That's Rich

I was checking On Demand the other night (love FiOS) and stumbled across this odd show, apparently either the first of a series or a promo for the series, called All U Need Is Love, put together by Tony Parker. A quick Internet search turned up no information, and I don't know a thing about it, but some of the clips of upcoming shows were hilarious.

The clips ping ponged dizzily from B. B. King to Cream to Edith Piaf — Edith Piaf? — with both interviews and live performances. My favorite clip was an interview with Buddy Rich, the master of pyrotechnic jazz drumming. Rich, who disdained most rock drummers, comes out swinging in his interview, and I mean swinging in the boxing, not the jazz, sense. "They hold their sticks wrong!" he thunders about rock percussionists. He demonstrated, holding his drumsticks like two flags, and showing all of the things a drummer can't do when holding his sticks that way.

He flipped his sticks to hold them "correctly" unleashed a typical volcanic solo, and then sat back, with just the hint of a smile flickering across his face.

A few clips later the show cut to Cream's drummer, Ginger Baker, a strong contender for the most ham handed drummer in rock. Baker was, as Rich noted, holding his sticks the wrong way. Sure enough, he attempted a couple of the moves Rich said couldn't be done when holding the sticks incorrectly ... and couldn't do them.

Rich was, at least when I saw him, somewhat prickly, and known for being less than pleasant to those he considered lesser musicians. Still, it's not bragging if you can back it up (a quote credited to both Muhammad Ali and Dizzy Dean, two names you rarely see in the same sentence), and Rich could back it up.

Or two paraphrase, "if you listen to only one drum solo this year, make it Buddy Rich."