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Neil pens tribute to Buddy Rich on his upcoming 100th Birthday


Jag2112
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Neils performance on Burning For Buddy was very shoddy!

 

Is that pronounced “shitty”? :P

 

The performance was very high-school, and then trotting out the Rush drum solo wasn’t a good move. He should’ve keep it sweet and simple, but no, there had to be a double-bass pedal. :wtf: :LOL:

 

Neil can't win it seems. He has admitted many times he's not a jazz drummer. He was also sick that night. The truth is that he drew a lot of people into seats for that show, and for the 2008 concert as well. Jazz and Big Band aren't very popular anymore. They're a dying art. For a rock drummer to even try something new, let alone do it for years on multiple fronts is unheard of. Give the guy a break. The audience loved the classic Neil solo.

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Buddy Rich was a notorius asshole. I wonder what he would've thought of Neil.

 

He was an excellent drummer but a real douchebag.

I think you're right that Buddy would have thought that!

 

I disagree. I think they would have been fast friends. Quick wit, fast driving, lots of coffee, some booze - and endless music.

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Neils performance on Burning For Buddy was very shoddy!

 

Is that pronounced “shitty”? :P

 

The performance was very high-school, and then trotting out the Rush drum solo wasn’t a good move. He should’ve keep it sweet and simple, but no, there had to be a double-bass pedal. :wtf: :LOL:

 

Neil can't win it seems. He has admitted many times he's not a jazz drummer. He was also sick that night. The truth is that he drew a lot of people into seats for that show, and for the 2008 concert as well. Jazz and Big Band aren't very popular anymore. They're a dying art. For a rock drummer to even try something new, let alone do it for years on multiple fronts is unheard of. Give the guy a break. The audience loved the classic Neil solo.

 

I hadn’t heard that he was sick, but I heard that he learned a slightly different arrangement of the tune he played and had to make some last minute adjustments in the studio, which is kind of cool and very “jazz”.

Don’t get me wrong, Neil has good snare chops. I just wish he would’ve done something with them instead of a solo that was barely improvised, kind of the antithesis of what jazz is/was all about. His solo on A Show Of Hands was one of his best, and seemed to contain a fair bit of improvisation, interestingly enough.

Lots of rock drummers have side projects outside of the rock world: Charlie Watts, Ginger Baker, Bill Bruford, Phil Collins, Dave Lombardo, Nick Mason, Stewart Copeland, to name a few.

I am a fan of Neil’s organizational and rhythmic imagination, but I can’t honestly say that he’s a good jazz drummer.

You are absolutely right through, he did draw a huge amount of interest to the performance.

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Lots of talk here about personality. Maybe few have met either Buddy Rich or Neil Peart, but no one knows / knew either of them.

 

Watch the movie "Whiplash". Once you get past J.K. Simmons no longer registering as the goofy Farmers Insurance guy ("bumpadumpumbumpbumpbum"), see if you can get past the initial disdain for his character. That's an intentionally difficult hurdle. Then try to relate to the main character Andrew as he struggles to balance his goals. I don't want to give away too much to those who haven't seen it, but there is a very powerful question to ponder about the sacrifices an impassioned artist makes in pursuit of something beyond "entertainment." I highly recommend it. :Neil: :)

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Lots of talk here about personality. Maybe few have met either Buddy Rich or Neil Peart, but no one knows / knew either of them.

 

Watch the movie "Whiplash". Once you get past J.K. Simmons no longer registering as the goofy Farmers Insurance guy ("bumpadumpumbumpbumpbum"), see if you can get past the initial disdain for his character. That's an intentionally difficult hurdle. Then try to relate to the main character Andrew as he struggles to balance his goals. I don't want to give away too much to those who haven't seen it, but there is a very powerful question to ponder about the sacrifices an impassioned artist makes in pursuit of something beyond "entertainment." I highly recommend it. :Neil: :)

 

I never knew either one of them, that's right, but I've read a lot about them (and from Neil) and watched a lot of their performances.

 

Regarding personality, in the Burning for Buddy liner notes, Neil wrote how buddy was a lover of fast cars and driving according (Neil! - and also read the Rolling Stone cover article). You hear Buddy talking about diner food and coffee (Neil always). You see intensity and impatience, and a love of music (Neil's Traveling Music and mocking Country on Snakes intro vid). Etc. etc.

 

And when Cathy Rich acknowledged her father and Neil's work on Burning, she said Neil is "cut from the same cloth." I think they would be fast friends. And learn from each other. And laugh like hell.

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