Julio Bella

Barengero

Hi all,

I just got my hands on an obscure LP called: „The Hot Jazz Violin of Julio Bella and his Quartette“. The Label- No. is Fortune 3006. I don´t know when it was recorded or published - I guess somewhat between mid 50´s and mid 60´s.

There is no personnel given on the Cover, but what I found on the web is:

LP Fortune personnel: Julio Bella (vn), Billy Marr (pn) or Marty Kallao (gt) Andy Hallup (sb), Billy Kallao (dm)

Julio Bella’s real name was Julius Margitza, as was his father Ziggy Bela´s, who was gypsy orchestra leader. He was born Pittsburgh, 18 July 1934 and died Dearborn, Michigan, 16 April 1988. He started to study the violin at the age of five with his father, who played in the Hungarian Village (Detroit?) during the 50`s. His familiy seems to have hungarian roots. A cousin is tenor saxophonist Rick Margitza, whose grandfather was a cellist and whose father was a violinist with the Detroit Symphony. A Richard Margitza plays violin on a Rick Margitza Blue Note album.

His playing is pretty „Grappelli-like“, but harsher than Stephane. He has some compositions of Django on his LP (Douce Ambiance, Belleville, Djangology, Porto Cabello), one of Henri Crolla (Alembert`s) and one of Grappelli (Eveline). The LP-Cover tells that Julio met Django in 1945 at the Hungarian Village and played for him.

Has anybody further informations about Julio Bella, especially other recordings?

Best,
Barengero

Jack

Barengero,

I haven't been able to find much about him...someone else was looking for information over two years ago, and never got a response:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/messa ... s.Bella/37

If anyone else is interested in hearing this (and Baro, if you feel like working a trade, please let me know), you can find it on LP at a few places, e.g.:
http://www.musicstack.com/item.cgi?item=130720689&find=
for about USD14, while you can get a CD version lifted from the LP here:
http://www.netsoundsmusic.com/nsudsii/2 ... 041/2.html
for USD102(!).

It does seem like you've got the time right, and that it was recorded in the mid-fifties in or around Detroit. Let us know if you find more!

Best,
Jack.

GW

I am very interested in the recording, and I may be able to supply some answers to questions, as I am a close friend of Julio's son, Randy, who is also a wonderful violinist. Billy Marr is probably William Margitza, a cousin to Julio. This family lived in Detroit, so I imagine that the recording was made there. I don't know about the date.


Guy

Barengero

Hi Guy,

welcome to this forum! What you say are really great news!

If you are interested in the recordings I told about send me a private message with your email adress. I ´ll send you the titles in MP3 format via "Yousendit".

I am looking forward to more informations.

Best,
Barengero

GW

Barengero,

I actually spoke to Randy today, and learned a little more about the recording. It was done about 1964, and was done with his cousins. Julio was depressed at the time because he had divorced and the wife kept Randy, so he made this recording to express his feelings about losing Randy.

Knowing that personal detail might make the performances more meaningful and interesting.

I would love to receive mp3's of any of this material. I am not familiar with the format you mentioned for sending the files (yousendit). My email box holds 10 MB.

Thanks, and I am very much looking forward to hearing these tracks!


Guy