Customer Reviews

RICH, BUDDY MEMORIAL CONCERT 2008

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had the great fortune of seeing this event live and in living color right from inside the Hammerstein Ballroom. That was definitely one of the premiere moments in my life. I had the pleasure of having my picture taken with John Blackwell, an absolutely astounding musician, as well as a gentle and humble man.

The beauty of capturing this phenomena on tape (or plastic as the case may be) is that musicians or aspiring musicians can watch repeatedly some extraordinarily gifted, world class musicians at work. These performers sat down, put up a chart and just blew the piece right into orbit. No computers, no mixing or sampling, no over dubs or piped in sources, just 14 or 15 artists showing the world how it's done. I read in a Buddy Rich interview one time where the interviewer asked why Buddy didn't have his drums custom made as so many other "name" drummers do. Buddy's answer was to the effect "It all boils down to one thing, can you play the damn drum, or not?"

Too many kids today buy a computer with some software and all of a sudden they think they're musicians. That's nonsense. Buy this DVD, watch it, listen to the arrangements, the textures, the accents, the counter point - watch the drummers, then you may have a clue as to what real musicianship is all about.

5 stars all the way to the bank!

This DVD set is excellent! Any fan of Buddy Rich and all musicians, especially drummers, will enjoy this show. The brief interviews are interesting and entertaining and the performances are definitely the best ever amongst the Buddy Rich Memorial Concert series. The added feature of several rock tunes being performed by the BR band is great. Buy it, sit back and enjoy!

I bought this for my husband who is a Buddy Rich fan & he absolutely loved this. I recommend it to anyone who wants to walk down memory lane

I have to admit one of the reasons I bought this dvd is because I'm a Peart freak. Don't get me wrong I've got other Buddy dvd's and cd's but, I decided before jumping to the end (to see Neil's performance# I would check out the other performers.I'm glad I did!! To see drummer's like John Blackwell who wizzes by you at such a speed was crazy.Who knew that a drummer of Prince would be so outstanding. So I'm glad I started at the begining.Igoe,Bozzio who I've never seen just blew me away! The talent was unbelievable! The special features itself is worth the price to buy this! Chad Smith had me laughing & I never realized how much laughter could be used in bringing out a performance#instead of being so serious#.Erskine shares his knowledge and opinion which makes everyone sit up straight and listen to the teacher.Neil is of course my favorite and also brought along with him a friend#Jeff Berlin) an amazing bass player in his own right. They seemed to share ideas and lean on each other.I have to say the highlight of the dvd for me was Nick Rich. I have never seen someone posess the amount of knowledge and speed at his age. It seems like he inherited his grandfather's talent!!

I recommend this dvd as a a time capsule in it's place as History.

This is really an unbelievable show. The DVD set has three DVDs; two with performances and one with interviews. All of the performances are quite good but Tommy Igoe and John Blackwell are absolutely incredible. Peter Erskine also shines with a very good performance of "Readymix." The big band, while not a group of prior BR bandmembers, is really good. Will Lee and Jeff Berlin are amazing on the bass. If you are a drummer or enjoy solid performances by drummers, get this DVD.