And I hope you never washed that hand again!

Wow thats amazing, thanks for sharing your stories guys..i would have been 5 years old when he passed away..

The first time i saw Buddy play was in 1976 i was 16 years old saw him at Disneyland in ca my sister used to work their and i got in all the time for all the shows 3 days 9 shows.. for two weeks at a time..Then i went to high school[[1976] at Rim Of The World in Lake Arrowhead in ca his band played one night thats when i got a pair of stixs from him.The summer[1976] i got a job playing in a top 40 copy band we played for almost two years at Disneyland so i got to see Buddy play all the time and shows for years..Iam thinking 75 or so times...Mikey

Are we relaying our Buddy stories now?! LOL! Well... I only saw Buddy LIVE 5 times, but they were all between 1973 and 1978, a positively EXCELLENT time/era given his band/sidemen at the time.. ( of course he always had great players! ) .. but this band was stocked! Pat LaBarbera... Greg Stout... Bob Crea... Greg Hopkins... and the list goes on. 1973 was smack dab in the middle of Buddy's Slingerland endosement period, and at this one particular concert I attended he was playing the Fibes SFT 690/COF with his Slingerland set... just like on the cover of "Rich In London LIVE at Ronnie Scott's". This was the same night that I had a meeting with Buddy one on one in his dressing room.. ( quite a funny and initially frightening story but way too long to write here! ) .. I have since washed my hands after shaking hands with him!, but haven't ever forgotten that meeting! Let's just say that I can tell you that Buddy wore briefs... not boxers! Good grief. He was really good about it though... after his initial shock that is. Man, those were the best days!

Tommyp

My University library has that Traps book! It should be a big help, thanks again.

In the early 90's I had copies of the homemade tapes of Buddy swearing, all the "shave off you beard" stuff that was later published in Mel's book. We were going to take the tapes and put them to a rap beat in my home studio. In the end, we didn't and I'm glad.

I've actually come to not like the whole spectacle of Buddy's rants, the entertainment value has lost it's appeal to me. I see Buddy as having some problems and it's a little to much like making a joke about someone who can't, say, walk or talk right. It's too close to that.

One of my best friends played in Buddy's band for a year in the mid 80's. We've talked, and continue to, about Buddy. There's hardly a day where it doesn't come up in our conversation.

Here's what I learned that I believe is true:

He was a hard guy to be close to.

He was kind to his family.

He, contrary to popular belief, couldn't "do everything on drums". He couldn't play rock and roll or funk for instance.

He probably had the best, cleanest technique of anyone on the planet.

He never stopped doing "four on the floor" when bop happened and it became unpopular - that's probably my favorite Buddy attribute.

What was his best point wasn't his solos, or fills, but his time... and he never played tempos that were really that fast - but the energy level was off the scale. It was his beat, not the other stuff that amaze me. He swung his ass off, he was about songs, not flash.

He was for sure the most special drummer of all time.

I wouldnt judge or base my personal opinion of him on the negative side of his personality...it seems like everyone has something like this at some point in their life and things like the media just focus on and bring out that side of those in the spot light.

I just found out today that my parents saw Buddy Rich at a highschool in my hometown in the 80s..they both seem to remember that it was just him without a band playing drums..is that true? Did he do tours of just him playing? I jsut figured maybe because he was getting old.

Because he was getting old?

Buddy had a full on big band doing gigs right up 'til he died. He never had to go solo "because he was getting old". x-mas1 That's actually funny.

Buddy was very successful. He was the only person in any field that I know of who was at the top for 7 consecutive decades. Think of any golfer, film maker, scientist... anybody who led their field for 7 decades.

Hmm well not that i would have been alive to actually know these things..nor have i done a tonne of research for my paper yet but my parents didnt remember a band with him when he played my highschool so that may speak to how people remember or choose to remember certain things in the past or it speaks to how he was such a charismatic figure and he was center stage so the band was just there to compliment him.

Ive also seen sessions and him on tv programs where he was in fact alone. On Regis and Cathylee he was by himself, it may have been a stop over while on one of his big tours...not that you implied this directly but i would say its a bold statement to say he never played without a big band. I also wasnt making a confident statment that it was because he was old..it was just an assumption due to my ignorance of the subject.

MbbW!...

Let me clarify this a bit for you as I think you might have misunderstood MastroSnare a bit. I want to state again that I am drawing from 43 years of being a huge BR fan... so that said:

Buddy rarely did any high schools/clinics alone... but he did indeed do them! Thing is, he was always working with and around his band when he would do these types of appearances. I have as complete a listing of BR's concerts/recordings/ etc. that one could possibly have, but it's not EVERY appearance that he made. There's just no way that it was ever completely documented. So who's to say that Buddy didn't do a solo guest shot at your HS back in the 80's, but I assure you that it wasn't the norm... it was the exception! Buddy would be the first to say that he always preferred working with his band. There are a few films/videos out there of "clinics" that Buddy did by himself, but again, those are rare. He really didn't care for that stuff at all. So having said that...

Yes... he most certainly did TON of "solo" spots on various TV shows where he would appear sans his band, but again, he was playing concerts with the band in and around the TV spots. I saw more than a few myself in the in the late 80's.. ( before his passing in '87 ) .. where he did the spot alone. Rest assured that he and the band were playing that night though! As far as Carson... Mike Douglas... Merv Griffin... those were almost always with Buddy alone. There are exceptions of course, but for the most part, just BR. Regarding "was he getting old" ?...

Not really! Literally, yes of course, as we all are... but figuratively, no... he just kept goin'. Buddy played pretty much right up to the end. His energy... drive... and stamina were very impressive for a man that was almost 70. I sure do miss him... but I keep his memory alive on a daily basis. Anyway...

The short answer is yes, he did play without his big band, and many times! But his band was always right around the corner ready to go at the next concert/venue. Truly... "One of a kind".

Tommyp