Louie Bellson Louie Bellson and His Big Band

Louie Bellson, the inventor of the two bass-drum kit, is famous for his memorable participation in the big bands of Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey and Harry James. He also revitalized the Duke Ellington band, where he became known as an arranger, and toured for many years with his wife, singer Pearl Bailey. His distinguished career has led him to recordings with Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson and many other superstars. Driving the band from the drums, Louie Bellson is a leader who controls the performance and has always had the respect of the players.

While exploring contemporary sounds, Bellson keeps up the big-band tradition by leading his own orchestra, which includes 18 of the finest performers on the musical scene, creative soloists playing as a tightly knit ensemble. This is a superb live concert performance, recorded with eight cameras. The result is a great big-band performance in which Louie Bellson lends his talents as leader, time keeper, soloist, composer and arranger.

Louis Bellson leads his own orchestra in this live concert performance from Switzerland. Soloists include Randy and Michael Brecker, Lew Soloff, Tom Malone, Herb Geller, Howard Johnson and Gil Goldstein. Among the tracks Louis and his band play are: "Explosion," "Samantha," "Niles Ahead," "The Drum Squad," "Blues for Freddy," and "We've Come A Long Way Together."