Buddy Rich Big Band

[JSngry]

Section players.

[Mark Stryker]

Hey, here's another episode:

 

And a third:

 

[Mark Stryker]

Halfway through the third episode, there's an interesting short commercial/PSA for the Watts Summer Festival, which apparently is the oldest African-American cultural festival in the country, having started in 1966. The ad features founder Billy Tidwell and drummer Stix Hooper. I assume this was a "local" spot that aired only in Los Angeles or the West Coast. I've cued it up below, and here's a fascinating obit of Tidwell that ran in the LA Times in 2001. http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jun/29/local/me-16582

 

 

Edited September 30, 2018 by Mark Stryker

[JSngry]

Wow, Stix Hooper!

Pleasantly surprised to see Rich included in the comedy sketches, reinforces my perception of him as being, at root, a "show guy", and not in a bad way. Old school vaudeville type show biz, where you bust your ass to be able to cover all the bases just so you can work. Professional.

[Ted O'Reilly]

10 hours ago, Quasimado said:

Conte is young - or old?

Born in 1927, and if this is 1974 as said, he'd be 47ish.  Good Lew Tabackin tenor solo...  Interesting that Rich compliments the band for cutting the chart so well.  Probably ran through it just once or twice in a rehearsal.  Good for Rich to play a completely different drum kit, especially that Shaughnessy setup with twin bass drums.

[Teasing the Korean]

Buddy Rich in London is in queue for a scrub on the Nitty Gritty!

[JSngry]

Look mum, it's like Sal and Carmen!

 

[Mark Stryker]

In case anybody missed it the first time around, I wrote this about Buddy a few years ago for Ethan Iverson's blog. https://ethaniverson.com/2015/03/01/traps-the-drum-wonder-by-mark-stryker/

[JSngry]

Really, there's something quite Tony Williams-ish about how Buddy kept up a constant chatter with the band and soloists on those "jazz-rock" charts. Not with his time, but just with his textures.

[medjuck]

I once saw Buddy on (I think) the Johnny Carson show where he was preceded by a child prodigy. When Buddy came on he began to imitate the kid.  It was a bit cruel and incredibly funny. 

The only Buddy Rich band music I have is a concert I got from Wolfgang's Vault. It's from the 1975 Newport Jazz Festival in NY.  They band is anchored by an electric bass and of course the drums-- sometimes at velocities that overwhelm the soloists but not the drummer. Because of this thread I put it on my iPod when I went to the Y this morning.  Great workout music. 

[JSngry]

6 minutes ago, medjuck said:

-- sometimes at velocities that overwhelm the soloists but not the drummer.

Those tempos...Buddy makes it easy for the band in that he pretty much plays the chart with them, they just needed to go with him. Ride along and don't doze.

Solo-wise, I'm reminded of something that Freddie Hubbard said about Max Roach. He said that Max was all about the fast tempos, forget about catching a break, that's not gonna happen. Freddie said that he finally cracked that nut by not bothering about counting, to just relax about that and just ride the pulse, don't think, play.

I don't know that Buddy's bands ever had soloists at that level (although the one time I heard them, Pat LaBarbara did a nice enough job), but here's an outtake where it seems like Ernie Watts was offered the speed test and accepted it. Points for trying!

 

[JSngry]

Uh....

 

[Larry Kart]

14 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Uh....

 

Oh, my...

 

[sgcim]

40 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Uh....

 

You should've waited till Halloween to post that. He look like EL Diablo!

[sidewinder]

4 hours ago, sgcim said:

You should've waited till Halloween to post that. He look like EL Diablo!

Playboy towers, Chicago? That looks like one of those Heffner TV shows.

[gmonahan]

Every time I watch Buddy on one of these film clips, I wonder how many drum heads he smashed through on any given evening.

 

 

gregmo

[JSngry]

33 minutes ago, gmonahan said:

Every time I watch Buddy on one of these film clips, I wonder how many drum heads he smashed through on any given evening.

 

 

gregmo

My guess would be few, if any. He was not in any way a pounder, he was very controlled. I don't think a body could play that fast by pounding.

[Mark Stryker]

On 10/2/2018 at 8:56 AM, JSngry said:

Really, there's something quite Tony Williams-ish about how Buddy kept up a constant chatter with the band and soloists on those "jazz-rock" charts. Not with his time, but just with his textures.

Agreed.

 

 

Hey, here's another one. CRAZY first tune -- Bill Reddie's "Machine" with choreography that's half West Side Story and half elementary school playground. Dig the band going in circles on space age teeter-totters and Jay Corre getting pushed around in a wagon during his solo. Obviously,, it's all dubbed, but Rich makes a joke about it to Greco after the number: "All that with two drums!" 

The introduction to Greco's "Moment of Truth" is new "Milestones." I wonder who wrote the chart. Marty Paich?

Cathy Rich -- just 13 I think -- singing "The Beat Goes On." It's better than on the record. Rocking the Twiggy look too.

 

 

Edited October 7, 2018 by Mark Stryker

[JSngry]

"Machine" with acoustic bass, wow!

I love incorporating the dancers with the band (or is it the other way around?). That's some badass TV, in all kinds of ways.

I'm going to have to go back and listen to Side 1 of The New One with all this in mind, seriously.

Now...did they do "Standing Up In A Hammock" on this show?

 

OMG, this episode has Cathy Rich and "The Beat Goes On". No matter what, that chart...

[Mark Stryker]

16 minutes ago, JSngry said:

"Machine" with acoustic bass, wow!

I love incorporating the dancers with the band (or is it the other way around?). That's some badass TV, in all kinds of ways.

I'm going to have to go back and listen to Side 1 of The New One with all this in mind, seriously.

Now...did they do "Standing Up In A Hammock" on this show?

 

OMG, this episode has Cathy Rich and "The Beat Goes On". No matter what, that chart...

 "The best Goes On" arranged by Shorty Rogers, yes?  Some "Sidewinder" in there but great ensemble shouts in the intro and throughout. Half-step rubs in the middle of all that ...

[JSngry]

That's what I'm talking about, those half-steps. Played loudly, proudly, and certainly mean to bite.

[Mark Stryker]

Is it just me or is there a Raymond Scott vibe to “Machine” — the character of the bass line and the ensemble riff and the repetition, etc.?

Edited October 7, 2018 by Mark Stryker

[JSngry]

No, I think that's legit, at least subliminally.

http://www.jazzwax.com/2010/02/bobby-shew-on-buddy-rich-part-3.html

JW: What about Reddie's other charts?
BS: After West Side Story Medley became popular, he brought in Channel One Suite and Machine. They were taken out of his Casino De Paris show at the Dunes. I know because I played both of them there when I sat in.

JW: What was the origin of Channel One Suite?
BS: The Dunes show included a paper prop of a humongous TV screen. Showgirls came through the back of it. The channel on the prop was set to Channel 1. Bill just took that piece and brought it into Buddy's band. It was a great chart.

JW: The same thing with Machine?
BS: Yes. On the Casino De Paris stage, they had a machine set up. You know, The Octopus ride they used to have at amusement parks in the 1960s? It was black with all these mechanized tentacles and open cars attached. People would sit in the cars and get whizzed around when the tentacles started moving. Except in the revue, showgirls were in the cars. The song Bill wrote for this was called Machine.

[Larry Kart]

 

Anyone know or care about the Neal Peart Rich-tribute album "Burning for Buddy" (the first of two from that source and by that name)? Just picked up Vol. 1 at a library sale today and am a few tracks into it. Probably none of the drummers is a replacement for Rich, but the band itself, mostly Rich grads, is impressive:

 

• Bass – Chuck Bergeron
• Guitar – Bill Beaudoin, Chuck Loeb, John Hart
• Piano – Jon Werking
• Saxophone – Andy Fusco, Dave D'Angelo, Jack Stuckey, Steve Marcus, Walt Weiskopf
• Saxophone [Tenor], Flute – Gary Keller
• Trombone – George Gesslein, John Mosca, Rick Trager
• Trumpet – Craig Johnson (2), Dan Collette*, Dave Stahl, Greg Gisbert, Joe Magnarelli, Mike Ponella,Bob Milikan*, Ross Konikoff, Scott Wendholt, Tony Kadleck

 

Here are the drummers involved:

 

TracklistHide Credits

1	Dancing Men Drums – Simon Phillips	6:37
2	Mercy, Mercy, Mercy Drums – Dave Weckl	5:09
3	Love For Sale Drums – Steve Gadd	4:30
4	Beulah Witch Drums – Matt Sorum	4:30
5	Nutville Drums – Steve Smith (5)	5:06
6	Cotton Tail Drums – Neil Peart	4:36
7	No Jive Drums – Manu KatchéPercussion – Mino Cinelu	5:46
8	Milestones Drums – Billy Cobham	5:05
9	The Drum Also Waltzes (Part One) Drums – Max Roach	1:04
10	Machine Drums – Rod Morgenstein	3:46
11	Straight No Chaser Drums – Kenny Aronoff	3:34
12	Slo-Funk Drums – Omar Hakim	5:33
13	Shawnee Drums – Ed Shaughnessy	3:06
14	Drumorello Drums – Joe Morello	3:18
15	The Drum Also Waltzes (Part Two) Drums – Max Roach	0:48
16	Lingo Drums – Bill BrufordKeyboards – John Werking*	4:31
17	Ya Gotta Try Drums – Marvin "Smitty" Smith	3:17
18	Pick Up The Pieces Drums – Steve FerronePercussion – Kenny Aronoff, Neil Peart

[JSngry]

Am I seeing that right? Is Max really on that record?

I would probably not be interested in that record, to be honest. My interest in the Buddy Rich Big Band is, nowadays, the leader himself, and not really his playing per se, just the human intensity that he was able to summon so fully for so long. There's a tenacity there that fascinates me, because as arrogant as he no doubt was, there's a deeper humility there...the way he talked about Big Sid & Jo Jones...he might not have been humble in the generally-accepted way, but he was honest about himself, what he was doing, and the very real awareness that the bar had been set so high in so many ways by people who came before him. I'd like to think that that was why he was such a maniac and perfectionist, simply because he knew that when it comes time to play, fucking around and not being 100% committed is a spiritual crime.