BELLSON QUOTES

“Not only is Louie Bellson the world’s greatest drummer… he is the world’s greatest musician!”

-- Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington

“To me, Louis is just one of the nicest guys I have every known. 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.”

-- Count Basie

“To listen and see Louie is to know ‘Man’s love of music.’”

-- Pearl Bailey Bellson

“One of the greatest thrills of my musical career was to sing with Louie Bellson, my ‘birthday partner’.”

--Della Reese

“Louie Bellson’s playing, everybody knows, is great, but the important thing is that in a business that is so nuts, we’ve remained friends all these years. That’s the real accomplishment.”

-- Buddy Rich

“Louie Bellson represents the epitome of musical talent. His ability to cover the whole musical spectrum from an elite percussionist to a very gifted composer and arranger never ceases to amaze me. I consider him one of the musical giants of our age.”

-- Oscar Peterson

“Louie is a superb artist. There’s so much hyperbole you can use but he’s just one of the top drummers… percussionists in the world. And one other thing about Louie: he is a sweet, nice man. There are no pretensions about Louie, and I like that!”

-- Johnny Carson

“When you say ‘working with the tops,’ that’s what it is to me working with Louie. He’s an all-around well-loved musician. To me, he’s just like one of the family.”

-- Ella Fitzgerald

“I’ve known Louie since around 1950. He’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Louie’s the kind of musician who, if you tell him something one time, that’s it. He gets it. He’s an excellent, superb musician. If all musicians were like him, we wouldn’t have problems. In other words, anyone who doesn’t love Louie Bellson is sick!”

-- Sarah Vaughan

“Louie Bellson – the only man I know who, when he plays by himself, sounds like a symphony orchestra.”

-- Sammy Davis, Jr.

“There are a lot of great players… a lot of great players around, but Louie Bellson is really something special.”

-- “Dizzy” Gillespie

“Louie is the best person I ever met.”

--Tony Bennett