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Review of Buddy Rich Memorial Concert -
Hammerstein Ballroom, 10/18/2008
It took Neil Peart to get me to New York City — well, at least a concert with
Neil Peart. Having never been there, Neil's performance with the
Buddy Rich Band was the perfect excuse.
It all started in February this year on a drive home from work. My friend Monica Z,
with whom I've shared many Rush-related travels, called and said,
"I've got fourth row, dead center tickets for Neil's Buddy Rich Concert!"
"Buy them!" I said without hesitation. Even though I wasn't committed
to going to the concert at that point, I liked the idea of having great tickets.
Friday Night in Queens
Fast forward eight months. Friday night, 11:00 p.m., Jamaica, NY.
After
a long flight from Seattle, I was sitting in a Super 8 motel room, talking on the
phone with Michael D.F. Lowe, who runs
NeilPeartDrumsticks.com. He was on his way back to his Newark hotel after
watching a full rehearsal of the Buddy Rich Memorial show. Michael and I
had been talking
in e-mail for a few years, and I'd wanted to meet him in person when we were in
the same city. We agreed to
try and meet the next day, when Monica and I would be in New York City.
In addition to meeting Michael, I'd also planned to meet two local people I'd
talked to in e-mail, Neal Scanapico from Brooklyn, and Roman Dino from
New Jersey, who were also going to the concert on Saturday.
Before the show
Monica and I arrived in Manhattan early Saturday morning and went sightseeing
right away. New York overwhelmed me with its endless canyons of
skyscrapers and energy. We spent most of the afternoon in the
New York
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) viewing some of my favorite paintings, including
Van Gogh's
The Starry
Night and Andrew Wyeth's
Christina's World.
During the day, we confirmed plans to meet Neal Scanapico and his girlfriend Sue for
dinner before the show — and maybe Michael D.F. Lowe.
After a short rest in the hotel, Monica and I walked down 8th Avenue to 34th Street. We
met Roman and Sue upstairs in T.G.I. Fridays, across the street from Madison
Square Garden. It's always a little
surreal to meet someone you've only talked to in e-mail
— or even on the phone.
Roman and Sue were nice and easygoing. I found I had a lot in common with Roman,
including a love of drumming, music, and airplanes.
After dinner, we walked to the venue and waited in line outside the venue. The
wind was cold, and I was glad I'd brought coat. I noticed that many people had
brought along drum heads, cymbals, and other
stuff — presumably to be signed by one
or more of the performers. I hadn't even brought my camera, as it wasn't clear
if photography would be permitted (and I wanted to concentrate on the show).
Inside the Hammerstein
Once inside the venue, we walked past the merch and sound booths to our seats.
The
Hammerstein
Ballroom, built in 1906, is located in The Manhattan Center on the bottom
floor. There's another ballroom upstairs called The Grand Ballroom and two
recording studios as well. I thought the building was definitely showing its
age, even though it's supposedly known for its elegant appearance and good
acoustics.
While this was a Jazz concert, the stage
screamed Rock and Roll. Above
stage right and left hung huge speakers; behind the speakers an array of
multi-colored stage lights; and behind those a large video screen. Just to our
right on the floor, high-definition cameras practiced swooping over the crowd. A smoke machine
started to breathe backstage.
Roman ended up sitting only a few seats away from where Monica and I were sitting, so I
continued to talk with him. I also got a chance to meet Neal Scanapico and his
brother-in-law Bobby Ryan, and finally said hello to Michael D.F. Lowe.
Tommy Igoe
Almost right at 7:30, the show started with some video footage of Cathy Rich
talking about this concert and Buddy Rich's legacy. Tommy Igoe, the lead-off
drummer, also had some
video footage. The only time I'd seen Igoe was on an instructional drum video, but
I learned before visiting NYC that plays and directs
The Birdland Big Band
every Friday. (I also learned that many of the big
band musicians who were playing at this show also play at Birdland with Igoe). Igoe was
obviously comfortable in a Big Band setting, playing with solid technique that
would have made Buddy proud. I was glad Monica brought some extra earplugs for me, because
it ended up being pretty loud in that fourth row.
An interesting side note: At the beginning of the show, Carrie Nuttall (AKA Mrs.
Neil Peart) sat right behind me with Matt Scannell (of Vertical Horizon). And
no, I didn't try to talk to her.
John Blackwell
I'd read about John Blackwell and knew he was on the short list of great R&B
drummers (he recently released a new
Master
Class DVD). He actually reminded me a lot of
Gerry Brown, with his groove, power, and showmanship. He had a China
cymbal mounted behind him that made for some interesting visual accents. He
twirled his sticks, but, like Gerry Brown, the twirling seemed to almost be part
of the beat.
His "open" left-hand leading style was reminiscent of Billy Cobham and Carter
Beauford (most drummers playing on a right-handed kit lead with their right
hand). I also saw Blackwell use Johnny Rabb's
Freehand
technique, which enables a drummer to play rolls with one hand.
Blackwell played one of my favorite Jazz tunes called
Nutville, which
Steve Smith played at another Buddy Rich Memorial show. He played a double-ride
beat with rolling tom-tom accents that was just beautiful.
Like Igoe, Blackwell addressed the audience at the end
of his set. He thanked all the people who had supported him, including his
family sitting in the audience, and came off as a very modest, sincere guy. And
then he talked about the loss of his daughter Jia (in 2004)
— and he was clearly choked up. Someone in the crowd said, "She lives through you," and
Blackwell acknowledged the comment. I read in the program later that before
every show Blackwell takes off his hat and says, "Let's go get 'em, Jia!"
Donnie Marple
This 21-year-old drummer, the winner of Guitar Center's 2007 Drum-Off,
stunned the crowd with his creative and beautifully-played solo. As a drummer
and frequent Guitar Center shopper, I've seen Drum-Off advertisements
and wondered who actually won. Now I knew. Some of his
tricks included: one-handed cymbal chokes, playing behind his back, throwing his
sticks while playing beats, and pretty amazing fluidity (at times he reminded me
of Dave Weckl). I'll be interested to see where he takes his drumming.
You can see a video of
Marple here.
Terry Bozzio and Effrain Toro
This was my fourth time seeing Bozzio. I'd seen him in Seattle during the 1990s with
the band Polytown, as well as two Guitar Center drum clinics. His playing was
always, in a word, mind-blowing. I'd learned a lot
about orchestrating a drum solo from his first instructional video. He uses a
large kit with tuned drums and cymbals to play melodies, and has perfected the
art of the ostinato, where a hand or foot holds down a rhythm while the other
limbs solo over that rhythm.
With the Buddy Rich Band, Terry played some big band arrangements of Cartoon
Network themes, which was an interesting idea. Ironically, it seemed like
Bozzio's gargantuan kit (scaled down for the concert) seemed to hold him back
with the Buddy Rich Band. And while I enjoyed hearing Bozzio play with percussionist Effrain Toro, I think it
diminished Bozzio's ability to stretch out in his solo sections. It's almost as
if Bozzio felt that doing his usual melodic drum solo wasn't appropriate in this
setting. It was still great to see him play again.
Intermission
During intermission, Monica and I walked downstairs.
I ended up meeting Neal Scanapico and his brother-in-law Bobby Ryan. Neal was
the one who gave me the idea for the
Postcards from Neil section of this site.
We had a nice talk about what we thought of the show so far and other stuff.
Bobby told me about one of the great perks of being a NYC firefighter: Whenever
you need to park in Manhattan, you just leave your car at one of the fire
stations!
Behind me, Monica was talking to
Bill Banasiewicz, a good friend of hers and also someone
I'd met on a few of these Rush journeys. Behind them was
Carmine Appice,
the famed drummer of Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Jeff Beck, King Kobra, Pink Floyd,
Rod Stewart, Ted Nugent, Ozzy Osbourne, and many others. He looked the
same as the picture of him on his book,
Realistic Rock, with a fu-man-chu
mustache.
Set 2: Tommy Igoe
We got back to our seats to see Tommy Igoe play more tunes with the Buddy Rich
band. He seemed to be the "house" drummer.
Cathy Rich said that Igoe would be taking over as the Buddy Rich Band leader.
Then Lorne Wheaton, Neil's drum tech, started adjusting Igoe's kit, getting it
ready for another drummer to play it.
Peter Erskine
After Lorne finished adjusting Igoe's kit, Cathy introduced surprise guest Peter
Erskine. I have to say I don't know too much about Erskine's work, except I know that
he's a superb Jazz player and, like Steve Smith, is also one of those drummers
who can play in just about any style. He played in Weather Report,
although by the time I got around to listening to that band Omar Hakim had
replaced Erskine.
Erskine played with the Buddy Rich band with the kind of confidence and
technique that looks effortless. He didn't show off, but just played time in a
beautiful way. (I learned later in a Neil Peart News and Weather update that
Neil had been taking lessons from Erskine before this concert.)
Nick Rich
This was the first time Nick Rich had played with his Grandfather's band. He'd
recently been showing up in pictures with Neil Peart, and had appeared in Neil's
books as a minor character for years. The last time I'd really seen him was in
the video from the 1992 Buddy Rich Memorial Concert, when he was just a kid.
While I thought Rich's playing was good, his wardrobe, tattoos, body piercings,
and Michael Jordan-esque tongue gymnastics were distracting. Once I looked
beyond that, I could see a fire in his eyes that definitely reminded me of
Buddy. In many of the pictures I've seen of this concert, he almost looks like
Buddy sitting behind that kit.
If Nick Rich continues playing the drums and learns to channel the famous Buddy
Rich fire into his drumming, I think he has the potential to do great things.
Chad Smith
While I can say I'm a fan of Chad Smith's (his groove from
Under the Bridge
inspired me in the 90s), I'd never seen him play. Like Neil, Chad is
a drummer in a very successful rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers (21.5 million
records sold compared to Rush's 25 million). Chad is also a multi Grammy-award-winning
drummer, with both the Red Hot Chili Peppers and other projects he's played on,
like The Dixie Chicks.
From the moment Smith came out on stage, I realized he was an entertainer. While
his intro video played above him, he threw sticks at his larger-than-life image.
On stage, he made me laugh with practically every measure of music he played. (I was
close enough to see his facial expressions.) He'd explained on his intro video
that playing with the Buddy Rich band scared him, and I could see him powering
through the songs with the bravado that's made him an arena-rock drummer. When
he made a mistake or dropped a stick, it didn't seem to faze him a bit.
Smith's choice of music was great, including the Chili Peppers'
Dani
California to the Focus song
Hocus Pocus (which gets the award for audience
participation) to Birdland. When Smith was done, the audience was happy and
charged up for the finale: Neil Peart.
Neil Peart
After a long video intro where Neil explained his involvement in several Buddy
Rich projects, Neil appeared on the stage in a vest and matching African Prayer cap. He
acknowledged the audience's applause. I was close enough to see a hint of nerves
behind Neil's eyes, but then he dove right into the music. Replacing the "house"
bassist Will Lee was Neil Peart's friend, Jeff Berlin, who appeared to be
reading music most of the time.
His first tunes,
Love for Sale and
Time Will Tell, were songs I didn't really
know, but it was fun to watch Peart navigate through them. His playing was
understated — which I found a little
surprising, given Peart's usual playing. After the first song, I saw him
breath a sigh of relief before taking a drink of water.
By the time he got to the third song,
Cottontail/One O'clock Jump, two songs I
knew well, an anticipation was building in the audience. We all knew his drum
solo was coming. And once he launched into his solo, the real fire seemed to
return to Peart's playing. The solo was reminiscent of what he played on the
Snakes & Arrows tour in both structure and pacing
— an improvised section, a
Drum-Also-Waltzes section, a Floating Snare section, a Quadruplet section, and a
few things that seemed a little different. There were no cowbells, which is
probably the first time I've heard Peart solo without them. His drums sounded
great. The audience erupted at the end into a standing ovation.
Neil launched into the last song, a big-band version of Rush's YYZ, with the
Morse code on a single crotale (I assume mounted on the bass drum). It was a
real treat to listen to a new arrangement of YYZ and an even bigger treat to see
Peart play the song on a smaller kit.
When he was done, all the drummers came out and took a bow. Neil went
around and shook a lot of hands in the band, and hugged Nick Rich. It's obvious
that they're close.
Coda
Afterward, I spotted Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy on our left side (he was
signing a drum head for someone) and Monica ran over to talk to him for a
moment. I talked with Michael D.F. Lowe and Roman, and then we headed outside
into the cold NYC night. Monica and I talked with B-Man outside the Hammerstein,
and then Monica and I headed off into the night in search of a good NYC hotdog.
Like the rest of my NY trip, the concert was a feast for the senses. Walking in
the cold air and talking with Monica was a nice way to reflect on what I'd just
seen and unwind.
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