The Grand Master Buddy Rich

Re: Buddy Rich "Double Bass"

Here's Kenny Arnoff's quote on watching Buddy play:

"The one thing that nobody can dispute was that that guys left hand was amazing. It was like, his left hand was like Fred Astaire. It was like tap dancing thru the song. Accenting with the band but yet another melody, a whole nother little melody, going on, dancing along and until you try to imitate this thing you have no idea how difficult it is. It's not just the notes, it's the dynamics, the accents...the musicality of it all."

Kenny Aronoff
 
Re: Buddy Rich "Double Bass"

great story! I personally thought Buddys hands, not his feet were his greatness. If you were to isolate his footwork, it did'nt seem like anything special. Would I be right in saying that?

more about his hands: "My fondest memory of Buddy performing was when he would perform a solo on the rims and the cymbal bells. The rims solo was awesome. The speed, intensity and movements of the rim solo matched that of his regular drum head solo but during the rim solo he never ever slipped and hit the drum head once. You only ever heard the sticks on the rims. Awesome, and a very pretty sound. His cymbal bell solos same way. He goes around and around the cymbals hitting only the bells. Sometimes he would have to stand up to reach them."
 
My dad saw the Buddy rich big band one time in the 80's when Buddy had a broken arm. He played through the entire show with 1 arm. He did all his solos too! My Dad said it was the most incredible concert he's ever seen.
 
Re: Buddy Rich "Double Bass"

great story! I personally thought Buddys hands, not his feet were his greatness. If you were to isolate his footwork, it did'nt seem like anything special. Would I be right in saying that?


No, he had one of the fastest & most dynamic right foots I've ever heard, truly spectacular!

There's a bit of footage where he plays a drum duel with Jerry Lewis & there's a close up of his foot for 30 seconds or so & it's astounding.
 
Buddy's footwork (and everything else) was tremendous. If you listen to his recordings through good speakers, or with headphones, or heard him live, you know that his playing was totally evolved. (Crank it up! Big bands like Buddy's were meant to be heard loud.)

Not only did he play very dynamic and interesting things with his bass drum, but his use of hi-hat is like no other drummer. He used it a thousand times in every song, punctuating his ideas with crisp time-keeping, or little "mini-crashes", included the hi-hat (with his foot) into a lot of his pattern-oriented playing, and seemed to have complete independence.

The music speaks for itself. If you'd like to hear some totally awesome examples of this man's playing, I'm hosting quite a few previously-unpublished concert recordings of Buddy and his bands, on my site (free to download for personal use) at http://www.mikejamesjazz.com/br_clips.html This is done with Cathy Rich's knowledge and permission. (Buddy's daughter - http://www.buddyrich.com - I'm a moderator on that forum.)

Enjoy this incredible music and drumming!
 
It is wonderful to see so many Buddy Rich fans. He inspired me to both play the drums and take up martial arts. He is the Grand Master. Way ahead of his time. I especially liked his crossover moves. He was self taught also, probably no one can beat his hi-hat work. His age never seemed to slow him down. I hear he was an Angry Elf, but he always seemed gracious on the tube.
 
Mr. Drums "Buddy Rich"

When was the first time you drummers found the master for the first time. I came upon him on the Christmas of 1975 when I was 5 yrs old and it changed me till this very day!
 
Re: MR. DRUMS "BUDDY RICH"

Actually, i saw him in the movie "School of Rock" and even though i could not hear the sound, the small part that showed him looked amazing, so i somehow found a video of it online. Blew my mind.
 
Re: MR. DRUMS "BUDDY RICH"

really?

where in school of rock was this clip

probably around half way into the movie, they are playing this song by the ramones, and they do this little thing where the drummer kid is watching 3 clips, one is buddy, one is keith moon, and the other is some jazz guy i forget his name.
 
Re: Mr. Drums "Buddy Rich"

When I was about 6 or 7 I was at Disneyland with my family and we came upon a big band playing in Dixieland. I remember being mesmerized by the drummer and didn't even want to leave. I later found out it was Buddy Rich.
 
Re: Mr. Drums "Buddy Rich"

it was probably in the mid 60's. Buddy's band was the house band on a summer replacement show on CBS that was hosted by Buddy Greco. i didn't know who Buddy was but my dad did and told me to watch his band. so i've been hooked ever since!!
 
Re: Mr. Drums "Buddy Rich"

The first time I heard Buddy was in the early '40s when my teenage cousins were playing Artie Shaw records. I remember listening to "Traffic Jam" with Buddy swinging away. Good grief, am I that old?
 
Re: Mr. Drums "Buddy Rich"

I'm sure it had to be on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. I can't give you a date because I was a fan of the show almost from the very beginning and I remember him being on the show many times.
 
Re: Mr. Drums "Buddy Rich"

When I was about 12 or 13 my grandparents gave me a Vic Firth promotional cassette that the music store was selling. It was a tape of one of Buddy's Solos and it blew me away. I couldn't imagine how someone could be so fast on the drums...it wasn't human.

I still wish I had that tape.

My dad actually saw him when he was in school. Buddy came to his high school of all places, but the apparently the idiot running the spot light focused it on his bass drum so you couldn't see much. I'm sure Buddy was mad as hell after that.

My old drum teacher actually met Buddy and got to play his set. He got to see him backstage after a show and Buddy said "You're a drummer huh? Let's see what you can do" and he handed him the sticks and then walked away *lol* But he got to play his drums for a few minutes. He said his drums were CRANKED. The snare felt like a rock.
 
Re: Mr. Drums "Buddy Rich"

I first heard Buddy when I was in the 7th grade, around 1973. For some reason he was on location with Wide World of Sports on TV and played Wipe Out ( of all things ) like it's never been played before or since.
After high school I got to see him in person a few times . The first was at a small dinner club in my hometown ( quite a small town on the outskirts of Orange County , Ca. )
The other times were at Disneyland. Each time I was fortunate to be within a few feet of
Buddy and got to meet him and get his autograph between sets. I only saw him these few times, but never saw him say no to an autograph request.
Needless to say , his playing was amazing each time.
 
Re: Mr. Drums "Buddy Rich"

I can't remember when I first saw Buddy--probably on the Tonight show--but I did see him in person once.
I was in 7th or 8th grade ('77 or '78), and I saw him at an area high school.

I got his auograph, and could have gotten a pair of his sticks if I would have taken them off his kit between sets....but 'back then' no one would really think of doing that.

Nowadays kids would just snatch them.

I do remember the band and his playing was great and he was really nice when I asked for his autograph.
He was funny with the audience too.
 
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