The Best Of Buddy Rich: The Pacific Jazz Years

Buddy Rich | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 18, 1997)
• Original Release Date: November 18, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B000005HA0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,474 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #78 in Music > Indie Music > Jazz > Swing Jazz

Editorial Reviews

The Best of Buddy Rich: The Pacific Jazz Years features 10 tracks culled from Rich's explosive years at Pacific Jazz. There are eight near-standards - including "Groovin' Hard," "Love for Sale," "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" and "Greensleeves" - as well as two previously unreleased cuts: a live version of "Apples" recorded at the Chez Club in LA and an alternate take of "Diabolus." Although the compilation isn't definitive, it remains a good sampling of a short period of Rich's long, prolific career.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Traps: The Drum Wonder Does it 1 last time, May 19, 2000

By 

Joel Lindow (thornton, Co.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best Of Buddy Rich: The Pacific Jazz Years (Audio CD)

Buddy Rich, Drummer and Tallented Performer from the day he became 16 months old and performed with his parents to when he turned 19 and showed Gene Krupa up in the Tommy Dorsey Band Was, and Always will be, the Worlds greatest Drummer. This album is a great compilation of peices Written and Covered by the Buddy Rich Band and recorded on the "PAcific Jazz" label. Among all the tunes there is amazing controll all the way through the horns to the Rhythm Section (naturally). Songs like "Rotten Kid" are an amazing contribution to the jazz world. The performance of an old Cannonball Adrely/Joe Zabidou Tune "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" in a fresh new arangement performed live at Ceasars Palace prings a Bluey/Gospel feel this album. And The most amazing pecie, "Channel One Suite" is the only known recording of this peice that exists. Starting with a Latin/swing feel, going into oppen solos by Buddy, then into a balad in the middle with Don Menza on the Sax, only to end with a tennor cadenza and flow into an even stronger, high speed Latin/Swing section to end the chart with 2 amazing open solos by Buddy Rich. This album is easily, out of my own personal colection of 32 Buddy Rich Discs and 4 Records, one of the best ever released. I encourang eanyone weather a musician or just an average Jazz lover to invest in this album. You will NOT be dissapointed.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Buddy Rich CD, February 4, 2002

By 

Stuart T Thursby (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best Of Buddy Rich: The Pacific Jazz Years (Audio CD)

This CD is the absolute best when it comes to Buddy Rich, and even jazz. It starts off with a ten-minute version of West Side Story, with a drum solo at the end. After that comes my favourite song on the CD, Love For Sale. If you have to listen to one BR song, listen to this. It starts off with hi-hat work, 4 minutes of ensembles and solos, and a 10-second blisteringly fast snare drum solo, unbelievably using single strokes. The song finishes with a huge ensemble, and then into a 21/2 minute long drum solo with occasional bursts of other instruments, a song called Apples. A Masterpiece, should be in any BR fan's, any drummer's or any jazz fan's collection. Amazing

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buddy is the man!, January 7, 2003

By 

The Wickerman (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best Of Buddy Rich: The Pacific Jazz Years (Audio CD)

I've always been interested in good drumming. From metal drummers like Gene Hoglan and Dave Lombardo, to prog. drummers like Mike Portnoy and Neil Peart, I have always admired guys that did more than just keep time. However, it wasn't until I bought this album that I realized I had no idea what drumming really was. Buddy Rich was often referred to as "the world's greatest drummer", and that was certainly no exaggeration. I have never heard anyone, in any kind of music, play like this guy did (there are a few guys in death metal that can match him in speed alone, but that's it). Not only was he incredibly fast and intricate, but he could lay back and groove very well too. A lot of his music was merely a vehicle for showing off his incredible prowess, but he was a very dynamic drummer as well. He could do it all.

This collection is a great example of the diversity that could be found in his music throughout the course of his career. You've got straight-out swing tracks, like "Rotten Kid" and "Love for Sale", more laid-back Miles Davis-type songs like "Diabolus", and even some rock/fusion stuff, like "Chelsea Bridge" and "Mercy Mercy Mercy", which add piano and guitar to the traditional big-band lineup.

However, the stand-out tracks, for me, are definitely the two epics, "West Side Story" and "Channel One Suite". Both around 12 minutes, they feature multiple tempo changes, excellent work from the horn section (the latter has an incredible saxophone solo spot), and of course some unbelievable drum solos from Buddy.

Apparently, Buddy was more of a performer than a songwriter, as most of these songs were originally composed by someone else, but the way he makes them his own is quite amazing. The swing version of "Greensleeves" is a perfect example. The melody is played on horns, and Buddy works in another of his jaw-dropping solo spots, and it sounds as if he wrote it himself. Very cool indeed.

I highly recommend this album, not only to fans of jazz, but to everyone who appreciates excellent drumming. I'm generally not a huge fan of the swing-style jazz, I'm more into the modern fusion type stuff, but I still think this is a highly enjoyable album from start to finish.