Bill Bruford - Willowcrest (A Tribute To Buddy Rich)

I knew a lot less about Buddy’s music than you might think. I’d probably asked King Crimson bassist Tony Levin about Rich – interestingly Tony, in his previous life as a jazz musician in the early 1970s, had worked and recorded with the Great Man. I’d interviewed Buddy in London’s Dorchester Hotel and knew his classic West Side Story suite, but I didn’t own any of his albums for some reason, and there was no YouTube or Spotify. Stupidly, I went into ‘Willowcrest’ alarmingly under-prepared. In the event, I didn’t make any horrendous mistakes but neither does this performance add to the pantheon of great interpretations of his music. Elsewhere, I’ve suggested that I did at least as well with the Buddy Rich Big Band as Buddy Rich would have done in King Crimson, a nightmare scenario that doesn’t bear thinking about! I certainly learned a lot about working with big bands, doing this and ‘Lingo’. The sound of all those guys blowing at once is huge in the headphones. There was no sense on my side of having to push, or drive them; this was their milieu, this is what they do, and they would have swung effortlessly with or without me. The track starts calmly, but builds steadily through the trumpet solo and moves up several gears to the saxophone solo and subsequent drum action. I caught most of the hits with minimal interruption to the flow, but the fills in between the hits tell you I don’t do this for a living – I don’t live here. And that’s not gratuitous self-deprecation, it’s an accurate assessment of my performance. For sure I was well out of my comfort zone on this unfamiliar big-band jazz, but how can you refuse an invitation from Neil Peart to play with one of the best big-bands in the world? I recommend that all musicians throw themselves, minimum twice a year, into any sort of music situation in which they know beyond all doubt that they’re out of their depth. Sink or swim! You’ll not only survive, you’ll be amazed how well you do. BTW, if you’re enjoying these descriptions and liking what you see and hear, please consider subscribing to my Channel #billbruford #buddyrich #drums