Duke Ellington once described Louie Bellson not only as the world's greatest drummer, but the world's greatest musician. Bellson died last Saturday at his Los Angeles home. He was 84. Born Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni in Rock Falls, Illinois, he started to play the drums at age 3. As a teenager, he won the Gene Krupa talent contest and soon joined the big bands of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and Harry James. In the 50s, he was a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

Bellson wrote over 1.000 songs and is considered to be the first to use two bass drums simultaneously. He married singer Pearl Bailey in 1952 and they were together until Bailey's death in 1990. Bellson played behind the greatest musicians of the last century, among them Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, and Lionel Hampton. He also toured with the famous Jazz at the Philharmonic and up to his death, was known for being a tireless educator and for giving clinics to students. Among his many recordings are classics on Verve, Pablo, and Concord Records. His last recording in 2007 was a joint collaboration with Clark Terry on the Percussion Power label called Louie & Clark Expedition, Vol. 2 where they worked with a 17-piece big band.

Among Flight 3407 which crashed last week shortly before landing at the Buffalo airport in New York, were two band members of jazz great Chuck Mangione. Gerry Niewood played saxophone and flute and Coleman Mellett played guitar in Mangione's band which was scheduled to perform last Friday with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra at the Kleinhans Music Hall. Mangione, who postponed the concert in a statement, said: "I'm in shock over the horrible, heartbreaking tragedy of the crash of Flight 3407, which took the lives of my dear friends and band members. I am grieving and praying with their families and friends."

Gerry Niewood played on Mangione's very first record when the saxophonist was only 14 years old and he played with everyone from Patti Austin to Simon & Garfunkel to Grover Washington, Jr. Mellett released a solo album in 2007 called Natural High.

I was very fortunate to see Blossom Dearie a couple of times live in person at the now defunct Danny's Skylight Room in Midtown Manhattan. I simply couldn't believe that, although well into her 70s, she still had this unusually enchanting high-pitched voice and that she could swing like hell. Thanks to her longtime friend and manager Donald Schaeffer I was also lucky to be among the chosen few who would get a rare interview with her during that time. Onstage and off, she had this charming dry humor and wit that captures you from the very first minute.

Blossom Dearie died at her Greenwich Village home last Saturday. She was 82. The singer with the girlish voice was actually born with that name in East Durham in New York and very early on she was part of a singing group with Woddy Herman and Alvino Rey. In 1952 she moved to Paris and arranged for the Blue Stars. They were singing at a club down the Champs-Elysées when Norman Granz heard her and asked her to join his newly started record company called Verve records. Her six albums for that label she recorded from 1956 to 1960 remain vocal jazz classics up to this day. The artists she recorded with like Ray Brown, Mundell Lowe, Kenny Burrell etc. all hailed her as a bona fide jazz musician.

After he stay with Verve, she took a break and recorded just one album for Capitol in 1964 (the wonderful May I Come In?) and in 1974, she founded her own label called Daffodil Records. Her witty lyrics and dry sense of humor veering sometimes towards the sarcastic and ironic, became her trademark in her recordings and live appearances and although she mainly performed in New York, she also had a cult following in London as well (just listen to her live album recorded at Ronnie Scott's).

The liner notes of her 1958 album says: The uncommon, the unusual, in short, the un-un, become increasingly rare and when discovered should be cherished.

MK, 11.02.09

One of the bluesiest jazz and soul saxophonists, Hank Crawford, has died last Thursday. Crawford was the musical director in Ray Charles' band in the early 60s and played baritone saxophone on his big hit "What'd I Say". One sax player who was in the saxophone section at that time, David Fathead Newman, also died last month. (see JazzRiff 22.1). His remarkably bluesy, wailing playing was one of his trademarks which he learned from his stay in Charles' band. His almost preacher-like sound graced a lot of solo recordings after he left Ray Charles in 1963. From 1971 until 1982, Crawford recorded for the Jazz Fusion label Kudu Records which also was home to Grover Washington, Freddie Hubbard, George Benson, and more. During his stay there, he recorded unforgettable albums with tracks that have been sampled a million times. His 17 recordings he did for Milestone from 1982 until a stroke in 2000 all feature him as a top blues jazz saxophonist, arranger, and composer and this work ranks among his best in his lengthy career.