A couple of weeks ago, I was sent an e-mail from a friend of mine who told me that Rush drummer Neil Peart was going to be performing at the Buddy Rich Memorial Concert held 10-18-08 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City with the Buddy Rich Band….

I’m thinking, cool, I’ll go rent the DVD when released or watch clips on YouTube at 3 AM the next morning when some fan smuggled a videocamera in and got some clips…. However, my friend’s next statement really caught my attention….

It’s going to be streamed live over the Internet at drumchannel.com

block out my calendar.. I am going to spend a Saturday night watching big band music online… Since I do not live in New York City, the only option I had was to watch it online with cablemodem

Early Saturday evening, I turned on the computer and went to drumchannel.com’s web page and clicked on the link where I was forwarded to a page that had a cool looking Adobe Flash player. I was impressed with the uniqueness of this because there were five cameras to choose from and all of them gave great camera angles live and streaming via the Internet (even though the backstage camera went out halfway during the show).

To whoever owns drumchannel.com?

Thank You!!!!

I was treated to a great night of a great collection of music.

The show started off with Tommy Igoe who I was very impressed with. His chops, timing, and cohesiveness with the other musicians really came through and the three songs he did in that segment (Little Train, Preach And Teach, La Fiesta) really got the show started off right. The bio stated that he played once a week at a local NYC nightclub and that he was now teaching drums (you Igoe students have a great teacher).

However, the drummer who stole the show was the next performer by the name of John Blackwell (who performed No Jive, Nutville, Mind Of Jay – a tribute to his deceased daughter). I had never heard him play before but he gave an amazing performance and solo showing off his crosshand moves, his one hand snare roll and a sense of fluidity behind the kit that equals if not exceeds the fluidity normally seen in Omar Hakim. He was worth the price of admission alone.

Then there was a solo by a gentleman named Donnie Marple who had won a Guitar Center contest. He had talent, but his solo was way too much like early Neil Peart drum solos around the Exit Stage Left era. I felt that I was watching a tribute to Neil Peart instead of a tribute to Buddy Rich.

Then Terry Bozzio showed up with a ’scaled down’ version of his monstrous DW drum kit. It still looked monstrous because it was the only kit with two bass drums when everyone else played traditional sized drumkits. In fact, I felt that the large kit, along with Bozzio’s playing style actually demeaned the show because the focus on the Buddy Rich shows is usually to play the best music and do it in the spirit of Buddy. Old Buddy Rich videos showed Buddy played alot of music and did alot of rudiments and techniques with standard small size drum kits. The way Terry came across as playing, it appeared that Terry relied more on the sheer size and number of toms and cymbals in the kit instead of Terry’s actual ability which he clearly possesses.

However, his sidekick Efrain Toto played brilliantly on percussion as they performed The Brecker Brothers Some Skunk Funk (we need a Brecker Brothers Tribute show), Cartoon Network’s Venture Brothers Medley w/Cowboy BeBop, and Machine.

During the intermission, it was announced on the Internet feed that a rare, never seen on TV and never edited television show pilot of Buddy Rich was going to be released in early 2009 with Buddy playing alongside such performers such as Ray Charles and Lionel Hampton. Very Interesting!!!!!

It was during this time that my Internet stream began to chop up and I had to switch to low resolution which was still a high quality compared to other live videos I had seen online.

Tommy Igoe came back again and highlighted David Letterman’s bassist Will Lee as the band performed “The Chicken” which was brilliantly played. In fact, Will Lee’s bass sounded very similar to the classic Jaco Pastorius sound

As a surprise, Peter Erskine showed up and played with the band on Igoe’s kit.

Then it was time for the debut of Nick Rich, Buddy’s Grandson. After hearing him perform, I came across with mixed feelings about this guy. First of all, where the other musicians came out dressing and acting professional, this guy came out looking like he just left the extreme sports skate park / bike ramp and was acting rowdy. He looked like a cross between Travis Barker and Tre Cool. His renditions of Beulah Witch and Mercy, Mercy, Mercy just seemed to be both out of sync with the band and also played to more of a rock tempo where the band played a swing tempo. Plus, his drums seemed to be tuned flat and unresponsive for an alternate or country western type of sound (it looked like the toms had the plastic rings that muffle the sustain of the drum) instead of a big band sound. That whole segment seemed to be out of place. In fact, the scheduled performance of the band playing to ‘The Beat Goes On’ with Cathy Rich singing was scrapped I guess because Peter Erskine showed up.

Then his mom (beautiful woman) came out and seemed not only to brag about her son’s erratic performance, but to ‘pimp’ the drumset (that didn’t impress me sound and look wise) made by the “Buddy Rich Drum Company”. Very bitter taste left in my mouth about that segment of the show.

Chad Smith then came out and played a funk/big band style that really came off very well. Dani California was not only played brilliantly, but the arrangement was beautifully crafted. I could see what appeared to be Chad not being able to hear the monitors and trying his best to play Hocus Pocus and the classic Birdland. However, Chad did a great job and got the crowd ready for the headline attraction

Neil Peart.

Neil showed us this night why he is the world’s best drummer and the consummate professional musician. Not only did Neil capture the spirit of Buddy Rich by adapting his drumming style to fit with the big band, Neil showed up with (dressed in his traditional African percussion cap and matching vest) a DW equivalent replica of a Buddy Rich drumkit in marine sparkle white with the snare tuned to ring and the toms tuned to have a ‘boomy’ sound to accommodate traditional big band / swing music.

Neil played Love For Sale which he stated from the Buddy Rich sessions of the 1990’s was his favorite big band song. Then he played his versions of Cottontail – solo – and the end of One o’clock jump just like a Rush concert. Peart showed us how to do ‘more with less’. More outright drum rudiments and technique with less drums than he normally plays with.

Then came the end. A big band version of the Rush instrumental classic YYZ. Neil and Jeff Berlin played brilliantly. However, whoever arranged the big band score did the song right in some parts and completely blew the arrangement in other parts of the song.

Overall, it was a great show. If I lived in New York City, I would have purchased tickets and seen the show live. Thank you drumchannel.com, Buddy Rich Band, Neil Peart, John Blackwell, Tommy Igoe, Chad Smith and the other musicians for putting on a great show with enjoyable music.

Tags: Big Band, Buddy Rich, Buddy Rich Band, Buddy Rich Memorial Concert, Cathy Rich, Chad Smith, Donnie Marple, drumchannel.com, Efrain Toro, Jeff Berlin, John Blackwell, Neil Peart, Peter Erskine, Steve Marcus, Swing, Terry Bozzio, Tommy Igoe, Will Lee