Buddy Rich - The Light Side, The Dark Side, and Somewhere in between

[Darren]

by the way guys I think vinnie is a great great drummer too but he just didn't fit in with that band just don't get me wrong about the great talent that man has.  The difference between buddy and anybody else was, rich fit in with any band from the day he started pro drumming.

[Jon E]

(The following statement is made with complete comfort in my own masculinity:)

Gene was cuter than Buddy!

Then again, EVERYBODY was cuter than Buddy!
I think image was starting to be part of the music world even as those two took their places.

Also,
I met Buddy Rich once after a show.  I was about 13 and really just starting as a drumset drummer.  He called me onto his bus where he sat in the A/C to sign autographs.  Though I cannot remember what we talked about (probably had something to do with drums!), our 3 or 4 minute conversation was very pleasant, and he was all teeth and smiles.  A great moment in my life.  THAT is the only Buddy Rich I know personally.

Now, he could have torn the whole band new a**holes once the bus got rolling, but that day, at that moment he was as great, and as cordial as I could have ever hoped.

[RHSquonk]

In 1979 I had the privilige of seeing Buddy play live. I was all hot on the drummers of the day and my grandfather though I needed some perspective. Boy was he right! I had never seen ( and never since) anything like him. amazing.
I also had a similar experience to Jon E.'s. I met with him for an autograph ( which is still my prized possesion...after the bride of course  ;) ) and shook his hand. I don't think I washed it for a week. I also spent the next few days at the library getting anything I could find with him playing and listened until I wore the grooves out.
He was soooo nice and as with Jon E., I could not even tell you what we talked about...but the guy took the time to shake hands and speak with this pathetic little kid who worshiped him. Say what you will...THATS a class act.
I have met ALOT of music heavyweights in my time and the only one who left that big an impression on me as Buddy did, was Les Paul (Also a class act).
Buddy was THE MAN and as Gene said...the greatest drummer to ever draw breath.
-RHS

[PJJ]

Just wondering if any of you guys know if Buddy was addicted. I have heard some rumours about this, but cant believe it.  

[Doedrums]

I wonder if ANY of you remember Buddy's appearance on The Muppet show? That man took a pair of sticks and proceeded to play on everything (furniture and any other prop in his path) from his dressing room down the stair (remember the set) and out to the stage with some amazing licks and NEVER missed a beat! I was in high school the first time I saw that and was floored! The punch line was Fozzy Bear saying "Now that playing the HOUSE!"

That folks, it what got me hooked on playing drums!!

[JeepnDrummer]

I wonder if ANY of you remember Buddy's appearance on The Muppet show? That man took a pair of sticks and proceeded to play on everything (furniture and any other prop in his path) from his dressing room down the stair (remember the set) and out to the stage with some amazing licks and NEVER missed a beat! I was in high school the first time I saw that and was floored! The punch line was Fozzy Bear saying "Now that playing the HOUSE!"

Absolutely!  I remember that scene of him on the stairs and he was playing on the railing.  I was in awe!  Funny you should mention that Louderdb, because I often think about it.

Tom

[nudrum]

I just bought Big Swing Face by Buddy Rich, recorded in 1966.
It isn't fantastic but it's got alot of tunes on it, including Love For Sell.
On at least one of his solos I noticed he is doing rimshots on the snare that seem to be changing pitch. Whether he is putting pressure on the head of the drum or what, I don't know. But it is cool ;D!

[Drumbo]

Just wondering if any of you guys know if Buddy was addicted. I have heard some rumours about this, but cant believe it.

Addicted to what? Drugs?

I know of no biographer that has made such an outrageous claim. In "Traps", Mel Torme does say that Buddy was "a life-long pot smoker", although I can't recall him ever making any specific eye-witness accounts. It's not that I disbelieve Mel Torme, Buddy's friend of more than 40 years; but even if true, pot smoking is hardly considered an addiction.

The John Minahan book is interesting in that respect in that he traveled with and hung out with Buddy over an eleven month period and never mentions Buddy smoking pot. Even more curious, I was surprised to find out that it was Minahan who presented Buddy with the infamous "Marijuana Pickers Local Union No. 13" T-shirt at 1974's Canadian National Exhibition which Buddy immediately put on for the show and displayed as a prized possession. It is presented in the book as an inside joke that commemorated Minahan's first meeting with Buddy when the talk turned to Buddy's 1967 pot bust in Australia which he, his manager and his lawyer contended was a total frame-up, and if the story related by Buddy and Stanley Kay in the book is true, it was a set-up (the small bag of pot was allegedly found taped inside the tank of the toilet in Buddy's hotel room - and could have been placed there by any guest who ever stayed in that room, an employee or by one of the 20 or so arresting officers who roused him from sleep and tossed his room at 4:00 am, as Buddy seems to think). It was a charge that would not have held up in any US court - do you check the toilet tank when you check into a Hotel? Bah!

Unlike Torme, Minahan never makes the allegation that Buddy ever smoked pot in his presence or that he smoked it at all. I found that an interesting contrast to Torme's statement, and I do feel that Minahan would have "gone there" had Buddy's use been so blatant.

Like many drummers and music lovers, I've made Buddy a life-long research project and I've never heard such an malevolent claim other than a single deleted topic here at this board (BTW Bart - that deletion showed real class pal). Buddy seldom even drank a cocktail if his biographers are to be believed. There's no evidence to support that Buddy ever used hard drugs and it's irresponsible to perpetuate such myths.

As recounted in Minahan's book, Buddy did give Drug Prevention Drum Clinics in poor neighborhoods without pay and his only condition was that he refused to allow the press to attend or publicise the events.

Buddy Rich was addicted to perfection.