Louie Bellson is a beautiful artist."
According to the Los Angeles Times, Bellson is survived by his wife of 16 years, Francine; daughters Dee Dee Bellson and Debra Hughes; two grandchildren; two brothers and two sisters. A Los Angeles-area service is being planned, followed by a funeral and burial in Moline.
MCT News Service contributed to this article.
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