Very cool post, Bill. Funnily enough, a few years back I was at a jam session in Sydney and there was a great trombone player there. We got to talking and he introduced himself and it was Dave Panichi and he said, “Yeah, I’m the bloke Buddy Rich went off on on those tapes.” Funny guy and a great player.
I was fortunate enough to see Sinatra in Philly once, I went with my Dad. I was in high school. He was with the Buddy Rich Orchestra, which opened for him... I knew I was in for something special. The concert was life-changing (because of Sinatra).
I saw the Buddy Rich Orchestra many times, they always swang, excellent players, the BEST material. Buddy would often open the shows with about 10 minutes of “stand-up comedy”. He was very funny, very charming. He always held a cigarette in his hand, unlit. He never lighted the ciggie, it was there for effect. What effect? TENSION. Buddy, despite his humorous remarks and all the smiling… it thinly masked a huge amount of tension, coiled inside his body and only released once he got behind the traps and started “swanging”. One more thing: His traps were a simple “Ringo” set up; bass drum, snare, tenor tom-tom, two floor tom-toms and a handful of cymbals. He NEVER used the second floor tom-tom, it was used exclusively to hold a plain white towel that he used to mop his brow. Oh yeah, another odd thing; his high hat cymbals are actually LOWER than his snare drum… WTF !?
Very cool post, Bill. Funnily enough, a few years back I was at a jam session in Sydney and there was a great trombone player there. We got to talking and he introduced himself and it was Dave Panichi and he said, “Yeah, I’m the bloke Buddy Rich went off on on those tapes.” Funny guy and a great player.
I met buddy a few times in Sydney my dad was a promoter who brought him and the band out - he was certainly a serious guy I was about 12
God Bless you Buddy! No matter what you say……I love you and miss you! I’m sure many many others feel the same.
Jimmy Bruno has funny stories about the guy too.
I was fortunate enough to see Sinatra in Philly once, I went with my Dad. I was in high school. He was with the Buddy Rich Orchestra, which opened for him... I knew I was in for something special. The concert was life-changing (because of Sinatra).
I saw the Buddy Rich Orchestra many times, they always swang, excellent players, the BEST material. Buddy would often open the shows with about 10 minutes of “stand-up comedy”. He was very funny, very charming. He always held a cigarette in his hand, unlit. He never lighted the ciggie, it was there for effect. What effect? TENSION. Buddy, despite his humorous remarks and all the smiling… it thinly masked a huge amount of tension, coiled inside his body and only released once he got behind the traps and started “swanging”. One more thing: His traps were a simple “Ringo” set up; bass drum, snare, tenor tom-tom, two floor tom-toms and a handful of cymbals. He NEVER used the second floor tom-tom, it was used exclusively to hold a plain white towel that he used to mop his brow. Oh yeah, another odd thing; his high hat cymbals are actually LOWER than his snare drum… WTF !?
If only Buddy had hired Mingus …
"Psychotic but predictable." Love it!
Da guys get shirts!