Big Swing Face - Buddy Rich (1967)

Rich was widely considered the “world’s greatest drummer” during his lifetime, and he was enough of a showman that he wouldn’t let people forget that.

You might expect a live album by a guy with that reputation (in a band that bears his name) to be a show-off, a chop fest. But one of the things that made Rich’s drumming great is that it always served the music.

He was lightning fast, but that lightning could be channeled into cymbal or snare patterns that unbreakingly underlaid what his band was playing. Even when he did cut loose, it was often in the context of the song. Check out Bugle Call Rag, where he turns an infantry marching cadence into a wickedly complex solo.

FWIW: Art Blakey was another jazz drumming great who lived almost the exact same years as Rich. Blakey was famous for incubating talent, launching the careers of countless jazz greats. The guys in Rich’s band generally didn’t move on to lead their own. I don’t suppose it was a bad gig, playing with one of the greatest drummers ever; but I think it speaks to a difference in how Blakey and Rich led their outfits.