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Like so many,many other drummers I too have had the honor
and true enjoying pleasure of seeing my idol, inspiration, and
most major influence on my playing today as I enter this my
thirty-fifth year of drumming.
My story goes back to August 26, 1970 here in my hometown of
Neptune, New Jersey here at the Jersey shore and me just two months
after finishing high school heard that Buddy and the band was
going to be appearing at a venue called the "Captain's Garter."
I lived about two miles from the place but what was that in distance when you
were not only going to hear your idol, but possibly getting the chance to see
him up close as well?
Armed with my copy of "Keep The Customer Satisfied" off I went
to the club to hope of at least try to get a glimpse of him.
I got as far as the rear parking where this humongous bus was
parked and someone was standing guard there and I asked
if it was the band's bus and was corrected that it was "Buddy
Rich's Bus" and my response was W-O-W !!!!
At that time I didn't know if it was Joey De Noia or not because
I was taken back by it all happening like some great dream or
a belated graduation present that I hadn't received yet.
All I knew was that there I was and whatever happened afterwards
was purely a God send.
It was because the gentleman asked if I wanted to meet
Buddy and if you don't know what my answer was to that don't
read into this story any further.
We went inside through a back door to a makeshift dressing
room and the band had just completed their first set of the night
and there was the man, bare chested with the ever present
towel draped over his right shoulder sitting propped up and
being in typical Buddy fashion.
The call went into him "Hey B, got a fan here that wants to see you and he walked here !"
So, the reply was "bring him in!"
And then the moment that is still with me to this day came to pass.
There I was standing there shaking his hand and looking like
I had died and gone to "Slingerland heaven!"
Unbelievable to say the least could describe that night but it serves as a true
testimony just how a big band giant would take
the time if nothing more to say "hi kid" could mean so much.
I was fortunate to see Buddy and the band twice more in my
adult life in Ft Lauderdale, Florida. and have yet again not only
having my picture with him but having a picture taken standing
behind his kit that Eric Myirshiro ,his lead trumpet at the time
in 1985, took.
I really look back on those moments in my life as a great time
and having not one, but three opportunities to meet Buddy stays
with me to this day as one of the greatest joys that I have had
the pleasure to have in my life.
There was a story that was done on me when I returned home here a few years ago
and it was mentioned that one of the greatest events in my life was when I first
met Buddy and it
truly was.
As a professional drummer/percussionist in some small circles
I have been referred as a "Buddy Rich deciple" and even though
I'm humbled by the compliment I'm even more humbled by those
who have either played or knew first hand of Buddy's style, approach and musicianship
of how he drove a band.
He was definitely a drummer's drummer and I am grateful and
truly thankful that he made such a positive mark on not only
my playing {even down to the same logo on my kits that I have}
but on my personal life as well.
I miss him as we all do and every performance {and I do mean
every} I make sure that there is what I respectfully call a little
"Buddyism" that I put into our show out of nothing more than
respect that those that come out to hear us know where I draw
my inspiration from.
Thank you for allowing me to share this with you and even if
it never makes the storyline of so many like me that have had
the true delight in meeting Buddy Rich I know that he knows we're
doing our part in "keeping the customers' satisfied" ~ Poncho "D
I am only 14, so I never actually got to see him play live, but he was
my inspiration to play Jazz. From the minute I put in a CD of him live in Hollywood
(1967),
my mouth was left open for the rest of the CD because of astonishment. After
I heard him I went to my drum teacher and said "Dave, I just got a jazz
CD of the Buddy Rich Big Band and I want to learn to play like Buddy Rich." So
he started me with a simple jazz beat. I went home and learned it perfectly.
I now am starting a Jazz band. All this was because of Buddy Rich and how he
inspired me with his great playing. I only hope that I am able to play at least
as half as good as Buddy Rich plays.
~ Grant Heppes
Back when I was a fifteen-year-old kid in 1969, my mother took me to see Buddy
Rich and his Orchestra perform at the Top Hat Supper Club in Windsor, Ontario,
just across the border from Detroit, which is where I'm from.
At the end of a
spectacular first set, Buddy and the band exited the back of the stage up a stairwell.
Being a young kid, after the stage emptied, I walked up the stairs, only to find
myself in a dark hallway with several dark rooms. One of which contained Buddy's
drum cases. After snooping around, I found an empty Slingerland drum stick box,
imprinted with Buddy's name on the end of the box. It was a white box with "Slingerland" printed
in red letters on the front, and held six pairs of drum sticks. About that time
I heard somebody coming down the hallway, and stuffed the box down the back of
my pants. It turned out to be the manager of the Club, and he asked me what and
the heck I was doing in there. I told him I came upstairs to see Buddy Rich.
He angrily said "O.K., wait a minute" and then moments later escorted me into
a room with Buddy and his sax player Pat LaBarbara. I was so nervous, I was barely
able to ask Buddy for his autograph, and when he said "sure kid" I sheepishly
pulled out of the back of my pants the Slingerland drum stick box I had swiped.
I asked Buddy if I could have the box along with his signature. He grinned and
signed the box, and after thanking him, I left.
I still have that box today,
and was fortunate enough to have seen Buddy perform on many occasions in different
locations throughout the United States. Seeing Buddy perform for the first time
literally changed my life in such a positive way that I could not imagine growing
up without that constant presence or spirit, always anticipating when Buddy would
be performing next, either locally or on TV.
Several years later in the early
1980s, between sets at a club in Orlando, Florida, Buddy stepped off the stage
to sign some autograph's. While signing several autograph's one after another,
with his head in the down position, my girlfriend quipped "I think he (meaning
me) has every album you ever made." At that moment while signing an autograph
for me, Buddy looked up with a smile and said "Yeah?" I replied proudly, "That's
right!" He then turned and walked down a hallway backstage, and I yelled out
to him "Hey, Buddy" and while continuing to walk he said "What?" and I said "Thanks
for all of the years of great music" he then stopped, turned and smiled and said
something, but by then he was too far away for me to hear his reply. I know he
appreciated what I said. ~
Richard Rohm |
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