Buddy Rich, drummer extraordinaire

The Oscars nominations were revealed earlier this week. Amongst the nominees for best movies, I was happy to see ‘Whiplash’ by Damien Chazelle, with Miles Teller and J.K Simmons (nominated as Best Actor in a supporting role) who’s quite formidable, indeed, as the charismatic, albeit terrifyingly bullying Professor Fletcher…)

All of this to say that, after the massacre at Charlie Hebdo last week, it’s important to focus on beautiful things, if anything not to let inhuman, horrifying news prevail; especially when religious leaders make horribly misguided statements in the wake of those massacres to imply that, somehow, we live in a world that’s really about “an eye for an eye”… Talk about love, tolerance and liberty!

Anyway, I’m not going to be angry here, now, although I am angry, indeed, and shocked to hear what we hear lately about free speech and its supposed limits (maybe I’ll let it out in another post…)

Let’s focus on music, instead, and how, thanks to ‘Whiplash,’ we all get to revive the memory of the absolutely wonderful and phenomenal gem that was Buddy Rich, whether or not we knew who he was (although, if you didn’t… seriously? Shame on you!)

As a musician who plays the percussions (amongst other instruments), and an unconditional Jazz lover, I thought one of Whiplash’s qualities was, beyond its cinematic dimension, first and foremost the music. I loved the way Chazelle filmed the drum kit, and the various rehearsal sequences. His camera treats the instrument with a palpable respect, and obvious fondness. As for the storyline, who would blame Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller), indeed, to aspire to becoming “one of the greats” when one of his role models is Buddy Rich, undeniably one of the most talented drum players of all time?

The drums are a fascinating instrument. It can look unsubtle and basic at first, while it is, in fact, anything but. Still, I mean, you look at a drummer playing its instrument and think: “Ok, so what? All he does is hitting a set of drums with a pair of sticks… Admittedly in rhythm, yes, but why all the fuzz?”

Well, if you think a drummer is only here to add a beat to a song, or punctuate music with several “badum-tss” so that the whole song will sound rhythmic and lively, you’re wrong. The drums are the indispensable spine that holds the whole musical body together. And they are, in themselves, playing music, too: forte, piano, muffled, loud, low, high-pitched, metallic, dull…

As ‘Whiplash’ beautifully explores it, the drum kit IS an instrument, that needs to be tuned, that is capricious, difficult to tame, and only “sounds” perfectly right, with the perfect musical intention, when you know how to play it.

In that register, Buddy Rich was a genius, somehow maybe an extra-terrestrial entity, as the way he played the drums was so incredibly fantastic, it looked almost unreal.

Hereafter is an impossibly awesome drum solo by Buddy Rich to convince you of the magical beauty of drums.

And if his brilliantly dexterous performance doesn’t leave you amazed, I don’t know what will…

PS (to my friend V.): Yes, there is a LONG way to go, so come on, practice, practice, practice!!