Jazz Professional               

BUDDY RICH
A Tribute from Louie

I know, by now, in London, England all the people feel just like we do over here in this country about our dear friend Buddy Rich.

I can't tell you in words what an impact dear Buddy had on me and my life. We were brothers for over forty years, we grew up together, and it was just such a wonderful experience. You know, my father taught me a long time ago: if a person has one day with somebody that's really precious and he enjoys that day, that's worth more than all the money in the world. That's just one day, so you can imagine the value of over forty years that this dear man and I have had a great relationship. We've respected one another's ability; we've respected one another as dear friends, as humanitarians.

We have to talk about all the great drummers that passed away this past two years, starting with Poppa Jo Jones, who to me was one of the greatest, and Buddy agreed; Philly Joe Jones and then Nick Ceroli, a marvellous drummer from the West Coast; Shelly Manne, a brilliant talent; and now Buddy Rich.

For some reason I feel that God has put his hand on Buddy Rich's shoulder, because he was such a great natural born artist. He just played! He played because he loved to play, and that's what he did ever since he was born. So it was just like somebody eating and walking well, that's the way he played drums. He just did it and did it, and every time he played, he played brilliantly. He was really a one of a kind player; once in every hundred years, if then, you see a player like that, of that capability- Johnny Carson said it when he said that "the world lost a genius and I lost a friend".

Yes, there are many people that use the word genius loosely, but in this case, with Buddy Rich you can say genius yes, absolutely no question about it. Buddy was the type of player who could sit down and play with any group and make it sound, make it happen. Alvin Stoller also said it: "What this man did with just two pieces of wood was incredible".

My dear wife, Pearl sang every night for at least a month before Buddy died, and we talked to him just about every night. She took the words of the song "My Buddy" and said "Our Buddy" and sang it to the audience with just a guitar accompaniment.

And, by the way, we were able to send that tape to Buddy, and he heard it and he was just overcome with it. One of the sets of lyrics that Pearl changed in "My Buddy" was: "We hear your voice and those magnificent hands". That really says it for Buddy Rich, because he had a distinctive sound- there's no question about it.

Brilliance? Yes! I'm very happy in life that I came up during the era of a Buddy Rich, because he was a guiding light to all of us. He showed us things, he played things that we heard and said "Oh! Wow! I like that!" He was a guiding light, and, even though I feel that his life was shortened, we never talk about the will of God. I guess everybody has a number and a time and it was Buddy's time, but in those sixtynine years, even if you say he had more to give us, what he did in that time was so monument that it's hard to even categorise it. He belongs in a league with his contemporaries, like Chick Webb, Baby Dodds, Jo Jones, Gene Krupa, Shelly Manne, Dave Tough. He's in that league. He also belongs to that league of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong.

A legend? Yes! Humanitarian? Yes! Sure, he used to yell and scream at his band, but he wanted everybody to play just like him and that was a tough task! But that's what he wanted! If he could do it, he expected everybody else to do it. That's why he always had a good band, and that's why, no matter if he felt good or bad, you heard something great coming out of those drums.

He was a magic man and I'm going to miss him. Not only as a great artist to listen to and play with, but as a dear friend, because we had so many deep conversations together about life, and Buddy, deep down, was a very placid, beautiful man, who would give anybody anything at any time. A lot of the youngsters who had a chance to meet him, but maybe caught him on an off night, don't realise that, when you're doing one nighters, and you're dealing with a personality like Buddy Rich, you have to understand, just like he understands, that you have a lot of pressure on you.

You have a lot of hard work, but there was never once that he ever fluffed anybody off. If he heard a great player he would eventually come over to that player and say: "Hey, kid! You played great". And he meant it. He tried to give people, audiences, professionals their money's worth. When you went to hear his band, you heard something, and you walked away saying: "What a great artist!" And among us musicians, we've always looked up to Buddy as a special person, who, when he graced that stage, really made it happen. For me, I'm going to continue on playing, knowing that this man gave me so much encouragement as a friend and as a player, gave me so much aptitude and respect, that I can carry on with a smile, and say that during my lifetime I had a chance to know a man like Buddy Rich as a friend, and to learn from him. And wherever he is, I know he's playing a fantastic solo!

To end all this, I want to tell you a story. I told this to Buddy one time when we had a battle of the bands- his band and my band, which happened three or four times, maybe more. This is a beautiful story. Some famous comedians were using this, and finally one of the comedians told me about it, and I related it to Buddy. By the way, I know that I've been compared to the great Buddy Rich, and our two names have been linked together for many, many years, and every time I saw that written down I felt proud and honoured that people actually put me in a category with this great man.

Anyway, the story goes like this: I die and I go to heaven and St. Peter is there at the gate to greet me. When he looks at me, he says: "Boy, we've been waiting for you for a long time; you're going to be our number one man- you're going to play everything, all the drum things". I say: "Here, wait a minute. You've got Baby Dodds, Chick Webb, you've got Shelly Manne, you've got Gene Krupa, you've got Davy Tough." He says: "No, no, no. All these guys have had their chance. Now you're going to be the number one man. In fact, you're going to play all the drum solos..." And just as he says "all the drum solos", I hear this tremendous solo off in the distance. I say: "Wait a minute. You're telling me I'm going to play all the solos that sounds like Buddy Rich!" And St. Peter says: "No, that's God-he thinks he's Buddy Rich."

I thought that was a great story, and Buddy and I always got a kick out of it. I could go on for a long time in my discussions about the great Buddy Rich. As I said before, I'm going to miss this great man; I'm sure all of us are going to-but he'll never be forgotten. We'll be listening to his records, watching him on some videos, and always reminding ourselves what a great, great artist this was. Never to be forgotten, great and wonderful my friend, Buddy Rich.

Drum Summit