This is not simply "talent". This is genius. Plain and simple. A talent above mundane. A (brief) elevation of life from misery to sublime.

Buddy destroys critics with 3 min of surgically precise cymbal work and taste of The Left Hand of Death, with stick tricks for dessert.

Back in the days before the internet, this video tape was (and still is) one of the most remarkable performances by Buddy and his band we had seen. A true master at work. I sure miss him.

Nobody had, has and maybe will have, as great a command of time, rudiments, high tones and low tones, choruses, back beat, passion...the list goes on, as does the beat...Buddy Rich Forever!!!

To each their own. To me both Buddy Rich and Joe Morello (both documented friends of each other) were simply exceptional drummers for similar and different reasons. Both had superb technical skills. Joe having been a concert violinist before the drums, combined powerful technique with very lyrical playing and advanced time signatures. Buddy Rich combined advanced technique with incredible energy and showmanship. Both laid a large foundation for many of our modern drummers to build upon. Perhaps too many drummers discount skill and technique.

He had such flow and ease like it was effortless built into him, a true master at the drums.

This right here , was played with such beauty and SO MUCH taste , I can actually taste it through my cell phone !!! Ha. C'mon man , there will never ever be another GENIOUS drummer like Buddy Rich. EVER !!!

Anyone unsure about Rich's technical prowess only needs to watch his left hand in this video. There's reason he's been called "the best there ever was.

What a great artist! 29 years gone now. RIP Buddy.

Buddy Rich and Joe Morelo are the best drummers ever to pick up sticks. I enjoy all drummers but both Buddy and Joe will never be equaled in technical ability, creativity and sheer raw power.

It's making me rethink his "one handed roll". It doesn't look like "push/pull" but more like his index finger and thumb alternating.

Crazy left hand. Amazing stuff

I love Buddy,,RlP,,,dang, he was the guy,, every great drummer that knew him couldn't say they weren't inspired by this man.

Best drummer in the Planet ever

Into the face of those who say Buddy was no musical drummer. Here you have musicality galore and still wonder chops.

I saw buddy at Lakewood Civic Auditorium back in 1975 and he was walking out while my mom and I were waiting for a cab and all I could think of the say was hi buddy

wow...oh man.....no drummer has hands like he did.....

I think BRich has moved into the category of Supreme Drummist.. he makes the entire kit sing..

That hi hat thing blows my mind every freaking time

watch a whole lot of drum solos in succession and you've just heard a new composition called "think fast". i do. yet i don't. reminders work. good video, by the way.

The master!

So many sounds in each of his cymbals . Pick of the litter Zildjian A’s all. He almost always recorded with his taped up medium, thin, light ride. But here and in other big outdoor festival situations he would pull out one of the heavier ones in his collection. He had a ping ride and a rock ride. Pretty sure it’s the ping here… He probably liked it more than the rock ride frankly. Also, notice how little the cymbals move despite having no top Felts whatsoever. And that one soft pang from his heavy 22 inch swish knocker.. (Sorry if that sounds vaguely dirty). The cymbal bit was always my favorite part of his longer solos. One of a kind music making.

0:47 Fucking crazy left hand technique. He isn't even trying to play fast. The master.

ALL THIS WITH A BASIC KIT.HOW MANY CAN LEARN FROM THIS. HE WAS THE GREATEST.

Almighty God was Buddy great! We will never ever see the likes of him again!

I was fortunate to see BR in Tivoli in Copenhagen the year before he died- 1986 I think

Other worldly , never ever to be matched and i seen him do this so many and from close up too .

Amazing

0:30 The stupefied musicians in the background taking it all in says it all

Just put on Killamanjaro cookout.don't play it through your little iPod speakers either.first time I heard it I grabbed the maracas and broke a wood stem grooving along .soooooo powerful

No human on earth can figure out the left hand thing. I've watched close up the last 50 yrears. Many try,....all fail 🎶🎸🎼

Piece of cake.😀

What I admire the most of buddy in this particular clip is the soft articulate way is so ptevelant the master drummer does not have to play loud and bang the holy hell out of his cymbals many many drummers out there today many of them blast out loud and get louder as they play sounds like carpet bombing buddy rich could and would play very very soft and gradually work up to a mind boggling finale it’s the buddy rich way the legendary drummer way

Did I really see this!!??? It seems to me that at 2:18 Buddy seems to get his left drum stick stuck under the ride cymbal while doing doubles from the ride to the rim of the snare... I have been attempting to get a left hand roll going for about 2 years now...hopeless!. He was really something this man. We wont see his like again for very long time.

Knowing that hitting the butt end of the stick produces a different timrbe and gets a laugh at the same time proves this man used his whole brain.

If you don't think Buddy Rich to 2019 is still not the best drummer then you're not a drummer even the greats know that he is still the best.....

Whoever said, "Buddy Rich sucks"sounds like someone who is ignorant of the fine points of playing a set of drums. So what if he plays a lot of rudiments? It's not the fact that he has a strong rudimental base for his technique, it's what he does with those rudiments that distinguishes a master from a hack. Everybody is entitled to their opinion and their own taste but I am suspicious of people who downplay or downright dismiss rudiments as "non-musical". That's just stupid and ignorant in my book. Believe what you want to believe but to ignore Buddy's taste as a master drummer is really a foolish enterprise.

what a fucking beast

The MASTER!!

Maybe not the nicest guy in the world, but talented!

Genius.

GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

🐐 🥁

I love the swish sound

No wrist at all. It seems to be all fingers on the left hand. Back and forth, in and out. The man knew how to use gravity

Sorry guys, but there is only one Buddy Rich.

Yeah, yeah, I’ll bet Buddy says this to all the girls.

So THAT is where Keith Moon got the idea of cymbal solos !!!!

2:38 😂

THE BUS TAPES

C'était un pionnier.

Nobody comes close to BR......the best if all time.

2:59 😂

Left hand

"All he ever does is play rudiments"? Whoever wrote that doesn't know anything about drumming, or music in general. If you don't know your rudiments, you'll never be a great drummer.

What in the holy hell!?

A music fan dies and ends up at the pearly gates and asks St Peter when he hears drumming on the other side. Is that Buddy Rich ? No that's God he just thinks he's Buddy Rich !!

So muscial.

GOD. BIBLE IS FICTION. HE WAS REAL. PERIOD!!!?!!!?

This guy - this is not my kind of guy.

One of a kind but I would not want to play guitar in his band, not with his temper.

Anyone who thinks buddy rich is the best drummer ever probably plays along to free fallin and thinks the fill that should never be played is sick