Every Drummers Envy

Buddy Rich

In this amazing footage from the late 1930’s, Buddy Rich demonstrates his formidable skills as a percussionist.

*Bernard “Buddy” Rich was born in Brooklyn, New York, on September 30, 1917 to Jewish vaudevillians Robert and Bess Rich. He showed a natural aptitude for percussion and began playing drums in vaudeville when he was 18 months old, billed as “Traps the Drum Wonder.” At the peak of his childhood career, he was reportedly the second-highest paid child entertainer in the world (after Jackie Coogan) and began performing as a bandleader by age eleven.

*He received no formal drum instruction, was not known to read music, and went so far as to claim that instruction would only degrade his musical talent. But inspite of this Rich would become known as “the world’s greatest drummer” for his virtuosic abilities.

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