Dueling with Buddy

by | Jun 27, 2025 | Big Band, Stuff

Who would believe that Buddy Rich was self taught and didn’t read music? He was not only a great drummer, but a versatile and energetic entertainer, who demonstrated his fierce life force and love of music with every performance. Picking up his first pair of sticks at the age of two, he was playing with some of the biggest bands in the country by the time he was twenty and soon added songwriter, conductor, and bandleader to his extensive resume … in addition to being considered one of the most influential jazz drummers of all time!

(Above) Buddy duels with drummer Ed Shaughnessy on The Johnny Carson Show in 1978. Although Rich was his usual brand of incredible, Shaughnessy showed, in no uncertain terms, that he was no slouch!

(Top left) Buddy faces off in 1966 with Gene Krupa, his main competitor for the top jazz drummer title. Krupa is smooth, classy, and melodious, while Rich is pure technical precision, speed and aggression. After a bit of ‘hoofing’ by Sammy Davis Jr., Buddy and Gene engage in an epic drum battle.  (Bottom left) Rich tangles with The Muppet Show’s Animal, showing his lighter side and love for all creatures, even red ones.

The Real McCoy

by | Jun 22, 2025 | Quartet/Quintet, Solo/Duo, Trio

Alfred McCoy Tyner was an American jazz pianist and composer known, primarily, for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet from 1960 to 1965. His long solo career spanned six decades, and netted five Grammy Awards. McCoy’s powerful, propulsive style of piano playing was an integral part of the Coltrane Quartet in the early 1960s, and influences countless young jazz musicians to this day.

The (topmost) video is a 2002 performance of Moment’s Notice, and features the instantly recognizable piano of Tyner, along with Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Charnett Moffett on bass, and Eric Harland playing drums.

To the (left) is a solo performance of Coltrane’s Giant Steps from 1996. It is a classic example of McCoy Tyner’s signature emphatic left-hand attack, particularly on the low keys.

To the (right), A Song for Love was recorded in 1997 with his trio, including Avery Sharpe on bass and Aaron Scott on drums. It shows the softer side of Tyner, and brought down the house at the jazz festival in Berlin!

A Hot Time in Bern

by | Jun 14, 2025 | Septet/Octet

Clark Terry was a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, not to mention one of the most prolific of all jazz musicians with over 900 recordings during his more than 70 year career! As a composer, educator, and mentor to some of the greats, he became one of the most influential swing and bebop trumpeters of our time.

(Above) he joins Kenny Davern (c), Danny Moss (ts), Johnny Letman (t), George Masso (tb), Ralph Sutton (p), Howard Alden (g), Milt Hinton (b), and Gus Johnson (d) at the 1989 Bern Jazz Festival with a tune popularized by the great Count Basie … Swingin’ the Blues. (Below) Clark blows the audience away with a flugelhorn solo of God Bless the Child, backed by the same incredible personnel.

Sugarfree Swing – Charlie Barnet

by | Jun 6, 2025 | Big Band, Vocal

Nicknamed “Mad Mab,” saxophonist and bandleader Charlie Barnet is one of the more colorful figures in jazz history, and was more than a bit of a playboy throughout his life. Charlie was unusual in a couple of ways, having been one of the few jazzmen to be born a millionaire … not to mention being married eleven times!  Although his orchestra isn’t usually mentioned among the first tier of big bands during the late 30s and early 40s, Barnet’s was, arguably, one of the most popular bands in the country during that period.

He eschewed the more popular sweet sound of the 1930s dance bands in favor of a harder style of swing that sometimes bordered on bop.

The three tunes to the left are only three of the many seemingly signature songs associated with the Charlie Barnet Big Band. At the (top) is Cherokee–also known as Indian Love Song–a jazz standard written by the British composer and band leader Ray Noble and published in 1938. In the (center) is Caravan, with a vocal by Bill Derry. Finally at the (bottom) is Barnet’s own Skyliner, written and first recorded in 1945.