Buddy Rich, world-famous jazz drummer, gave his last interview on the Michael Parkinson show in late 1986. He had arrived at a point where he was enjoying life, not least because he was doing what he loved best - performing and touring with his own big band, comprising a crack team of young players he'd pulled from colleges. In 1966, after a lifetime of drumming for others, he put his own big band band together - at a time when big bands were in decline. Correction: they had been in decline since the end of the second world war, with the trend moving towards smaller performance units and a style of music that was given to listening, not dancing. Bebop!
Buddy was keen to go with the times a little bit; and he was adamant that the big band format could be used for more than just dancing to. He wanted people to listen; be dazzled by the artistry offered through virtuoso performances. In an age of rock n roll, Buddy was out there flying the flag for Jazz; and the kids were loving it. He was no slouch; in fact he was a real workmeister keen to move forwards.
Many tours and recordings followed from 1966; so that by the time of the Parkinson interview, in his 69th year, he was firmly established as an ambassador for the big band format.
The interview is quite illuminating in that it documents Buddy's thoughts and feelings about his role in music, the state of the music business at the time and the future of big bands and Jazz. He refers to the 'video age' as something that had little to do with music, and he makes mention of some of the stage antics associated with the rock n roll as being more to do with entertainment than music. This was a man with puritanical ideas about what music should be; and what it isn't.
