Artist: Buddy Rich

Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz  drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time. 

Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, United States. He began playing jazz in 1937, working with acts such as Bunny Berigan, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, and Harry James. After service in the U.S. Marines from 1942 to 1944, he led the Buddy Rich Orchestra from 1945 to 1948. He found lasting success in 1966 with the formation of the Buddy Rich Big Band.

In addition to playing with Tommy Dorsey (1939–42, 1945, 1954–55), Rich played with Benny Carter  (1942), Harry James (1953–56–62, 1964, 1965),  Les Brown, Charlie Ventura, Jazz at the Philharmonic, and Charlie Parker (Bird and Diz, 1950). 

Rich's technique, including speed, smooth execution and precision, is one of the most coveted in drumming and has become a common standard. Gene Krupa  described him as "the greatest drummer ever to have drawn breath". Roger Taylor, drummer of Queen, acknowledged Rich as the best drummer he ever saw for sheer technique. Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker  has credited Rich as the greatest drummer of all time. 

Further information about Buddy Rich is found at TheBuddyRichBand.com.

Photography credit: James Kriegsmann, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

This content was excerpted from the Wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Rich, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).