Jazz Articles about Buddy Rich

Buddy Rich: Man From Planet Jazz

by David Rickert
August 16, 2007

Nobody's really clamoring for big band recordings from 1980 these days, and it's probably the case that no one was back then, either. But it's also true that drummer Buddy Rich never really gave a damn what anybody thought about what he did, which is what makes this live set from Ronnie Scott's worth a listen.

Many big bands went astray by incorporating modern sounds into their arsenal out of economic necessity. Rich is no different; here he ...

Buddy Rich and his Band: The Lost Tapes

by Ty Cumbie
May 10, 2006

Buddy Rich The Lost Tapes Light Year Entertainment 2005

The hyperbole about Buddy Rich can get pretty deep. He's commonly referred to as the best drummer ever. This is much like granting Sinatra King of Crooners status - for many this brash supremism is based on a standard of style and sensibility we don't find so pretty. It's like saying the steamroller is the greatest wheeled vehicle of all time. That's true maybe, if ...

Buddy Rich: The Lost Tapes

by Jack Bowers
December 9, 2005

Buddy Rich and His Band The Lost Tapes Lightyear Entertainment 2005 In April 1985 --two years before his untimely passing --Buddy Rich and his band recorded a concert at One Pass Productions' King Street Studio in San Francisco using state-of-the-art equipment designed to capture the band “in a typically 'live' . . . setting with natural acoustic balances and three-dimensional imaging. The concert, the last one Buddy ever recorded for video release, ...

Buddy Rich Band: No Funny Hats

by Rusty Aceves
July 22, 2005

Musically, as he seemed to be in life, Buddy Rich was practically bulletproof. For that reason, Lightyear's recent release of this 1978 performance is really beyond criticism, and for Rich fans, a newly issued live recording is cause for celebration. Regardless, this set is as representative of the power and authority of the drummer and his band in prime form as anything else in his catalog. The level of performance Rich demanded of his bands and himself ...

Buddy Rich At the Top

by John Kelman
July 17, 2004

Rescued from obscurity by Hudson Music, At the Top was a one-hour '73 performance of Buddy Rich and the Buddy Rich Big Band originally broadcast on Public Television in the United States. While the audio quality is a touch muddy, symptomatic of the recording capabilities for television at the time, it serves as an outstanding document of Rich as bandleader, arranger and performer. Bold and brash, never short on ego, Rich led his big band like an army troop and ...

Buddy Rich: The Channel One Suite

by Steven McBride
November 25, 2003

In April of 1985, two of Buddy Rich’s historic sets: The Channel One Suite, and West Side Story were recorded at One Pass Production’s King Street Studio in San Francisco. The tapes were among the first ever recorded with a Digital Surround track and had never been released in their original form with surround sound. But in 1990 the worst occurred – a fire broke out and all was thought to be lost as most of the studio was destroyed. ...

Buddy Rich: Keep the Customer Satisfied

by Michael Fortuna
July 1, 2001

Traps the Drum Wonder stayed true to this album title.The recent reissue of Pacific Jazz's Keep the Customer Satisfied collects Buddy Rich and his big band's three-night stint at Las Vegas' Tropicana Hotel in 1970.Six of the 13 tracks didn't make the album the first time around, but now they've been polished off to give listeners an added bonus of the band's chops.Rich always demanded 110 percent of his musicians, and it shows immensely ...