Customer Reviews

Buddy & Soul

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In a sincere effort to do something diffeent in the big band mold, Buddy always had rock charts sprinkled through his sets. This album concentraites on those arrangments and though at times may sound corney, the precision and ability to swing these grooves are amazing. The energy of this live recording jumps off the disk especially on RUTH and GREENSLEEVES. The bonus cuts are a gas and could have been a CD all their own.

"Buddy and Soul" is probably the weakest of Buddy Rich's Pacific Jazz releases, and I'm not even speaking of the rock-oriented material. Buddy always led a powerful band, I'm sure that this one was no exception, but the sketchy recording quality on most of the songs makes the band sound kind of puny; you can hear Buddy just fine, but the rest of the band is poorly miked. Sometimes you can't even tell that a soloist is playing! There are exceptions, of course. "Greensleeves," "Meaning of the Blues," St. Petersburg Race," and "Ruth" are easily the best tracks. The rest are all kind of "blah," which isn't a word I would use to describe Buddy Rich.

As far as the bonus material goes, they're interesting and add to the running time, but the poor recording quality (and sometimes sloppy execution) will drive you nuts. Of these selections, an early version of "The Word" is a pretty good find.

I love the Pacific Jazz releases, and Bob Belden & Dean Pratt did a great job with all of them. I'm just in disbelief that this klunker could've come in between "Mercy Mercy" and "Keep The Customer Satisfied," my two favorite Buddy Rich releases.

This album is just great and is a wake up call to all those stuck on stodgy swing. The arrangemants are highly original and Buddy should be applauded for taking the big band forward 20 years. It's a shame he didn't have more time to more records in this vein. The band is well up to his usual high standard and overall it's a very exciting listening.

There are, unfortunately, sounds that we don't hear anymore, unless we position ourselves to hear them.

The bold, brassy sound of rock played by a big jazz band, that screaming acid guitar, making hip music for square folk to listen to, making it hip in a new way, is one of these sounds.

Soul To Soul is Buddy Rich and his band covering such hits as the Doors "Soul Kitchen," and "Soul Lady." Buddy and his band probably didn't have to strive to make this stuff sound so rich and textured--the music, and the arrangements lent to it on Soul To Soul, make a perfect natural paring.

This was the music of the band shell, the Tonight Show with Carson, that crux of rock and soul and commercial music that was on TV, even in adds. More musical forms came into rock, and that flooded rock into every other musical form. The hip made palatable for white picket green grass RCA living color culture.

This sound is fresh today, for the fortunate all too few who get to hear it, because it has evaporated from our culture. We get to hear this stuff on underground internet radio, or on well chosen compilations that sell a few thousand copies. A great sound---what was square is underground now, and what is underground sounds so wonderul, again.

A live recording at the Whiskey A Go-Go in 1969, the recording attempts to appeal to a younger audience, top-heavy with covers from the Doors and other out-dated rock arrangements.

According to the liner notes, there was an attempt to make Richie Cole into the band's American Idol of the day, a move dictated by the record company. Of course, this usually fails. Some forty years later, the music that holds up the best are the true jazz pieces, which are based on classical concepts.

The best of the bunch is the little heard "Meaning Of The Blues", written by Bobby Troupe, and arranged by Don Piestrup. Miles covered it on his "Kind Of Blue" landmark LP in 1959. It's a gorgeous ballad, with fine contributions from trombonists Rick Stepton (solo) and Rick Diaz (head).

In addition, "Mexicali Rose", one of Buddy's favorite compositions, which stayed in the book until he passed away, is updated, with a brisker tempo and the sound of a fender-rhodes piano. Additionally, it has a new section added, not heard on its debut on the LP "Big Swing Face". Another bonus track worth hearing is "Parenthia", originally recorded by Shelly Manne in '59.

Sound quality--the trumpet section is not miked properly. Furthermore, Buddy's snare drum (now Slingerland) sounds choked. Interestingly, a year later he is seen resorting back to a Fibes snare drum, which sounded great (youtube).

Summation: one of the weaker live recordings, based on repetoire, sound quality and overall ensemble sound. "Mercy Mercy" and, in later years, "Wham" are better examples of the drive and strength of the quintessential Buddy Rich orchestra.

-ac

With respect to my learned colleagues who may have been under whelmed by this release, let me first say that anyone who would rate this below the awful and completely forgettable Speak No Evil is out of their mind. Jazz, being an improvisational music, should be appreciated because of the individual performances, in addition to the ensemble work. The performances here are stellar, no question, and the players: look at the credits! Sal Marquez, a noted lead player, is playing in what I think is, to my mind, a first-rate trumpet section. Other performers include Herb Ellis, Ernie Watts, Pat LaBarbera, Don Menza, Larry Bunker, Richie Cole, and the legendary Ollie Mitchell, again in that previously maligned trumpet section. And, while the original production could be faulted, at times (Richard Bock at his worst?), Belden and Pratt have done a great job coaxing the best there is from these tracks. Buddy's drums, by the way, sound wonderful. The arrangements include charts from Bill Holman, Shorty Rogers, Mike Mainieri, Don Piestrup, Allyn Ferguson, Don Menza - quite a list.

If you are still unconvinced, two tracks are worth the price of admission: Greensleeves, which Buddy kept in the book until the very end, and Ruth. There is also a killer version of Mexicali Nose - the drum breaks are incredible. No collection of Buddy's period of time with Pacific Jazz is complete without this, end of subject. (One should also remember that some of the tracks on this release weren't on the original Pacific Jazz release, and obviously are now being issued because of their historical significance. This would explain a couple of tracks that are indeed weaker than they should have been, as they were never intended for commercial release at that time. They provide a fascinating view into the Buddy Rich Big Band, one that I find very interesting.) The liner notes are an added plus.

This album has received contrasting reviews here, and I am in the strange position of having agreed somewhat, at one time or another, with both extremes of opinion. Upon first hearing it, I too was put off by what sounded like sloppy playing (from the band--Buddy is ALWAYS perfect!). Further listening, however, brought me to an appreciation of the sound.
I think the problem for some may be that "Buddy and Soul" is a stylistic departure from Buddy's other albums of the period, and perhaps not everyone realizes the differences were intentional. The grungy "garage band" sound of this album is rather unique (even if it takes some getting used to) and is actually appropriate for an album including music by the Doors.
If I am correct in my judgments about this album, it was a rather bold step in the career of Buddy Rich, a musician whose sensibilities were formed in the Big Band/Swing era. Perhaps like Frank Sinatra, Buddy Rich was willing to undertake and include any music that caught his ear, no matter the source.
So what we have here is a hard-swinging band working at also being a hard-rocking one, and I think it works fairly well. Something that should be mentioned here, as I don't believe anyone else has made note of it, is the track entitled "Wonderbag". This is in fact a very straight arrangement of Stevie Wonder's "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day", practically Stevie's own version without the vocals. The credit found alongside the track's title apparently identifies the arranger, and leaves composer Stevie out entirely.
If you think of Buddy Rich as a performer in the big band style, and do not wish to hear him any other way, you probably should not lay out the money for this album. If on the other hand you enjoy Buddy Rich in any setting, "Buddy and Soul" will find a place in your collection. This album preserves what is possibly a rare side of one of the twentieth century's finest musicians, a stage in the evolution of an amazing career.

Ruth,Greensleeves need I say more. Buy this cd if you are a die hard BR fan. You will not be dissappointed. Take my word on this.

Buddy Rich will be remembered as a great drummer during the big band era of the 60s.

He won't be remembered as the Funkadelic Jazzrock maker who knew how to get down and boogie with his soul brothers of the 70s.

At would at least help if the brass section could at least be together and hit the right notes - instead it comes across as some sort of noise you would hear if a bunch of animals got excited in a zoo.