Like Buddy Rich, Louis Bellson is usually thought of as a bombastic drummer. But on the trio outing Intensive Care with bassist Ray Brown and pianist Paul Smith, Bellson is definitely more laid back than usual.
That's not to say the album is boring. Far from it. Ballads alternate with more up-tempo offerings on this collection of standards recorded in 1978.
The album first saw the light of day as a direct-to-disc LP issued by Discwasher in '78, with the cover art pictured above. There were several reissues, including one a decade later on the Voss label -- on both CD and cassette.
As you can see the cover art is much more pedestrian, but rest assured the music is still great. The sample track is taken from a cassette version of the album.
On a Clear Day
Although all releases of Intensive Care are out of print, used copies of the Voss CD can be had very cheaply on Amazon -- and probably elsewhere. The album hasn't been made available as a download.
Here's some early Louis Bellson in a quintet setting. These two tracks originally appeared on a 1954 Norgran LP, Louis Bellson and His Drums. It was reissued on Verve in 1957 as Concerto for Drums.
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