Marty Ashby welcomes back drummer and jazz historian Thomas Wendt for their monthly conversation, this time focusing on Louie Bellson: Bandleader.
Bellson is often remembered first as a drum virtuoso — and rightly so — but this episode looks beyond the fireworks to his early 1950s leader dates, where his musical identity was already expanding well past the drum chair.
Across recordings from Just Jazz All-Stars, Skin Deep, Concerto for Drums, Louis Bellson & His Orchestra, and Jazz Giants of ’58, Bellson emerges as a thoughtful bandleader, composer, arranger, and ensemble architect.
It’s Bellson not simply as a featured soloist, but as the musical engine, organizer, and imagination behind the band
MCG Jazz Spotlight - Friday and Sunday at 6, Saturday at 1pm.
Louie Bellson
