Buddy Longwy

Avid Jazz here presents three classic Buddy Rich albums plus including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered double CD.
“The Wailing Buddy Rich”; “The Swinging Buddy Rich; “This One’s For Basie” plus 6 of 7 tracks from “Buddy And Sweets”.
Bernard “Buddy” Rich was born to show biz parents in Brooklyn in 1917. A natural drummer he was known in vaudeville as “Taps the Drum Wonder” and was leading his own band by the time he was eleven! Starting his jazz career in 1938 in Joe Marsala’s band he went on to play with the likes of Tommy Dorsey, Bunny Berigan, Artie Shaw and Harry James…

This issue of Buddy DeFranco's recordings as a leader of both a quintet and an orchestra between 1949 and 1952 is a welcome one. The material on these 24 cuts is standard fare from the swing era, which was way over by 1949, but it proves that DeFranco knew how to lead a big band and swing hard as a soloist in a quintet setting - especially with the company he kept. Some of his crew on these sides include Serge Chaloff, Teddy Charles, Teddy Kotick, Lee Konitz, Max Roach, Jimmy Raney, and Al Cohn, just to name a few. Arrangements for these tunes were done by DeFranco, George Russell, and Manny Albam, which gives the listener a taste of the varied sonic interests of the great clarinetist. The sound on these sides is a tiny bit thin, but that's a minor complaint. The material swings no matter the arrangement or the size of the band. This is an intimate look at an often overlooked jazz great.