The Grand Master Buddy Rich

Astonished myself, when I saw Buddy hitting the crash cymbals from underneath...I mean, He is or was original and unique!!! The Emperor of the Drums...
 
Wow, I legitimately feel sorry for that drumset. He just beat the hell out of that thing. I don't think I've ever seen a drum solo even close to that intense before, even from Buddy. That was fantastic!
 
Does anybody have a video of the Monterey Pop festival(i think) where there were a bunch of famous drummers playing and Buddy Rich went out on another drummer's kit and blew them all away? I think it was in the '67-69 time period.
 
One thing I liked about that solo was the bass drum work. I've never thought Rich got enough credit for all that, because he didn't see bass drum as the interactive hand to foot thing that people just assume today. Among Rich's many talents was tap dancing, a skill he picked up in his vaudeville days, and used in his drumming throughout his life. No less a tap dancer than Sammy Davis Jr. himself once called Rich as good a tap dancer as was in the world at that time.
You hear all that melodicism in his bass drum work, and it serves as the foundation for Rich to superimpose upon it all that uber technical hand stuff. I've always felt it was one of the most interesting traits about his playing, and perhaps the most musical part. It also proves to me how people who see his footwork as something infereior to what happens today are pretty much clueless.

So many get on this kick about how there's nothing but technique in Rich's solos, and in my way of thinking they just don't get it. When you listen to a Buddy Rich solo from the feet on up and not the other way around, you begin to hear his playing in an entirely different light. Sure there will be some pretty smart drummers who will claim none of this is going on, but I've always suspected that they really do hear what I'm saying, and intentionally go the other way because they are really upset about the popular appeal of this kind of drumming. A musical form of technique based drumming that appeals directly to the feelings of the general public isn't always going to be embraced by musicians selling other brands. Just my 2c.

If you really want to hear the tap dancing bass drum approach, listen to that famous swing era audio of Rich playing just 2 bass drums. They sound very similar to the kinds of patterns somebody like Bojangles would dance in those old movies, and they're very, very musical.

We talk a lot about the immense power of Rich's hands, and sure there's no doubt about that. But I've always felt that those sneaky feet of his were what made all that even more effective.
 
We talk a lot about the immense power of Rich's hands, and sure there's no doubt about that. But I've always felt that those sneaky feet of his were what made all that even more effective.

My simple input: Buddy Rich is/was a thunder of hands & feet with strong feeling. He had an remarkable foot accent.

By the way, good comments from your part.

Cheers,
 
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I dont know how much sense this will make to everyone but Ill try to explain what I hear in Buddy's playing.....take a horizontal line and think of the melodies and harmonies on the positive (above) and negative (below) the line throughout the line. All the while Buddy is playing over, under on that line without stopping....his flow was so different than drummers in his era. It was like he was playing melodies, harmonies and rthymns all at one time.
 
Wow, where has this video been hiding? Great find, iwilliams!
This is the first time I've seen Buddy incorporate the bass drum like that!

check out the heel toe on the hi hat too. Matt, his hands look like yours towards the end there, : )
 
Buddy Rich is acknowledged as maybe the greatest drummer who ever lived, but he doesn't seem to show up much in bebop and doesn't seem to have made much of a mark there. What's the deal with that? For all his skill, I don't see he played much outside of classical jazz but maybe I'm wrong. There were fewer genres of music back then but I don't see he played much in rock, soul, pop, blues, funk, world or country. All that just kind of pass him by. Nowdays, it seems like the really great drummers stand out in several genres.
 
Buddy never really played in a bebop setting. He made a recording with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, but sounded out of place. I think somebody like Max Roach or Kenny Clarke would have fit much better. He did make some good recordings of hard bop songs (like Coltrane's "Moment's Notice" and "Giant Steps" with Lionel Hampton), and does a pretty good job. But for the most part, Buddy very rarely ever played bop.
 
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One of the truly great Big Band drummers of all time. When he hit a home run being at the top of his game in a large ensemble no one could touch him in this setting. For me that's his GREATEST achievement and footprint legacy he left behind in the music.

Here's some footage of Buddy at the top of his game i'll repost that was part of another recent Buddy thread:

Time Being parts 1+2 from the early 70's. Video footage from the famous live Buddy Rich recording "Live at Ronnie Scott's"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds-m8S-ldOM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ma96Ct3Qds

Countless others at the same time who focused primarily on smaller ensemble Bop drumming offered their own significant contributions to that idiom of jazz drumming over Buddy. Such is life......
 
This could be applied to just about any drummer and a style they are not known for...

How come *insert famous drummer* isn't known for *style other than what they're for.*

Not many people are really known for playing more than one style well.
 
This could be applied to just about any drummer and a style they are not known for...

How come *insert famous drummer* isn't known for *style other than what they're for.*

Not many people are really known for playing more than one style well.

well, apart from cats like gadd weckl jojo and co. but buddy is up there with the best, and quite a few of those did'nt delve into other music
 
So, did Buddy just avoid bebop altogether?

Quite honestly I think he was just way to busy leading countless Big Bands over many decades all over the world not to mention countless large ensemble recording projects to cover any small group situations.

If you dig deep enough you may find some smaller group stuff with him as a sideman, most earlier on in his career, but they are very RARE.
 
He has a few small ensemble recordings. I used to have an album led by Lionel Hampton with 5...maybe 6 guys... used to really like it when I was younger (and before I gave away my stacks of albums with Buddy on them). Not really "bebop" - but a small setting...

If I were to get into some psych-babel B.S. - I would say he didn't touch on it because he wasn't good at it, and wouldn't want to seem like a fish out of water (as he did on that previously mentioned album...not terrible, but it's not very good, IMNSFHO).

He had the most famous big band throughout the 70's/80's - why mess with something he wouldn't appear to be "the best" at?

Buddy seemed like a Grade A @-hole through and through (I've heard the nice stories too - he wasn't evil or anything...just not a nice dude) and I can't imagine someone like him wanting to stick his feet in something that appeared to be a weakness. He came up during the big band era - that's what he knew. Same with Louie Armstrong. I honestly think Louie stayed away from bebop because he didn't fully understand it. Why try and look bad at something when you can be the best at what you were doing? (I present Exhibit A: Michael Jordan's baseball career)

And even then, I'm just talking about the "general consensus" of "the best" - I'd much rather have any of Count Basie's or Duke Ellington's drummers leading my big band, but maybe that's just me...Either Sonny - Payne or Greer - before Buddy, for me.

Gotta say though - some of those small ensemble 70's recordings of Buddy's were pretty cool - the funky stuff. Steve Marcus really had some nice moments.

ANyway - I'm babbling...
 
Buddy Rich is acknowledged as maybe the greatest drummer who ever lived, but he doesn't seem to show up much in bebop and doesn't seem to have made much of a mark there. What's the deal with that? For all his skill, I don't see he played much outside of classical jazz but maybe I'm wrong. There were fewer genres of music back then but I don't see he played much in rock, soul, pop, blues, funk, world or country. All that just kind of pass him by. Nowdays, it seems like the really great drummers stand out in several genres.

That's like asking why he didn't stand out in death metal or racing cars
 
I think he simply prefered large ensembles. He certainly played with many small groups. Particualarly with JATP. Where he reportedly did wonderful work.
 
He played on an album called Tuff Dude. It has a couple really interesting songs on it, noteably Sierra Lonely and Nica's Dream. I'm not sure I would call it bop but it is an interesting departure from his big band stuff. There is also a multi CD set of recordings of him playing in various small groups. I've got it in my basement somewhere.

Although he is primarily known for big band stuff, he did do quite a few small group performances. My dad claims that he went with my mother (when she was pregnant with me) to see BR play at a place called Andy's in Chicago. That was a small group gig. I get a kick out of that story because I used to play at Andy's now and again. Anyway I digress.

Here is another thought on why he wasn't in the bop scene - bop was a rebellion against the big band era, of which he is a very big figure. Also, putting yourself out there as 'the world's greatest drummer' doesn't win you many friends. Basically you're painting a huge target on yourself.
 
Dang...the link to this video comes up with an error. "Website cannot be found." Anyone know how I can get it?

Thanks.
 
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