The Grand Master Buddy Rich

cbphoto said:
During that era, I think Joe Morello was a better drummer. Better in technique, tone, composition, accompanying, soloing, and attitude.

Why did Rich get all this attention? My guess is American TV media used his brash style to sell advertising, and something stuck.

From what I can find, Take Five sold far more albums and got much more radio play than anything Rich did.
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Agreed 100%. Buddy had an incredible buzz roll, and I’ve never seen Morello play a buzz roll, so I can’t compare on that area, but overall Morello is definitely more my idol than Buddy.
 
Id say thats an accurate description. I say that about Vinnie too. Id probably say it about Tony as well, but I still need to understand him better.

Very cool seeing the man playing brushes, not sure Ive seen before...but man I wanted him to pick up the sticks and unleash the kraken!!
 
I agree with 8-Mile. Buddy either had the fastest single stroke snare roll or had a way of making the roll sound faster than any other I've heard except maybe Mike Mangini.


Just an observation, just think about these people for a moment - Papa Jo, Buddy, Elvin, Tony, and today, Vinnie, Steve Smith & Gadd, Simon Phillips, etc. They are clearly not human. This may be conclusive proof that Reptilians have long walked amongst us :)
 
Anon La Ply said:
I agree with 8-Mile. Buddy either had the fastest single stroke snare roll or had a way of making the roll sound faster than any other I've heard except maybe Mike Mangini.


Just an observation, just think about these people for a moment - Papa Jo, Buddy, Elvin, Tony, and today, Vinnie, Steve Smith & Gadd, Simon Phillips, etc. They are clearly not human. This may be conclusive proof that Reptilians have long walked amongst us :)
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Buddy was undoubtedly the CLEANEST player ever, and that’s why he sounded so fast. But focusing that much on playing clean is going to slow you down a bit, so...
 
TK-421 said:
I've been playing drums since the early 80s, and that entire time it's been a "known fact" that Buddy Rich was the greatest drummer of all time. Ask any of the big name drummers who the greatest is, and everyone from Neil Peart to Weckl will all pretty much say the same thing.

But is he really the greatest of all time? Taken literally, that means he's the best drummer who has ever lived. But when I see the amazingly intricate polyrhythms and four-limb independence of drummers like Marco Minnemann and Thomas Lang, the extreme creativity of drummers like Gavin Harrison and Benny Greb, and the new crop of ultra-talented jazz virtuosos like Antonio Sanchez, Eric Harland and Keith Carlock, I can't help but think that drumming has really evolved to a whole new level since Buddy's days.

I've watched a lot of Buddy Rich videos, and while he was obviously great, I think his biggest strength was his showmanship. He had a very flashy way of playing that endeared him to audiences, yet to my ears he's a very busy player who relied mostly on his ultra-quick hands, and did little with his feet. Of course intricate double bass drumming didn't really begin to be a thing until years after his death, but to me that's kind of the point. Today's top drummers are doing things that Buddy and his contemporaries couldn't even conceive of back then. So yes, I think drumming has evolved, and perhaps Buddy isn't the greatest of all time.

Is he one of the greats? Of course. Is he the greatest of his time? While I prefer Elvin Jones and Joe Morello, I have no problem giving Buddy that title. I'd even be okay with calling him greatest big band drummer of all time (with apologies to Tommy Igoe). But greatest drummer of all time? I think that may have been the case at one point, but if you really think about it, probably no longer holds true.

A bit sacrilegious, I know.
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How many threads like this exist here? Or how many discussions like this are there? Who's great? Who isn't great? I think you don't really have to agree with anyone on who's the greatest, just acknowledge that they were great.

You can argue about Buddy's hands or whatnot, but you cannot argue about how many people he reached with his drumming. That in and of itself is awesome. Who wouldn't want that chance to be playing to millions of people throughout their lifetime, and touching people in a way that nobody else does? You can say Krupa and Roach did it, but all those greats did it in a slightly different way. Buddy did it in his own way.

This is like asking if William Shatner is a good actor. You can say he sucks and if Star Trey didn't come along, nobody would know who he was, but you cannot argue about the career the man still has. He can't really walk the streets without everybody recognizing him. Buddy had that kind of career, who wouldn't want that? If people think he's not the greatest, you still have to admit what he accomplished is very cool.
 
Id say he did the best drum solos, as far as the masses are concerned, of all time. He was a force of nature on and off the drums. I always wondered who the best smelling drummer of all time is? If I was a pro, Id be a contender, I smell terrific.
 
Many of the old heroes had far better technique than those who don't really know about them think.

As a drummer in his time few could match Buddy.

Talk about modern players in prog and metal makes little sense, but to comment. Few play dynamically and most can't swing worth shit. It's a completely different approach to playing and music.

Then, what meant by greatness?

In the music world he has a name everybody knows, like Jimi Hendrix. Not even Vinnie has that, only in musician circles.

Gene Krupa was a star, but again today, not a name one the common man's tongue.
 
It sounds like he's trying to emulate Sinatra doesn't it-his voice isn't bad (just dead lol) but his no Frank. Odd he picked such a slow song given his penchant to go wild on drums. Maybe he should have sung scat-then his singing and what he was singing would at least match LOL. Dang cruel GetAgrippa-it's Xmas. I'm sorry Buddy you're the "Greatest" drummer (even with a conventional forehead) ever but you can't sing man-you'd be yelling at yourself in your own band for coming to practice ill prepared with that chip.
 
GetAgrippa said:
It sounds like he's trying to emulate Sinatra doesn't it-his voice isn't bad (just dead lol) but his no Frank. Odd he picked such a slow song given his penchant to go wild on drums. Maybe he should have sung scat-then his singing and what he was singing would at least match LOL. Dang cruel GetAgrippa-it's Xmas. I'm sorry Buddy you're the "Greatest" drummer (even with a conventional forehead) ever but you can't sing man-you'd be yelling at yourself in your own band for coming to practice ill prepared with that chip.
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If there was ever drumming that was hard to scat replicate, its gotta be Buddys. Might sound like my vocal impression of a machine gun.
 
Boring to say the least. Then again I wasn't infatuated with Sinatra. I guess it depends when you're born as to who influences you. You do notice that Buddy never did stop playing drums and "thrill" us with his dream of crooning. Who knows? Maybe he could have been a master at the oboe. No wait. He'd be absolutely great as human speed dialer in a call center.
 
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