Drummer Bellson Brings Big Band to Disneyland : Jazz: The musician-composer is trying to look forward after the funeral of his wife, Pearl Bailey. His daughter, Dee Dee, will join him.

The show must and does go on. For Louie Bellson, back in Los Angeles to prepare for his week at Disneyland that begins Sunday, it has been a traumatic time. After the funeral of his wife, Pearl Bailey, he flew west from Philadelphia, spent a day at their home at Lake Havasu, Ariz., then moved in temporarily with his brother, Hank, in the San Fernando Valley.

It has also been a time for much decision-making. Friends and family agreed that his career had to continue. Bellson himself, trying to look forward, made one resolution: “I have to think of selling the house up there (in Arizona), and moving back to Los Angeles. It was so tough for me to open the door there yesterday; I can’t ever go back again without Pearl. We were there once every three months for a week or two, just to get our heads together. It’s beautiful for two people to share, but otherwise Lake Havasu is just a place for people who have retired, and you know I’ll never retire. For me to just go and sit there would be the worst thing in the world.”

Closely though their careers were intertwined over the decades, the drummer-composer always had a distinct life and direction. In the early years he was a side man with Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Count Basie and, most notably, Duke Ellington, whom he left shortly after his marriage.

When his wife was working at the United Nations or otherwise engaged, Bellson led various big bands, recorded with countless all-star groups, composed many instrumental works and reinforced his reputation as arguably the greatest of all big band drummers. He has been active in jazz workshops at many universities.

“I’m doing something different at Disneyland,” he said. “Jimmy Zito, who was a fine trumpeter in the ‘Tonight Show’ band, had to stop playing after something went wrong with an operation for a callus on his lip. Well, he decided to start back, by playing bass trumpet. Doc Severinsen told me, ‘Lou, that’s one of the greatest sounds you’ll ever hear.’ So I asked Jimmy to play for me this week, and I’ve had Tommy Newsom work on a special arrangement featuring him.”

Along with the customary eight brass, five saxes and rhythm section, there will be a returnee, Dee Dee Bellson, who worked before with her father’s band at Disneyland.

“Dee Dee went to Japan and then to Australia with this (rap) group called Soul II Soul. When they came back East we were expecting to hear from her, but it turned out she left the group. Her timing was good--shortly after that, they had a nasty bus accident, and several members were injured or shaken up--they had to cancel part of a tour.

“I thought it would be nice to keep the family together, and they liked her so much the last time she was out here, so I said, ‘Well, Dee Dee, you’ve got your old job back.’ ”

Post-Disneyland plans include a clinic Sept. 11 at Cerritos College, then a big day at USC organized by the Zildjian Cymbal Co. “They’re gonna put me with all the rock ‘n’ roll drummers,” Bellson said.

A two-day gig at La Mirada Theater may present him in an unfamiliar role. “I’m doing a show with my big band, but they’re also going to have a whole bunch of tap dancers, and they’ve invited me to come out and do a big number with them. I haven’t done that in so long, but I said if my feet are in shape, well, I’ve got my tap shoes ready.”

It seems improbable that Bellson’s feet would ever be out of shape for any demand placed on them. It was he who popularized the technique of working with two bass drums, for which his pedal velocity seems to match the speed of light.

Later dates will include a week, opening Oct. 16, at Catalina’s in Hollywood, where he was due to play earlier but had to cancel because of major kidney surgery, from which he is now fully recovered.

The most significant item on his schedule is one that he just learned about on the morning of this interview: “I received a Federal Express from Tom Pickering, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations--a wonderful man; Pearl and I knew him when he was ambassador to Jordan and Israel. He said, ‘Lou, we are devastated by the passing of Pearl, and if possible we would like to have a memorial for her Sept. 18 right here at the U.N.’

“All the delegates knew and loved Pearl, so of course I said, ‘My goodness, yes, go ahead, and I’ll fly in for it.’

“I feel good that so many people are paying tribute to her. You know, she went very fast, and it was almost as if the good Lord said, ‘I need you up here, you’ve done everything you can do down there.’ So I have to look back in gratitude for 39 years with that wonderful lady.”