Buddy Rich - Jazz Legend '70 to '87

at the age of 50 when many jazz musicians especially drummers have either slowed down or fallen into a musical rut Buddy Rich was reaching his peak technically he was even more phenomenal that that's possible his playing had advanced and evolved and he insisted on the most contemporary and driving of arrangements Buddy Rich once again had become a bona fide star I never think about how old I am or you know I only think about how good I feel when I play and because I feel good playing I think I'm playing better I think my coordination is probably better I think my ideas are better and I have a better time playing it's not as much work as it used to be buddy in the band were seemingly everywhere whether on tour in Europe as guests on every major network television show and increasingly in college and high school concerts most of the veterans of the 1967 group found studio work more lucrative than the road and many of the band members were being recruited directly from music school and the band's book began to include rock tunes and contemporary rhythms being on the Buddy Rich man was not always easy whatever they played he drove his players mercilessly he only insisted on one thing 100% sheer perfection when you know you can do something well why deny it to yourself and why do the humble bit to people when they go up to you and say Dee it sounded really good why I say Oh shucks if you think you sounded good why not say yes it was good that you're not lying about it be good you can't deny it why did not you say listen to records today you can't tell me one run another engineers have now decided that there's only one drum sounds if you can't tell who's playing because every drum sounds alike the latest fill in for another played tripperz at the top time is not so totally acceptable to me never so that you can't tell who's playing because there's really no creativity guys I think I have a good here I can't tell you one drummer from you you the part about a buddy expecting a high level of quality from the people that he played with you know and as strong as he could get and as aggravated as he could get then I don't think that have showed the real sensitivity of the man but he was definitely an extraordinarily sensitive insightful man and much more articulate than most people would suspect I'll use Dizzy Gillespie's words does he told me he said he said your friend Bernard is crazy he said it isn't good enough for him to go out there and give a hundred percent every night he's got to go out and give a hundred and twenty so I think thinking along those lines that that that that when the guys weren't really coming up to what it is buddy knew they could actually do and put out and they kind of Goble on their their own par he would get really crazed I saw this dear man give day be tough his last five dollars once buddy had his own band at the time scuffling like anybody else would and it has a big van where you have tremendous expenses and I knew that he had that $5 good we had been conversing before that and when Davey came along he needed some money to get home some car fare and buddy took that $5 and gave it to him that's what kind of person he was I'm complicated and I'm simple and I mixed up and I'm straight and I'm angry I'm happy and I'm all of those things just like you are the Buddy Rich big band never had a hit tune per se but perhaps its most well remembered an oft requested piece of work was a ranger bill Reddy's concert piece West Side Story with its changes in tempo key and time signatures and mood it represented quite simply a monumental challenge to Buddy Rich full of flame drummer I think is the play for the kind of a band that I have the kind of people that I enjoy this regime and giving me a chance to express how I feel about music when you're working for somebody else you have to assume the personality of that dieter and that music for playing the drums in the jazz band gives you a command of yourself and you can interpret the things you feel with your own band which is something that you can't do you you you you you you by 1974 he was tired of the road and he wanted to spend more time with his family the solution came in the form of a New York City nightclub that would feature buddy on a sextet several times per year and booked other named jazz groups when buddy went on the road the club was christened buddy's place and although buddy had no ownership interest he did demand that it be run his way musically the small group was marvelous and he drove it as strongly as he did any big band you you I think aside from going and hearing and play I know for me sitting backstage or in the audience and when he would finish the set come down and talk and that to me some nights were so hysterically funny I mean he was always funny but there were nights when it was actually like a stand-up routine where he would come down and just talk to the crowd and and throw things out and his wit and his climbing were so impeccable I mean that was another side of him I think that you know people that saw him on television a lot you know on talk shows I think we're just as happy to hear him talk as to watch him play would you welcome mr. humble Buddy Rich are you under I'm good me too Disneyland Disneyland for the rest of the week for the rest of it yep what kind of crowd you get out there young people oh yeah you know old people people people people swell people all kinds of people are you looking at I'm looking at you I don't I have not seen you for a while in a long time now what do we have just oh every time you come on here right I go home or next day people say what's with you and Buddy Rich don't you like each other you sit there why don't we do a sensible okay let's really be some interview and then in depth and find out something about you okay rather than just coming out here okay and being silly I will tell you anything you want to know all right you said an interview if you could come back as anybody I may be putting this man old article you'd like to come back as Bruce Lee yeah definitely why because he was the kind of guy I'd like to come back as this isn't going to work I mean why prettily without oh you didn't want to go through life going you GI how you want to do that rest your life just think that he was a perfect specimen I just thought that everything he did was just marvelous he was great martial artist he was a great actor and a nice guy did you know him No he died rather prematurely didn't as he did he doesn't tell me that he was only about 20 30 31 he was 33 years old what happened I died we got the first indication that I had that I personally had that he had influenced young groups of drummers coming up I guess is when the band started playing the film ours when they were on the bill with people like Steppenwolf and 10 years after and the WHO and things like that and all the drummers and those bands were freaking out because buddy was on the show and then I was my first big band to see Billy Buddy Rich you know I was unbelievable experience I must have been out 12 or 13 I had was clutching my record merci merci you know went into his dressing room and you know said that hello sir could you could you sign this said yeah signed it it's a but that was it you know and ever since then you know I used to look at the pictures on the records set up my drums exactly the same way you know and big big influence very big influence you assign a role you say okay buddy which is the best drummer in the world you don't really you know you just accept it as a reality and I think I went through many years just accepting it without ever having to go back to the records or re-examine that opinion basically and having the opportunity to do that as just it wasn't astonishing just how good he was I developed a bit of a relationship with him in the mid to late 70s and early 80s I just followed him everywhere I could he was playing in Jersey quite a bit he was always very nice to me and he he took the time to answer my questions and to actually even show me stuff on his drums you hear so many stories of Buddy Rich and life on the road and on the bandstand and I think I got to see a bit of the real man Buddy Rich through the years those drummers would come in here the band they would come backstage and see him and it was interesting to me to see how these guys who were already stars in their own right in a whole other genre of music or also you know their to meet buddy and to be you know by the band and his music and stuff so it was cool I saw him play in a club and Birmingham Alabama it was great because that was the first time I had seen him live and boy he was he was blazed and he was leading that band and kicking that music man it was it was a lot of fun he invited me on his tour bus you know he said hey I know you are you know and he talked about you know he actually had heard some things that I had done and and it was the gas you know somebody that you admire like that you know when when they when they know what you're doing it it does blow your mind you know I mean the one thing that that uh you know nobody can dispute is that that guy's left hand was amazing it was like his left hand was like Fred Astaire it just tap-danced through the song you know accenting with the band but yet another melody it was just like a whole nother little melody going on dancing along and when until you try to imitate this thing you you have no idea how difficult it is it's not just the notes it's the dynamics it's the accents the musicality of it all buddy really it made a strong impact on the music and on the scene and definitely on the instrument I mean you have to respect power like that you know very strong and that's the way I like it strong and come out strong and give it to him and and don't hold back a bit and that that's definitely buddy April of 1975 brought a return to the musical format that he loved the big bang I returned to the year long road grind of concerts clubs festivals television high schools and colleges was in evidence I'm in a position to say that if I got tired of it I wouldn't do it I do it because I love it literally have a great time with my band when my band is really good I'm the happiest guy in the world when it's fair I'm pretty happy traveling again I go all over the world so how can that be a bore it's okay this life is okay when can you do your number oh and it's have you want me to gurmann uh-huh do you need to talk to the band who needs a band oh no bad fantastic just you want a drum kit whoo these drums Oh me you know what you should be doing this on stage to the stage my dad got the call to come to London and be the Muppet Show and I think he just didn't know how to take that at first he didn't know he didn't open his cartoon or it was a live show or whatever and I talked to him about it and convinced him to go and do it and it was a great experience he loved it he loved working with Jim Henson who was just the consummate professional and the whole experiment was just great actually one of the strangest things I ever saw my father do and he did several strange things was the pilot for the I've got a secret show where they had him strapped in a harness on a platform with a kit all set up and the secret was that he was going to play the drums upside down you in later years people use that same format in their kits and in their sets for doing concerts like Tommy Lee and Carl Palmer and people like that who then levitated their drums and spun around you you as far back as I can remember the Zildjian family was always you know around and when buddy would play in the East Coast they would always come and hear the band Armond in particular and Lenny were always there but he was very close with Armand and Lenny both and I think was sort of a new admiration thing he really really felt great about Armand and I think vice versa the first factory visit that that I can remember when buddy came was when buddy was playing with the Harry James band and he had a Jaguar XKE and he came unannounced into the I just screeching in the yaaaas it kind of had Jesuses Buddy Rich all right he came in he came in you know and he stopped talking and we're having a hell of a time with him we went out back and he's looking at cymbals and he said oh this was no good that was so he's very opinionated you know quick on that so he said it's that funny one you want to make your own symbol you know shave your own Simmons's yeah I'm like that's right that so we yeah took some pictures of them shaven cymbals but uh right you know he he'd get it really get very nice when it wasn't here get to talk to him after the first one was just to give you a song and then then it straightened out and made everything was fun you know at that time on it we were getting ready to do his ride cymbal so I had picked out a whole bunch of ride cymbals and I brought them into the vault so I was standing there and I would you know let buddy try one ride cymbal see if you liked it you know he didn't like it would put it aside now put another one on the cymbal stand I have the cymbal stand about waist-high you know in a normal position buddy started playing one of the ride cymbals and he said it's not high enough so he took another symbol and we put it on and he said it's not high enough and so I bent over and I I'm loosen the wingnut and I brought the cymbal stand up hyah and he goes hey Tommy hey if he a wise guy who's this kept this kid rumba solar doesn't mean where the drum has to sit up there and bang on everything in sight I think that one of the false I've are removed from so let's leave by the young drummers said they think that hitting everything around them whether they have 15 drums or five runs does not make a drum solo so why do you have to play on this neighbour why not play on a wood block while I play sticks or when I play on anything that happens to be there because that's part of the percussion outfit drum solo is the same as a horn solo is the beginning buddy rich absolutely refused to as he once put it cell nostalgia so his feelings were mixed when he was first approached about participating in what was called Buddy Rich a retrospective the life and times of a drum genius the evening at Carnegie Hall was a magnificent one one of the musical high points was arranger John LaBarbera as reworking of Artie Shaw's the Carioca you the joys and often the frustrations of life on the road came to a screeching halt in January of 1983 but he had a history of heart trouble and this was a serious attack culminating in quadruple bypass surgery many believed his playing days were over but buddy once again defied the odds and common sense by opening at Ronnie Scott's Club in England and incredible 54 days after his operation ah you you we usually start off joking no way for a penny for a penny will join but I cannot tell you how happy I am to see you because not over what two months eight weeks ago about ten weeks now about ten weeks you went under quadruple bypass dark surgery right well welcome back how long did dr. say you would take off before you play well they suggest about six months to a year and I went back in eight weeks I flew to London with the band I don't and open in London I don't understand it how can you do that and I'm eight weeks later I feel good I was as a matter of fact I would have felt a lot worse if I had stayed home and started feeling sorry for myself and going to all kinds of bad things which I was going through all right for about the the first five or six weeks I was home I was really I try to play one time right and I didn't have any feeling as my hands and I thought it was all over for me I really did that's the truth what was your done if the doctor said no you can't play for I would have got another doctor so you get a second opinion second opinion go ahead and go back to work kid it appeared that Buddy Rich Believe It or Not had finally mellowed somewhat and he particularly reveled in the role of grandfather his grandson Nicholas was born on September 21st 1984 Kathy's my only child and see another little one that is really is beyond conversation and of course I was in Europe and the baby was born just before we went on stage we were the Royal alcohol and I got a call seven pounds seven ounces and I went out there and dropped all the sticks and fell over my drummers and did everything wrong wherever he appeared the second most oft requested item in the rich book was another bill ready jazz suite of souls channel 1 sweep his drum soloing on that composition was never anything less than dazzling you buddies blast public appearance was January 15 1987 when he performed in a PBS tribute to Tommy Dorsey he never seemed happier never appeared more mellow and he never played better he died from complications of a cancerous brain tumor on April 2nd 1987 I would say that there's nobody that could play any better than Buddy Rich as far as solos all around playing it just was no such animal around you know if you could play up to him and fine you know and but nobody that could do anything that any better how will Buddy Rich be remembered well as I said in my book about buddy Louis Armstrong Duke Ellington Benny Goodman Bix Beiderbecke and Art Tatum were among the few who led the way and were worthy of the term genius Buddy Rich stands right alongside those giants of jazz he was a musical phenomenon one of a kind we will never see his like again so said I'm up Joe I got a little story you ought to know I'm feeling so bad feelin so bad bad bad bad sorry hope you make the music creamy and sand so make it one for my baby and one more for the room

Channel: Crazy 8s Drums

Views: 309,875

Keywords: buddy rich, jazz legend

Id: qg15mruZDzY

Length: 77min 37sec (4657 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 09 2013