Bellevue Cadillac
A band bio once described Bellevue Cadillac’s repertoire as “Jazz, Gospel, Blues and Soul, Swing on top of Rock and Roll!” And as one of Boston’s truly great groups, the collection of supremely talented musicians brought all those original America’s styles to the far corners of the globe, touching down in exotic locales such as China, Russia, Greece and…Rhode Island? Yes, the Ocean State, where they once recorded a live album at Chan’s Fine Oriental Dining, Jazz & Blues in Woonsocket. The brainchild of guitarist-vocalist Doug Bell, Bellevue Cadillac formed in 1991, recorded a 20-year string of albums and found mainstream gold after their songs appeared in films like Me, Myself and Irene and Shallow Hal and on the small screen in The Sopranos, Sex and the City and Crossing Jordan. Bell and his band of renown certainly got around, to say the least.
Bell embraced the guitar while in elementary school and by the time he was 18 he’d joined his first band, The Merits, after passing an audition at his parents’ home in the Boston suburb of Franklin in 1966. Rock ‘n’ roll became a fast-moving vehicle for the young musician, whose dexterity on his instrument improved rapidly while he added songwriting skills and performance experience with various groups and in acoustic settings. Despite his expanding reputation as a musician, however, Bell decided to leave his artistic calling to launch a career in real estate, successfully building the endeavor into a multi-million-dollar enterprise. Prosperous years followed and the newly minted tycoon thought his success would last forever, but his fortunes tilted in a worsening economy, forcing him into bankruptcy by 1991. The monumental case of the blues that haunted the 40-something entrepreneur through his disintegrating affluence and crashing personal state yanked him back to the refuge of music.
FORMATION, BLACK AND WHITE, INCREASING POPULARITY, JFK JR. WEDDING
Applying the same sort of energy and concentration he’d used to build his business kingdom, Bell reconnected with a bunch of players he’d known since he was a kid, all of whom had a similar desire to form a band playing original music; Bellevue Cadillac was born and the group began gigging around New England. Three years down the road, the idea of recording a debut album reached an active state when Bell linked up with Rob Fraboni, a record producer he’d met during his real estate years. As a VP at Island Records, Fraboni had worked closely with acts including Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, and he produced the soundtrack for the classic concert film The Last Waltz. After establishing his own record label, Ardeo Records, he guided Bellevue Cadillac during the recording of its first studio album, Black and White, released in 1997.
Unfortunately, Ardeo never took off and the album remained in the marketplace purely on a local level. But a fortunate set of circumstances elevated its profile as a revival of ballroom dancing and swing music that had been steadily gaining strength since 1989 found Black and White ready-made for the exploding scene. Bellevue Cadillac’s music began appearing on swing compilation albums, elevating the band to international status alongside groups like The Brian Setzer Orchestra and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Within a year, the ensemble went from playing tiny local clubs to headlining festivals and high-profile events across the country, enjoying a wave of recognition; even Rolling Stone magazine piled on the kudos. Bell’s boyhood habit of wearing bowties had earned him the nickname “The Professor” decades before, but now the moniker took on much greater significance when applied to his prowess on guitar and as a bandleader.
Then there was the extremely unlikely scenario that catapulted the band to even greater notoriety. At a show on Martha’s Vineyard in the summer of 1996, John F. Kennedy Jr. was in the audience and decided Bellevue Cadillac would be the ideal group to play at his wedding celebration in Georgia that September. Due to the clandestine nature of the event and the absolute secrecy involved, Bell and the band were invited anonymously to perform at simply “a wedding reception.” They declined, however, as they were already booked on that day to play another bridal ceremony. After J.F.K. Jr. and Caroline Bessett famously tied the knot, the story broke nationwide about the suddenly infamous group that had turned down a Kennedy. The intrigue guaranteed that Bellevue Cadillac had a solid two years of bookings nearly anywhere you could toss a dart on a map of the world.
OTHER ALBUMS, GLOBAL SUCCESS, DISBANDING, BELL’S SOLO PROJECTS
A second Fraboni-produced album, Prozac Nation, appeared in 1998; some songs from the LP found their way onto the TV series The Sopranos and Touched by an Angel and the movie Shallow Hal. The following year produced Take Out, Out Takes, the live album recorded at Chan’s (the original packaging for which was a Chinese take-out box that included chopsticks, a drink umbrella and a fortune cookie). The session featured lead vocalist “Gentleman” Joe Cooper, Bell’s on-stage foil for the first version of the band which would prove to have an ever-changing lineup over its 20-year existence. Gordon “Sugarbear” Michaels was next on lead-mic duties, followed by Charlie Sorrento (aka “Moose,” “The Count”), who fronted on vocals until leaving after 2005’s Love Allways (sic) album. At that point, Bell decided to sing lead himself in front of perennial member Tim Long on keyboards and the ever-present horn section that was always a Bellevue Cadillac trademark.
Fame and good fortune became a constant and welcome mistress to the ensemble, which played around the world to appreciative audiences hungering to hear the swing, blues and jazz selections Bellevue Cadillac served up. The band did its first tour of China in 2003, visited Moscow a year later and was featured at the Olympics in Shanghai in 2008. But a career standout had to be the 13 consecutive sellouts in Greece two years later which resulted in the live Once in a Blue Moon album, the definitive document of the Bell-on-vocals version of Bellevue Cadillac, recorded at the Half Note Jazz Club in Athens on New Year’s Eve. The set spotlighted the group’s repertoire along with an absolute mastery of the genre, synchronized by the facility of the blazing horn section and Bell’s between-song set-ups and droll remarks.
As Bell faced mounting health problems that required frequent cancer treatment, Bellevue Cadillac wound down after 2011 with “The Professor” opting for a future in which he could proceed at his own pace. His debut solo album The Road to Del Rio appeared two years later, followed by 2015’s That’s Rock N’ Roll by Doug Bell and Friends. There’s certainly no shortage of Bellevue Cadillac music available; in addition to its own six releases, selections from the band are featured on at least two dozen swing and jazz collections. For those interested in an enlightened summary of the group’s catalog or looking for a soundtrack to lay down some dance floor bop, seek out the compilation The Best of Bellevue Cadillac: 20 Years of Swing!. And remember: It don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t got that swing!
(by Carter Alan)
Carter Alan is a former WBCN deejay now heard on WZLX-FM in Boston. He’s the author of Outside is America: U2 in the U.S. (Faber & Faber, 1992), U2: The Road to Pop (Faber & Faber, 1997), Radio Free Boston: The Rise and Fall of WBCN (University Press of New England, 2013) and The Decibel Diaries: A Journey Through Rock in 50 Concerts (University of New England Press, 2017).
