Al Belletto (1928-2014) was born and raised in New Orleans. He learned to play alto saxophone and clarinet, and got a Masters Degree in music from the Louisiana State University—all at a time when such academic training was a distinct jazz rarity. And still, he chose to play rather than teach. It was 1951, and within a year he had formed his own quintet, one in which all its members performed skillfully and —drummer excepted— where they all doubled on more than one instrument. They used to play at Gus Stevens’ in Biloxi, Mississippi, where they found their first long-term booking, and a loyal crowd of followers.

It was precisely during their engagement there, that singing star Mel Tormé found himself in need of some choral assistance. Although none of Belletto’s men had ever sung a note professionally, they were anxious to please their first boss, so they just took deep breaths and began to sing. To everyone’s amazement —most of all their own— what came out was round, full, and in beautiful accord.

Impressed with the boys’ natural vocal talent, Tormé furnished them with some of his Meltones charts, and suggested they make singing a regular part of their act. So raving about the excellent musicianship and affability of Tormé, and despite no one of them have sung before, they accepted the challenge. Trombonist Jimmy Guinn became the group’s featured singer, while each member also pitched in for some interesting five-way vocals remindful of the Four Freshmen.

“Within six months,” Al says, “we really started sounding good and went out on the road playing some of the little places. Later, we came back to the club for another six months and put the finishing touches on where we wanted to go musically.” The quintet was ready to take off.

“We got on the road and started getting booked by GAC. Our first break came in Buffalo, NY, where disc jockey Joe Rico started pushing us with a live remote. At that time, we had no records out. Eddie Yellen, who was with Capitol, heard us and called Stan Kenton, persuading him to hear the band.” Kenton went to hear the quintet at Copa Casino in Buffalo, and in early November 1954, while playing at Pla-Bowl, in Calumet City, Illinois, he auditioned and signed them to a contract to record under his “Kenton Presents Jazz” tagline on Capitol Records. “Six weeks later, we met Stan in Chicago and cut our first record.” It was an EP called “An Introduction to the Al Belletto Quintet.”

“Stan gave us the confidence we needed. We were just six Southern boys up there in the hard, cold North trying to make it. I don’t think we really knew how good we were. The fact that we could sing five-part harmony (thanks to Mel Tormé) just blew Stan’s mind. Then he got us an engagement at the old Blue Note, in Chicago, which was the primary jazz emporium in the nation at that time.”

Early in 1955, with the addition of a bass player, the group became a sextet. In the original quintet, the bass was swapped too often, and the outfit’s driving arrangements required a constant in the rhythm backing. “We tried for the sound of a big band, using a six-piece lineup. We played shout choruses with a high trumpet lead that sounded like the brass section of a big band; things with a trombone lead that sounded like the bone section, and the sax lead came off like the sax section.

Good things began to happen for the Belletto Sextet, and all their versatility, combined with the group’s obvious eagerness to succeed and please, sat very well in many music spots over the country, including three dates annually at Birdland. The charts by Tormé were supplemented with others by Nat Pierce, Neal Hefti, Johnny Mandel, and Shorty Rogers, plus some first-rate material from band members, which paved the way for the commercial success they went on to enjoy.

One reason for this was a man named Dick Martin, an allnight DJ who was broadcasting on the clear-channel WWL; he played the band’s records constantly, and their sound was making it across the nation. Between 1955 and 1957 the sextet recorded three LPs for Capitol, and one backing vocalist Jerri Winters for the Bethlehem label.

In 1957, Woody Herman heard the group in Denver, and with bookings having become very thin, and money hassles creating severe problems, the Herman visit was a godsend.

“They were getting ready to go on a good-will tour of South America (in the fall 1958), following Richard Nixon’s ill-fated visit that ended with eggs and rocks being thrown. The State Department decided that a jazz tour would be the best propaganda therapy and chose Woody’s hand.

“One night. Woody and I got a little bombed and he said, ‘I’ve got a hell of an idea! Let’s incorporate the sextet into the format of the big band —which is just what he did. Capitol had distributed my records all over South America and we had a surprising number of fans. The crowds were fantastic, with thousands meeting us at the major airports. We did 19 countries, and it was great —and Woody is great! I feel very fortunate that two of the greatest men in music, Stan and Woody, helped my career.”

By 1960, jazz clubs were folding all over the country. When 12 of the clubs the group worked at with regularity all flopped in the same year, the handwriting was all over the wall. While at the Playboy Club in Chicago (backing the Kirby Stone Four) Belletto received an offer to become Entertainment Director of the Playboy Clubs. He accepted and opened eight clubs before his extra-curricular activities kept him from playing enough, causing a weakening of his chops. “It was unfair to the other people in the group, and I finally decided to stay in New Orleans where I really dig the living,” said Belletto.

Al Belletto died on December 26, 2014

—Jordi Pujol (From the inside liner notes of FSRCD 988)