Jay Bellerose

mixedupkit

Junior Member
I have read a little about Jay and listened to a few recordings on which he plays. I am particularly inspired by his feel and taste ... not to mention his passion for playing vintage/rare drums (e.g. Trixons, Slingerland Bombers). Can anyone help me with more information about him (CDs, DVDs, websites)?
 
I too am a big Jay Bellerose fan. Some stuff you may want to check out

Joe Henry Civilians (Joe has also had Brian Blade and Kim Keltner on his last few records-Tiny Voices, Scar)

Robert Plant/Alison Krauss- Just saw them on tour this past summer, Jay was killin'

Some recent efforts by Loudon Wainright, and I just saw him with Ray Lamontagne on Youtube for the BBC

Oh yeah, also on T. Bone Burnett's recent work.

Hope that gets you started. Truly an unsung hero!

mark
 
Glad to know there are a few others out there that appreciate Jay's finesse. Check out Aimee Mann's "Smilers" cd as well as Suzanne Vega's "Songs In Red and Gray", and Simon Lynge's "A Beautiful Way To Drown". All great stuff.

A friend of mine who's recorded Jay says he's the nicest guy on the planet and a master baker as well. Pretty cool. There are some great Ray LaMontaigne clips on YouTube showing Jay. I think it's on BBC.
 
Jay is salt of the earth. I met him several years ago when they were doing the grammies. I did some stands for him.
lost track of him the last few years. if anyone talkes to him tell him his blacksmith is looking for him.
here is a pic of him on mtv and at the royal oak music theater in mich.
http://www.marc3rd.com/Marc3rd/jay/news.htm
 
I know Jay pretty well - in fact, that is him playing my set in my profile photo. He IS a sweet guy and a great collector of old drums & stuff.
He plays a civil war era drum, and a whole bunch of vintage drums, esp. Gretsch. He went to Berklee (in Boston) and came out to LA a bit after that. I first heard him playing with Joe Henry. Then, Julia Fordham and once or twice more with Joe H., another fine musician and a very nice guy. Then came Joe Lamontagne...
He's played on a few more T-Bone B. recordings (Sam Phillips, TB's wife). Then - The band with Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - the album is excellent and they were just great LIVE. Jay has a gorgeous style like no other. He is only being truly appreciated now, although there was a good article recently in the German (?) magazine DRUMHEAD
.

JMS AKA ZG
 
Love this guy. Nifty things he does and tries with odd drums, percussion and setups. Very unique sounds.
 
I came across his playing quite a lot recently... He has a unusal style, and is very unique. I have a few stuff he did with Gregg Allman, Elton John and others. Very good player in the vein of Jim Keltner.
 
I love how he uses what he uses. He has no boundaries. You might buy a shaker or stick and use it one way, but Jay will tape it or strap it or hold it some new way and get some cool sound out of it we never thought about. How many uses for tambourine, or a maraca? Is it a stick or a shaker or something else? He gets all that fun stuff, just like Glenn Kotche form Wilco does. And his kit from way back when he was with Paula Cole was too cool!
 
T-Bone Burnett on recording : "...we very consciously started to develop this very complex low-end world of sound. I was interested in the overtones that were being created...I think of everything as a drum. The attack of the instrument is just triggering the tone, and we've been spending our time..minimizing attack and maximizing tone. (Instead of using compressors and limiters to hold down the attack) we do it by playing very, very quietly...the less attack there is, the more tone there is. If you tap (the drum) softly, you actually get a much fuller sound."
 
Jay was also the drummer for Hugh Laurie's band and can be seen in the movie "Copper Bottom Blues." Nice movie about the blues with some rootsy drumming.

GJS
 
Anyone know what gear he used with Robert Plant ? (i.e cymbals, drums.,heads, hardware).

He tends to use mostly very old vintage drums, earlier than 1950's - Slingerland, Ludwig , Leedy. ....mixed orphans , big bass drums (with the external muffler) etc.
 
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