Buddy Rich - The Roar of '74

BUDDY RICH
The Roar Of '74
1974
256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from Groove Merchant GM 528


Some big band bang for El Goog's new Groovy Merchant blog. Not much more to say on Buddy, what with him probably being the best-known drummer of the 20th Century. I hadn't seen this elsewhere when I originally threw it onto the "to do" pile a couple months ago but now, just before posting, I noticed the intrepid Simon had indeed found one on the blogosphere. However, that was a CD rip while this is taken from the original vinyl with the usual scans and tags you can expect in a Soundological package.

Lots of heavyweights on this one, especially in the rhythm section where King Crimson's Tony "Chapman Stickler" Levin is on bass side-by-side with jazz giant Joe Beck on guitar. Buddy's supported on beats by Duke Ellington drummer Sam Woodyard (who appeared most recently at Soundological on last month's Milt Buckner & Marcel Zanini post) and 70s session stalwart Jimmy Maeulen, both handling percussion duties.

AMG Review
by Scott Yanow

In late 1973, the Buddy Rich big band still featured the explosive drummer in prime, competitive form. The orchestra's key soloist during the era was Pat LaBarbera (doubling on tenor and soprano); guitarist Joe Beck also has a spot on "Big Mac." The charts (by Ernie Wilkins, John LaBarbera, Manny Albam, Greg Hopkins and Don Menza) for this album emphasize hard-driving swing, with the highlights including "Nuttville," "Senator Sam" and Menza's memorable "Time Check."

Buddy Rich - Drums
Charlie Davis - Trumpet
Larry Hall - Trumpet
Greg Hopkins - Trumpet (1)
John Hoffman - Trumpet (2)
Joe Romano - Alto Sax
Bob Martin - Alto Sax
Pat La Barbera - Tenor Sax (1,2,4,5,8) Soprano Sax (3,7)
Bob Crea - Tenor Sax (3,4,8)
John Laws - Baritone Sax
Al Kaplan - Trombone (8)
Keith O'Quinn - Trombone (2,8)
John Leys - Bass Trombone
Buddy Budson - Piano (1,6,7)
Joe Beck - Guitar (3)
Tony Levin - Bass
Jimmy Maeulen - Conga
Sam Woodyard - Percussion

Solo credits listed in brackets by track numbers


1 Nuttville
2 Kilimanjaro Cookout
3 Big Mac
4 Backwoods Sideman
5 Time Check
6 Prelude To A Kiss
7 Waltz Of The Mushroom Hunters
8 Senator Sam


Seeking that electric 70s swing sound? Soundological supplies it HERE or HERE.