Buddy Rich
Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:13 pm
Buddy Rich came up in the Artie Shaw "Self Portrait" thread, so maybe he should have his own thread.
Just some stuff from memory-
Rich was with Bunny Berigan in 1938 and then at the end of that year went over to Artie Shaw's band and stayed until Shaw broke up that bad at the end of 1939.
He went over to Tommy Dorsey when the Shaw job ended and he was with TD until about 1943 when he went into the Marines (IIRC).
He formed his own band in 1946 and hung in there for a few years.
He went with JATP and hung in there a few years, then settled own with Harry James band for about a decade.
In the mid 60s, when big bands had been pronounced dead by nearly everyone, Buddy Rich formed his own new big band with money from Johnny Carson (who was always a huge BR fan and a drummer himself) and maybe other folks, too.
The new Rich band was a smash hit. They got really lucky really fast. They came out with two big selling and widely talked about LPs and they were on the Jackie Gleason summer replacement series on CBS called "Away We Go!"
Rich was everywhere and so was his band. Constant appearances on the Tonight Show and booking all over the country.
The "West Side Story Medley" was the big selling point of his first LP on the Pacific Jazz label and the focus of a lot of attention. The entire LP was recorded live at a club in Hollywood.
By his second LP, it was apparent that Rich was going to embrace the sounds of rock n roll (of the period) within his band. Traditional big band fans soon began falling away from the LPs that BR was turning out on the PJ label.
Most of his audience now seemed to be young Jazz fans in high schools and colleges and people who thought they were going to hear a Buddy Rich style Swing band, plus his own huge fan following.
The 70s and the 80 rolled on and Rich kept playing and recording and touring. He was on RCA for a time and on some direct-to-disc labels.
I kind of lost track of Rich in this era b/c the sounds he was making had no appeal for me. I loved his playing and his solos, but there was that band to deal with.
IIRC, ill health caught up with him, as did problems with the IRS.
Rich died in 1987, at age 69. I actually had to look this up b/c I did not remember his death.
For more information -
http://www.buddyrich.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Rich
Just some stuff from memory-
Rich was with Bunny Berigan in 1938 and then at the end of that year went over to Artie Shaw's band and stayed until Shaw broke up that bad at the end of 1939.
He went over to Tommy Dorsey when the Shaw job ended and he was with TD until about 1943 when he went into the Marines (IIRC).
He formed his own band in 1946 and hung in there for a few years.
He went with JATP and hung in there a few years, then settled own with Harry James band for about a decade.
In the mid 60s, when big bands had been pronounced dead by nearly everyone, Buddy Rich formed his own new big band with money from Johnny Carson (who was always a huge BR fan and a drummer himself) and maybe other folks, too.
The new Rich band was a smash hit. They got really lucky really fast. They came out with two big selling and widely talked about LPs and they were on the Jackie Gleason summer replacement series on CBS called "Away We Go!"
Rich was everywhere and so was his band. Constant appearances on the Tonight Show and booking all over the country.
The "West Side Story Medley" was the big selling point of his first LP on the Pacific Jazz label and the focus of a lot of attention. The entire LP was recorded live at a club in Hollywood.
By his second LP, it was apparent that Rich was going to embrace the sounds of rock n roll (of the period) within his band. Traditional big band fans soon began falling away from the LPs that BR was turning out on the PJ label.
Most of his audience now seemed to be young Jazz fans in high schools and colleges and people who thought they were going to hear a Buddy Rich style Swing band, plus his own huge fan following.
The 70s and the 80 rolled on and Rich kept playing and recording and touring. He was on RCA for a time and on some direct-to-disc labels.
I kind of lost track of Rich in this era b/c the sounds he was making had no appeal for me. I loved his playing and his solos, but there was that band to deal with.
IIRC, ill health caught up with him, as did problems with the IRS.
Rich died in 1987, at age 69. I actually had to look this up b/c I did not remember his death.
For more information -
http://www.buddyrich.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Rich