Buddy Rich as a kid

[MarkRhodes]

[MarkRhodes]

Long as we're here, as an adult:

[citizenk74]

Cat could play.

[Doctor Jeff]

Waiting for the movie version featuring Fred Armisen...

[Gitfiddler]

The "drum battle of the century" was one of my favorite Buddy Rich events.

[Marinero]

Great clips, M!
Buddy was a natural born musician. You can't teach that stuff to the average cat.
Play live . . . Marinero

[Doctor Jeff]

Long as we're here, as an adult:

Really he has few peers. As this clip shows, not only does he keep the beat like a metronome, and liven things up with the usual fills and rolls, he responds to what the soloists are playing and riffs on that. A lot of guys can play around the drumkit like a boss, but to be able to do what he does in the context of a small combo requires an incredible ear and concentration and talent that few people have.

[Doctor Jeff]

BTW, might as well throw this out there...he was famous for being an A-hole.

But there are 3 kinds of A-holes.

People you work with for one reason or another despite their being an A-hole...usually temporarily.

People you would NEVER work again with BECAUSE they're such an A-hole.

And people you go out of your way to work with despite their A-holery because they are so brilliant and you get so much out of the process.

Buddy seems to me to be the latter. It's well known that he and Sinatra used to argue and get into literal fist fights, but Sinatra remained friends with him and even eulogized him at his funeral.

[Doctor Jeff]

Lots of Buddy stories out there but just came across this one:

In Peter J. Levinson's bio of Tommy Dorsey "Livin' In A Great Big Way" the author draws compelling comparisons of the young Buddy Rich, the young Frank Sinatra and the maturer Tommy Dorsey. Levinson contends that Rich and Sinatra were ambitious, driven, dedicated men who modeled their behavior on the equally ambitious, driven and dedicated father figure, Tommy Dorsey. He also believes this was why the three of them could not stay together for very long without conflict. What incredible collisions occurred in that band.

At one point after Rich left Dorsey and his replacement Alvin Stolley also gave Tommy some trouble. According to Levinson, Tommy remarked "There are three rotten bums in this world - Buddy Rich, you (Stoller) and Hitler - and I have had two of them in my band."

Still Dorsey kept taking Rich back. He knew talent when he saw it.

[sgcim]

Lots of Buddy stories out there but just came across this one:

In Peter J. Levinson's bio of Tommy Dorsey "Livin' In A Great Big Way" the author draws compelling comparisons of the young Buddy Rich, the young Frank Sinatra and the maturer Tommy Dorsey. Levinson contends that Rich and Sinatra were ambitious, driven, dedicated men who modeled their behavior on the equally ambitious, driven and dedicated father figure, Tommy Dorsey. He also believes this was why the three of them could not stay together for very long without conflict. What incredible collisions occurred in that band.

At one point after Rich left Dorsey and his replacement Alvin Stolley also gave Tommy some trouble. According to Levinson, Tommy remarked "There are three rotten bums in this world - Buddy Rich, you (Stoller) and Hitler - and I have had two of them in my band."

Still Dorsey kept taking Rich back. He knew talent when he saw it.

I used to work with a clarinet/sax player in that version of the Dorsey band named Joe Dixon. He had the dubious distinction of being Buddy Rich's roommate for one of their tours.
One day they had a minor argument about something, and the next thing he knew, Buddy knocked him out flat on his back with one punch!

[Doctor Jeff]

I used to work with a clarinet/sax player in that version of the Dorsey band named Joe Dixon. He had the dubious distinction of being Buddy Rich's roommate for one of their tours.
One day they had a minor argument about something, and the next thing he knew, Buddy knocked him out flat on his back with one punch!

I believe Buddy was a black belt in Karate, so one should be careful about pushing him too hard.

In my field (medicine) we lament the loss of the true "characters"--the talented eccentrics who create so many incredible stories. The same with music in general.

The Charlie Parkers...Keith Moons...Joe Walshes (pre-sober)...James Browns...Ginger Bakers...Janis Joplins...

Nowadays we have nice guys like Donnie McCaslin and Brad Meldau and Sturgill Simpson and Taylor Swift...doubt they've ever shown up late for a rehearsal, much less pawned an instrument or thrown a TV through a hotel window into a swimming pool.

Oh sure they're more reliable, but are they as much fun?