The ‘Great’ Buddy Rich

There’s no disputing that Buddy Rich helped to put drums at the forefront of music. Along with contemporaries like Gene Krupa, he took drums from the back level of the orchestra and onto the front of the stage. He wowed audiences worldwide. However – was he the best? Some people would say so… but was he ACTUALLY the best? That could be debated forever… Muhammad Ali took heavy weight boxing into celebrity status. Did that make him the best…?… or did his ‘sales pitch’ simply make the boxing world and world press THINK he was the best? Sales are everything after all….and Muhammad Ali was a crafty sale man in his day.

Buddy had a very dark side. He berated his band often… and I’m going to share an example at the end of this meme…

When you hire the best for your orchestra, you should respect your own decisions. If he actually felt the distain for the musicians he hired the way you’ll see it demonstrated here, then I believe he probably didn’t believe in himself…he was obviously a troubled soul.

I dislike the man – yeah he was a great drummer… but not my favourite drummer… and additionally, but he was not a nice human being….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRcf028HjkM

Amazing playing…. now listen to this…..

Buddy Rich Bus Tapes REMASTERED Jazz Drummer

Ask yourself – were these musicians (who generally were the best and most revered in their fields) that bad? Or was Buddy possibly on cocaine and neurotic due to possible addictions? He did die from heart failure after all.

Or was he simply an asshole…

What do you think?