Louie Bellson Smithsonian Interview Block 848 (Q11644)

Billy Gladstone came in to hear me play. I was with Tommy Dorsey's band at the hotel in New York. He said, "I'm going to make a snare drum for you. " I said, "Great. " He brought it in for me to play. It had gut snares on the bottom. When I put that snare drum on, it was during a radio broadcast. The whole Tommy Dorsey band turned around and said, "What was that? " That was how good that snar ...