1. Caravan
2. Ode to a Friend
3. The Peaceful Poet
4. Together We Rise
5. Hot
6. Hookin’ It
7. Waltzing at Denison
8. Walkin’ with Buddy
Louie Bellson - Drums
Robert Millikan, Brian O’Flaherty, Larry Lunetta, Danny Cahn, Glenn
Drewes - Trumpets
Don Mikkelsen, Hale Rood, Clinton Sharman, Keith O’Quinn - Trombones
Joe Roccisano, Don Menza, Jack Stuckey, George Opalisky, Kenny Hitchcock
- Saxophones
John Bunch - Piano
Jay Leonhart - Bass
Clark Terry - Flugelhorn (tracks 1, 8)
Louie Bellson definitely knows how to drive a big band
along, as he proved during his tenure with the Duke Ellington Orchestra,
composing and starring in such masterworks as The Hawk Talks and
Skin Deep. In this album, recorded in December 1987, he again shows
his prowess not only as drummer but also as composer and bandleader.
Bellson wrote or co-wrote four of the eight tunes here, although they
were arranged by other people. He writes tunes which are immediately
memorable, and his band plays all the numbers with precise ensemble
and section work.
Many of the players are unfamiliar names, although pianist
John Bunch is well known and tenorist Don Menza is famous for his similar
work with Buddy Rich's big band. In fact Menza takes a thrilling solo
in the rather hectic Caravan, which also features Clark Terry,
whose brilliance and unique sound on the flugelhorn enhance the first
and last tracks. Louie Bellson also takes clean-lined drum solos on
these two tracks, although he can't always get away from some of the
familiar phrases he introduced into Skin Deep back in 1951.
George Young takes a high-flying soprano sax feature
in his own composition Ode to a Friend, and the stratospheric
trumpets are featured on Together We Rise. The title-track is
a flag-waver punctuated by Bellson's precise drums. Hookin' It
has an extrovert shuffle beat but the band stays silent during John
Bunch's piano solo sp that it can be clearly heard. There is also room
for gentler ballads like The Peaceful Poet, where Don Menza shines
again.
Drummer-led bands can be overpoweringly unsubtle but
this Bellson group plays with estimable clarity and care, while still
managing to excite in the way that big bands really can. One suspects
that the stimulating presence of Louie Bellson had a lot to do with
this.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Nimbus
NI 2712
