Never has the phrase "Love the art, not the artist" been more true, than when it comes to Buddy Rich.
Sure, Buddy was a world-class jerk (or as my friend, Zelda would say, "A real schmendrik"), but he was also a world-class drummer, and one of the best to ever walk the earth, as this 7CD set from Mosaic Records illustrates.
This beautiful limited edition collection is a complete look at Rich when he was,
without question, on top of his game. The seven CDs feature studio dates and live performances from 1953
to 1961 in quartet, quintet, sextet, septet, and octet settings – plus,
an 11-piece orchestra, and a few tracks only issued in Japan.
His solos are virtuoso presentations of licks known and invented on
the spot. Like no one before him, he coaxes melody from a rhythm
instrument. Rarely will you find such agility and power, simultaneously. Even on blues numbers, which want naturally to drag, Rich pushes,
producing maddening tension, and when he needs to lay back and let
someone else solo, he is respectfully ever-present.
The Mosaic collection, packed with 78 tracks, including 13 that have
never appeared anywhere, and brings together
many hard to obtain LPs that present him as a leader of studio dates in
addition to the early sixties small group albums for both Verve and
Argo. As with all Mosaic releases, the quality of the audio is the best, you'll ever hear, these recordings.
To qualify for this freeload, tell us about a musician or band, that you "love to hate".
Hmmmm, two come to mind. But, one I'm just more indifferent to, than hate (friend of ours told us that while the Portuguese, in general, hate Spain, the Spanish are indifferent to Portugal which just intensifies the hatred). Grateful Dead I just don't get, and, yes, I've been to one of their shows (with Garcia). Band I love to hate is Rush. Not only do I not "get" them, I'll turn off the station if a song of their's starts.
ReplyDeleteThere's a tape of Buddy brutally ripping his band apart on (I think) the tour bus in a way that makes him sound like an obnoxious tyrant. But then I read somewhere that in fact he was right, the were being a bunch of lazy slobs and deserved a good kicking. So I dunno.There are many supremely talented drummers, but I doubt any of them would put themselves above Rich. It's difficult to see how he could expect less of his musicians than he expected of himself, and coupled with the fact that he knew exactly how good he was, being an obnoxious asshole was almost a skill set. The more you probe into the character of any great artist, the less you find to admire, and the more human they become. He was less of a human being because he was more of a drummer, a simple but pitiless equation. But plenty of assholes can't play the drums for shit.
ReplyDeleteFT3 via dumbphone
U2 does nothing for me. The only song that I'll listen to was the one they did with BB King.
ReplyDeleteMe2
DeleteIn the 80’s my boss at work would play Genesis a lot, mainly the Phil Collins era, I even recorded a few albums onto cassette for him. Fast forward a few months I completely stopped listening to Phil Collins era Genesis. Recently however I listened to Seconds Out, Tick of the Tail and Wind and Wuthering and really enjoyed them. So past tense hate.
ReplyDeleteHow about artists that you have a love-hate relationship with because you love (or like) the music, but hate (or dislike) the musicians.
ReplyDeleteCase in point: An inversion (or variant of) "I hate the fuckin' Eagles", the easy quip for hipsters. Me, I love most of the music of the Eagles ("The Long Run" totally sucked, thogh), but have to overcome my distaste for Don Henley and Glenn Frey, two of the biggest self-satisfied assholes the world has ever seen...
Latter day Van Morrison. Sheesh
DeleteBilly Joel
ReplyDeleteI don't care how many records he's sold, or who he's influenced: who needs a third-rate Paul McCartney with a Long Island accent? I literally cringe when I hear this guy's sappy hits on the radio.
The Eagles
They got their bad rep the old-fashioned way: they earned it. For a long stretch through the 70s, you couldn’t turn on a radio without hearing yet another soft-rock schmaltz-a-thon by the masters of citified country "balladeering". In ’75, a friend gave me tickets to the Eagles for three nights at Madison Square Garden, she couldn’t attend. All three shows were exactly the same: the setlist, the announcements and jokes they made were exactly the same. Zzzzzzzz…. Musically, it was a carbon copy of their records, and I can’t help but think it was as boring for them as it was for me, but then again, I didn’t have half of Bolivia and Columbia up my nose (coke heads get on my nerves).
I concur with your assessments of the Eagles. While there were many bands that were worse, there were none that were more boring.
DeleteGbrand
Concur with Billy Joel, U2, and the Eagles.
ReplyDeleteAllow me to add James Taylor to the list. If I need to explain why, then you must be deaf.
Also, there has to be a place on this list for Journey. I absolutely detest any band that traffics in rock ballads. Keep your BIC lighters to yourselves.
Agree re Journey, except for the 1st lp, when they had just left Santana. Its really good and unlike anything else they did.
DeleteI agree with Journey's 1st lp. It was unlike the others, but I haven't played or heard or even remember any of it except Kahoutec, which I was disappointed with at the time. But Don't Stop Believin'...
ReplyDeleteDagnabit--forgot to tag the above comment as mine.
ReplyDeleteBuddy Part 1
ReplyDeletehttps://we.tl/t-Ns5mvq2OU1
Buddy Part 2
https://we.tl/t-oUpLOO2yXa
Well...I agree about Billy Joel. He's accomplished and unbearable. I like the early Eagles but understand why people hate the later stuff. I managed to avoid the radio oversaturation that tortured many. I nominate Madonna as one of the most obnoxious personalities. Even her biggest fans use the word, though they find it cute or something. To me she's like nails on blackboard. Latter day Van Morrison gets an honorable mention. Clapton just comes off as dumb.
ReplyDeleteMeatloaf,Phil Collins,Alice Cooper,PJ Proby,Most Rolling Stones stuff after Mick Taylor left,Kanye West ( just a total wanker) Don Mclean boring as Bat shit and a wife beater. anon
ReplyDeleteHaving spoken to a promoter who had pleasure of putting on a gig for John Martyn I can honestly say that finer music has not come out of a shittier vessel. As he got older (Pace Van) he got nastier and probably same goes for music.
ReplyDelete...very enjoyable responses. Concur in many cases except my caveat is 'hate' is too strong for the mountains of music I don't care for or have never developed a taste for.
ReplyDeleteInitial dislike of course is subject to later development. This is its own question—for the future? :-)
When I started working in a record store in 1970 the owner, Terry, in his late twenties (so, elderly to a 16 year old,) loved to come in and hang out and listen to Alice Cooper. Four years later he would embrace KISS. If it was slick heavy rock pop, he dug it. Luckily I was out of there in 1974 before the wave of FM heavy rock crashed over everything.
Oh, Barry Manilow. yccch!
As for unlikable people who made great music, Gram Parsons comes to mind as does a story about same.
"Love to hate" is just an expression, which I think was taken in the spirit intended. I mean, I don't really hate The Eagles or Billy Joel.
DeleteBuddha once said that hatred was like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.
So many bands to hate!! Hearing almost any Top 40 hits from the 80s makes me blow steam. REO Speedwagon, Journey, Flock of Seagulls, Culture Club, Lionel Ritchie, Duran Duran, Phil Collins, Michael Jackson (excIuding The Jackson 5 of course) could on and on but I'm about to boil over already just thinking about it. Worst decade of popular music ever -- thank goodness for the underground
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