Another white Quad Cities musician, Louie Bellson (born "Luigi Ballasoni") of nearby Moline, Illinois, the son of a music store owner, played drums for the Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and Duke Ellington bands, and married Pearl Bailey.
Horace Silver, Louie Bellson, and Bob Florence ("Bebop Charlie", "Nilestones"), and others have written tunes for “Carlitos Niles”.
Louie Bellson | Louie Spence | Alexina Louie | Louie | Louie Sakoda | Louie Giglio | Louie Anderson | Louie Mar Gangcuangco | Lucky Louie | Louie Welch | Louie Torrellas | Louie Psihoyos | Louie Louie | Louie B. Nunn | King Louie Bankston | Huey, Dewey, and Louie | Gilman Louie | Brother Louie | Maggie Louie | Louis "Louie" Roussel III | Louie (TV series) | Louie Spence's Showbusiness | Louie R. Guenthner, Jr. | Louie Palu | Louie Olivos Jr. | Louie Ocampo | Louie L. Wainwright | Louie J. Roussel III | Louie De Votie Newton | Louie Crew |
He also recorded with various other artists during this time, such as Louie Bellson, Bill Watrous, and Supersax.
Lady Time is a 1978 (see 1978 in music) studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied by the unusual combination of an organist, (Jackie Davis) and a drummer, (Louie Bellson).
Vax has performed and/or recorded with trumpeters Freddy Hubbard, Don Ellis, and Don Jacoby, vocalists Joe Williams, Anita O'Day, Barbara McNair, and The Four Freshmen, and other instrumentalists including Art Pepper, Al Grey, Gene Krupa, John Handy, and Louie Bellson.
Christlieb has worked with many musicians, such as Tom Waits, Louie Bellson, Chet Baker, Woody Herman, Count Basie, Steely Dan, Doc Severinsen, Warne Marsh, The Tonight Show Band starring Johnny Carson, and Bill Holman.
As an improvising soloist, he has performed and toured with Louie Bellson, Clark Terry, McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Chris Potter, the New York Voices, Nicholas Payton, Herb Ellis, Donald Byrd, Darius Brubeck and the Manhattan Transfer.
With his father's choice of records, including Louie Bellson and Buddy Rich albums, Donati quickly became a fan of those great jazz drummers, trying to emulate their solos.