Buddy Rich, drums, Brooklyn, NY (d. April 2, 1987)
Arguably the greatest jazz drummer of all time, the legendary Buddy Rich exhibited his love for music through the dedication of his life to the art. His career spanned seven decades, beginning when Rich was 18 months old and continuing until his death in 1987. Rich could play with remarkable speed and dexterity despite the fact that he never received a formal lesson and refused to practice outside of his performances.
Born Bernard Rich to vaudevillians Robert and Bess Rich, the famed drummer was introduced to audiences at a very young age. By 1921, he was a seasoned solo performer with his vaudeville act, "Traps the Drum Wonder." With his natural sense of rhythm, Rich performed regularly on Broadway at the age of four. At the peak of Rich's early career, he was the second-highest paid child entertainer in the world.
Rich's jazz career began in 1937 when he began playing with Joe Marsala at New York's Hickory House. By 1939, he had joined Tommy Dorsey's band, and he later went on to play with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Ventura, Louis Armstrong and Gene Krupa. Rich was regularly featured in Jazz at the Philharmonic during the late 1940s. He also appeared in such Hollywood films as "Symphony of Swing" (1939), "Ship Ahoy" (1942) and "How's About It" (1943). Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Rich toured with his own bands and opened two nightclubs, Buddy's Place and Buddy's Place II. Both clubs were regularly filled to capacity by fans of the great master drummer. After opening Buddy's Place II, Rich introduced new tunes with elements of rock into his repertoire, demonstrating his ability to adapt to his audience's changing tastes and establishing himself as a great rock drummer. Known for his caustic humor, Rich was a favorite on several television talk shows including the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, the Mike Douglas Show, the Dick Cavett Show and the Merv Griffin Show. Rich received many awards including Downbeat Magazine Hall of Fame Award, the Modern Drummer Magazine Hall of Fame Award and the Jazz Unlimited Immortals of Jazz Award. Rich gained international attention for such master compositions as his 10-minute West Side Story medley. During his lengthy career, Rich toured around the globe, performing for millions of fans and several world leaders including the King of Thailand, King Hussein of Jordan the Queen of England, and U.S. presidents Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.
On April 2, 1987, Rich died of heart failure following surgery for a malignant brain tumor. Longtime friend, Frank Sinatra, spoke a touching eulogy at Rich's funeral. Today, Buddy Rich is remembered as one of history's greatest musicians. According to jazz legend Gene Krupa, Rich was "The greatest drummer ever to have drawn breath."
from the Official Buddy Rich Web site
www.budyrich.com
Oscar Pettiford, Bass, 1922, Okmulgee, OK (d. 1960)
Of mixed black and native American extraction, Oscar came from a musical family and learned several instruments before finally deciding on the bass. He was a member of his family's touring band that was based in Minneapolis. In 1943 he went to work in Charlie Barnet's band, with which he made his way to New York in the same year. After working in Roy Eldridge's quintet, he finally found his nitch in Dizzy Gillespie's roaring big band. He next led his own group at the Onyx Club during 1943 and 44. Oscar, who was extremely flexible, played in numerous small bop groups and in the big bands of Duke Ellington and Woody Herman during the late 1940s.. In the mid '50s he again formed his own big band which, though highly regarded for it's arrangements and instrumentation, suffered from instability of personnel, owing in part to Pettiford's difficult temperment. He made his home in Europe in 1958, and spent his final years in Copenhagen. Pettiford was the first jazz bass player to adapt and elaborate on the innovations of Jimmy Blanton within a bop context, and his ideas had a lasting influence on the bop style as a whole. From about 1950 he performed solos on on the amplified cello, which he played in a style, reminiscent of Charlie Christian. Pettiford was influential in establishing the bass as a jazz solo instrument equal in importance to the winds.
Jon Eardley, Trumpet, 1928, Altoona, PA
Jon started playing the trumpet when he was around 10 years old. His father had played in the popular Paul Whiteman orchestra ,and from an early age Jon was familiar with the music of Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke, and other important musicians of the era. Later he was influenced by the modern music of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. After military service in the late '40s, he made his home in Washington, DC, and formed a bop quartet. In the mid '50s Jon moved to New York and worked with Phil Woods and then he joined Gerry Mulligan. He also toured Europe with Mulligan in 1956. From 1963 to 1969 Eardley's home was in Europe where he worked in studios and jazz clubs in Belgium, and then moved to Cologne, Germany, to play in a popular radio orchestra led by Harold Banter. He continued to make recordings in the '70s and '80s. Jon is best known for his work with Mulligan's quartet and sextet. He is highly respected in Europe, where he spent numerous years, as a skilled player with a beautiful tone and a keen sense of melody.
Patrice Rushen, Keyboard/Singer, 1954, Los Angeles, CA
Patrice studied classical piano from the early age three before turning to jazz while in her teens. She led After a group that won an award for young jazz musicians at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1972, and then went to work for Melba Liston, Abbey Lincoln, Gerald Wilson, and Benny Golson. She recorded with Jean-Luc Ponty in 1975. Patrice played electric keyboard with Lee Ritenour's group in 1977, but decided to leave so that she could devote more attention to singing. Rushen's first album as a leader showed the influence of bop, but she later abandoned improvisation, at which she had evinced considerable skill, in favor of a fusion of jazz and rhythm-and-blues; in the late '70s she aquired a large following among pop audiences by performing a bland style of pop-soul. In 1988 she belonged to the group led by Carlos Santana and Wayne Shorter.
