Bang the Drum Not At All Slowly
If you want to get a bunch of rock and roll fans into a knock-down, drag-out argument, just ask them who the greatest drummer who ever lived was. A line will be drawn between the John Bonham fans and the Neal Peart fans with a few folks staking out positions around Keith Moon and a few others. (Ginger Baker, Charlie Watts, Stewart Copeland, Phil Collins, Carter Beauford, and, yeah, even Ringo Starr).
However, none of those guys, as good as they were (and they were very, very good, so don’t even start saying I said they weren’t), could hang with Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. Here’s a video of the two playing on the Sammy Davis, Jr. show in 1966.
And they played like that while wearing suits with ties. Musicians back in the day may have been pluperfect hellraisers, but once they hit the stage, there were standards and woe betide the man who broke them.
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Category: Music
About two-thirds of the way through I caught myself crying a bit. My dad dearly loved Gene Kruppa and Buddy Rich and he and I would watch them together. A stroke left Dad paralized on the right side and unable to hold anything, much less a stick in his right hand but he still loves to listen to the bands he cherished back in his younger days. I am going over to my parents house in a few and I am taking the netbook with me to play this clip for Dad. I know he will get a big kick out of it.
Thank you.
Cool! I don't listen enough to those guys. I tend to listen more to Elvis Jones or Max Roach, but maybe it's time to buy some more CDs. I seem to be lacking in Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa.
Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers is worth a listen, too. I'm not a big fan of the bebop style but the stable of talent that learned their chops with Blakey is undeniable.
Elvis Jones? Oops, that should be Elvin.