Buddy Rich was my first drum hero. He was a big part of the reason I became a drummer. He was the reason I spent hour after hour, with my metronome and practice pad, out on my front porch, practicing out of Stick Control and Master Studies.
It’s sad to me that when Buddy’s name is mentioned to a lot of musicians, all they can talk about is what a difficult type of human being he supposedly was. I’m sure he was no saint. Most of us aren’t. However, I simply admired him for his talent, his ability to inspire me. No matter what anybody says to the contrary, Buddy Rich really was an amazing player.
Dave Divis, my drum instructor, first introduced me to Buddy’s playing. I think he lent me a couple of his albums. I made cassette copies of them, and listened to them constantly in my car my high school years. My friends probably thought I was a bit strange.
Dave eventually took me to see Buddy Rich play live in Lincoln, NE. Needless to say, I was completely floored. His soloing was fabulous of course, but I also remember how exciting the band was. Buddy recruited the absolute best players from Berkeley College Of Music, and North Texas University. The result was a screaming band with more excitement, energy and power than many rock bands I’ve seen.
I was fortunate to get to see Buddy live again 6 months before he died. He sounded better than ever. I’ve often felt that if all the young drummers today got a chance to hear a jazz group as exciting as The Buddy Rich Band, more of them would get excited about playing jazz. More of them would get really excited about really learning how to play the drums well.
Fortunately for us, we at least have some great videos of Buddy Rich playing live.
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