Lombardi Live! Buddy Rich Stories (Episode 29) 

Buddy Rich was a savant. His playing, his memory, his technique, the list is endless. It was not normal, thank god.

A letter, addressed "To the world's greatest drummer", arrives at the home of Louie Bellson. He takes one look at it, and says, "well, this is obviously not for me", and forwards it to Gene Krupa. Krupa also takes one look at it, and also says, "well, this is obviously not for me", and he forwards it as well. The letter makes the rounds of famous drummers' homes, until it finally winds up at the home of Buddy Rich. He takes one look at it, and says, "well, this is obviously for me", rips it open, and reads: "Dear Ringo...." . . .

“Buddy was like the invention of the automatic weapon.” Nailed it.

This group of guys discussing Buddy is just fabulous and FASCINATING!!

Well that was truly amazing! I remember when I was a junior in high school and Buddy was playing with Harry James. They were playing at Disneyland during the summer for six nights and I was there sitting in the front row just to my right of Buddy so I would have full view of his left hand. I would also be there when he fronted his own big band. I thoroughly enjoy the Lombardi live series especially when it features buddy rich stories. Keep them coming!

Loving these buddy rich series

Amazing chapter mr Lombardi !!! I was a top 40 drummer for 10 years at Disneyland during the 80’s and never missed Buddy when he came every summer. Hugs from Mexico City …

All great people and terrific world class players with deep music/drumming credits on so many records of historical note.

My favourite drummer ever

Thanks for sharing these wonderful stories..

It’s even MORE cool that they have so much respect for EACH OTHER.

Thanks so much for posting this Don. I'll be ordering the new CD for sure and I have the others already. Thanks for sharing this incredible information about Buddy that really deserves to be heard and appreciated by everyone who has ever held a stick.

What a great diverse bunch of drummers. I could listen to Frank DeVito tell stories all day.

Very nice. Buddy was truly a "natural". I always knew even as a young man watching Buddy, this is the greatest swing, and jazz drumming anyone will ever hear. That still holds true. I would have liked to hear more from Terry. A very impressive cat, all his own! Thanks guys!

So great to hear these stories! Keep the passion groovin'! DC

I have one of Buddy's sticks that he autographed back stage after a concert in 1969 in the Uk

Mr. Lombardi is a treasure.

What a cool group of dudes. Much respect.

Thank you. This was fantastic.

We got to see him play twice at my old high school! He didn't hold back a bit. He was so big in music education. I remember seeing the fear or at least hyper-alert look on the young band members' faces when he called out tunes and they had to get their sheet music setup quickly. I wasn't quite aware of his tough rep at the time... it kind of amused me at the time.

Very moving memory from the GREAT Alejandro Acuña, nicely stated.

Great job and great stories!

I suspect that the pizza joint on Ventura Place that Frank DeVito mentions was called Mulberry Street. Buddy played there in a trio with Roger Kellaway and Chuck Berghoffer. Gruber was indeed there: I met him there and arranged to talk to him about taking lessons with him, which I ended up doing for six months with Freddy at his Tarzana home around the block from Gelsons market. During a solo Buddy was doing, the room was dead quiet other than Buddy, with every eye on him. He was playing some unbelievable snare drum , and stopped suddenly and said, “Why am I doing this?”, whereupon a big laugh broke out in the audience, and Buddy laughed and continued playing. Another great moment: during some medium tempo swing tune, Buddy dropped his right stick, which had been playing the ride cymbal. He then proceeded to look for another stick, very casually, in no hurry, and it was impressive how grooving his sound was with only his feet and left hand.

LOVE IT! MAHALO! & ALOHA! See you next Tuesday! :)

Great job Don...Just want to tell the young guys out there, and I think Frank would agree You can always get another wife, But Never another coffee table that Buddy played!!!

The greatest channel!

Great video! i love drum stories

I met Elvin at a jazz festival and shook his hand.. I know what Frank was talking about! Lol

PUNKY'S WHIPS!! THE RICTUS IS EXCEPTIONALLY STRONG HERE!

I got an autograph from Buddy. He was sitting on his bus in the driver's seat signing things for people

On all the talk shows buddy was on he always made everyone laugh. He was much more than the worlds greatest drummer.

Danke für die tollen Geschichten!! :-)

THE BUS TAPES!!!!

The conversation between Lionel Hampton and Stan Getz is so present and interconnected, with Buddy Rich adding punctuation and hot sauce. Hate to sound like an old fart, but I don’t hear conversation and dialogue between current generation jazz players. It goes back to the old New Orleans thing and ‘Dixieland, ‘ old Chicago style jazz and 1940s swing…players spoke to each other musically on the bandstand. I look for players who can talk to each other. I brings in the audience and can warm the hearts of listeners.

I'll try to share something I have learned all the years of playing. You can literally hurt yourself trying to play like someone else. With all respect you could also waste your musical life or your musical soul doing that. I say use the information that you can, steal it make it yours, learn from it and use all of it as an inspiration to keep playing. The only person's chops you have to keep up with is your own!! With all respect the world does not need another Buddy Rich. The world needs you and who you are and what you do naturally. Develop your unique self and do what you are. Never stop learning. Never stop playing. Always be supportive to the younger generation and share what you have learned. I'll share this last thing for fun. Drumming philosophy by John. I call it drumosophy!! Effortless precision, with extreme conviction, committed to the art of perfect balance!! I believe that's something we consciously or unconsciously strive for. Have fun and keep your chops up my brothers!!🙏❤️🥁🙃

Heard Buddy mention Chick Webb and Jo Jones, Chick was dynamic, its great to hear some of his early radio broadcasts, before he passed and Ella Fitzgerald took on the band. "Papa" Joe Jones was an excellent driver of Count Basie's orchestra for many years! I think I heard about Basie saying "If the drummer don't feel right, nothing is going to sound good"

Recent research suggests that the main way that people acquire perfect pitch is to make the connection between tones and the names of tones at a very early age… Definitely before age 5. Buddy showed an affinity for rhythm when he was 18 months old and his father did him the solid of encouraging it right then and there… Dollar signs in his eyes of course. So here you have a guy who is just learning to walk as he’s learning to play the drums. Learning in His Own Way, At his own pace. Touring the world with his mom and dad meeting all the best drummers in Vaudeville -who were the best drummers at the time. Drumming was integrated into his existence as walking breathing and eating. What could be more natural than that? It’s nothing that could possibly be taught.

Yes, it was Mulberry Street and Irv Cotler owned a liquor store on Moorpark and Fulton Street in the San Fernando Valley for a while. I think it was in cahoots with Stan Levi. It was called drum boy liquors. They’re gone now, but I used to drive by all the time as I lived up the streetfrom there

Sandy Nelson mentioned a pizza place owned by drummer Ben Pollack. Sandy copped a beat Ben did on the bass drum with sticks Sandy used in playing either Teen Beat, or Let there be Drums.

What happened to the clip of Freddie Gruber that Don referenced? It wasn't there.

Danny is my idol.

Frank aDeVito is one of the nicest people I have ever mwt!!!

Спасибо за такую компанию, невероятно!

Don Lombardi said the Buddy Rich Show was 1984 but, I'm sure, he meant to say 1982, - Feb '82, to be exact. Terry Bozzio meant to say, I think, that BR broke his arm playing handball, not when doing karate. Frank DeVito was referring to Mulberry Street at 12067 Ventura Place in Studio City which was owned by drummer Alan Goodman. The pianist that night - 18 January 1982 - was Roger Kellaway and the bassist was Chuck Domanico.. Peter Erskine has related that, that night, he was seated with Shelly and John Guerin. While big band certainly wasn't Elvin's forte, to put it mildly, Elvin did play big band, for a short time, with Duke Ellington, right after he left Coltrane. This is meant, not to be snarky, but to clarify.

What Buddy meant by natural was that he played by how he felt randomly with the Band,no tabs just spontanity of the moment.

I studied with Buddy’s old friend Henry Adler. My father and I went down to South Street Seaport one summer day around 1981, to catch BR and his great band one night when I was maybe 18. Henry said “be sure to tell Buddy, ‘I love your book of snare drum rudiments,’ tell him how much you love the book!”-So as we filed down to the audience area at the seaport right on the edge of the East River-not far from the Brooklyn Bridge that Buddy himself crossed to go to his first gigs in Manhattan-Buddy had his face sticking out of a ship’s porthole on the dock, looking down at us as we lined up to get into the show. He was wearing a ship captain’s hat, kind of a funny image-he was just chilling, enjoying the late-afternoon sunshine. I shouted up, “hey Mr. Rich, I love the snare drum book! Greetings from Henry Adler!” He was about 20 feet above the dock, and just kind of shrugged and gave me a little salute. He either couldn’t make out what I said, or just didn’t want to engage. I wonder if he went into deep relaxation before each show, ‘powering down’ and storing up energy for that mind blowing solo he gave every night….he made moves on the cymbals that I still visualize and hear in my head…I was so floored from his playing (as usual…I’d seen him play a half-dozen times in NY) … it was a “what just happened” kinda moment. Meanwhile, my dad, a music professor at NYU, reflected after the show, “Buddy looks mean….he looks mean when he plays.” I can see what he meant…Buddy looks a little rough sometimes, kind of serious and scowling…focused…intense. Cheers - thank you Buddy, Rest In Power.

Ditto !

I can't believe they didn't play the supersonic single stroke roll from Love For Sale.

To correct myself, it wasn't Erskine who related his story of sitting with Shelly and Guerin that night at Mulberry Street, but Jeff Hamilton. My bad.

What's the drummer's name who played with Sinatra in this video?

Does anyone know the story of Buddy Rich Golfing with his friends and ends up throwing his Clubs, Bag and all into the water?

I love the YT video of Buddy cussing out his band ! Perfection was his Passion !! I noticed the guy sitting holding the sax at the 19:05 mark in Buddy's clip, is the same sax player that played with Neil Peart at Buddy's Memorial Concert in 1991. Pretty Cool !

Greg’s belief and faith in God has kept his career strong and solid for so many years.

RIP

My dad was Corky played 1st chair sax any body know him?

Yep.

I met Jim Chapin also.

36:50 hahahaha!

Alex acuna story some it up , Buddy ,,,,it’s natural

He seemed like an egotistical maniac to his band mates, but damn he was the best drummer ever.

What's the difference between a pizza and a drummer? A pizza can feed a family of four!

What kind of rug did Buddy ware on his head ? Did it have chin straps ?

I heard Sinatra send somebody to break his arm it was a dispute between the two of them

18:50 - man

Phew,... so glad there was no Carl Palmer.. the Lars of his day.

All great, original sounding drummers with their own identifiable style aside from Gregg Bissonnette - who unfortunately is just a stolen mix of much better players. It’s all about having your own signature. Sadly, Bissonnette has no signature, so it’s very fortunate for him that he gets to play with a drummer who has his own voice.

To old for the backwards baseball hat look....😊

Seems a chasm between Afro-American and Caucasian Drummers exists, I get the sense of different playing methods between the ethnic groups too, when panels talk about drummers you see only one color or the other...as the panel members.

Cycyc

Enjoyed the BR stories but this particular presentation is very poorly managed by Lombardi. We are more than half way through and we've heard very little from Danny Sarifin one of my fav drummers especially from his days with Chicago and we've heard nothing from the blue hat guy. DeVita is going on and on and on and Lombardi is allowing that. I was yelling at the screen "shut up and give someone else a chance to talk!" If you are going to have multiple guests a good interviewer makes sure to get everyone involved. You cannot be half way through a program and have a featured guest not have said a word yet.

The one thing I never liked about BR is that was a hateful snob towards some types of music (such as country.)

Get the message but too big mouth story tellers

THE BUS TAPES!!!