Krupa And Rich

Bernie's Tune

Krupa And Rich
Cover Photo: Herman Leonard
Supervised by Norman Granz
A Panoramic True HI-FI Recording
Clef Records MG C-684
1956

From the back cover: The question was once put squarely to Gene Krupa: What do you think of Buddy Rich? With no hesitation, Krupa replied "Buddy Rick? I think Buddy Rich is the greatest drummer in the world today, bar none. Can I make it any more emphatic than that?"

Reverse the scene. Turn the tables. Put Buddy Rich on the spot with the same question. "You want to know what I think of Gene Krupa?" said Buddy Rich. "Well, where do you begin? Gene Krupa was the beginning and the 'end of all jazz drummers. He's a great genius – a truly great genius of the drums. Gene discovered things that could be done with the drums that hadn't been done before, ever. He discovered these things and made the most of them... I'll tell you about Gene. Before Gene, the drums were in the background, just a part of the band. To put it in plainer terms, the drums didn't have much – meaning. Along comes Gene and the drums take on meaning and they're out of the background. The drummer becomes somebody, you know? Gene gets credit for making people aware of the drummer – of what he's doing and why he's doing it and he deserves every bit of that credit. Can you imagine jazz without Gene?"

Jazz without Gene Krupa. Hardly. For of all the musicians in jazz, Krupa is one of a handful whose name has a stature, a unique luster – his standing is, in a word, assured, of a piece with the Louis Armstrongs, the Benny Goodmans. Krupa has pierced the public consciousness and this recognition, international in scope, extends beyond jazz fans to any hypothetical man on any street, anywhere.

The son of an alderman on Chicago's South Side, Krupa started playing drums in school. (Years ago, all high school bands in Chicago would compete for citywide honors in a concert at Riverview, the amusement park. At one such contest, in the early 1920's, this trio was in competition on the drums: Dave Tough, playing for Austin High, George Wettling for Calumet and a black-haired kid named Gene Krupa playing for the honor of Fenger High.) Krupa, as an eager kid, would listen for hours to the illustrious Bobby Dodds at such Chicago jazz clubs as the Lincoln Gardens and Dreamland. For a time Krupa went out to St. Joseph College in Rensselaer, Ind., with notions of studying for the priesthood. However, the lure of jazz was too strong. Later, as everyone knows, Krupa was one of the most vital performers with the Benny Goodman band in the Swing Era – a colorful, gum-chewing, face-distorting drummer whose steady beat and spectacular flourishes were as much a part of that band and that era as Goodman's own soaring clarinet. By 1940, Krupa had his own band and has since led his own unit and toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic. One more item: For all his fame and 40-some years – be was born in 1908 – Krupa, one hastens to state, is no doddering historical figure. Today, he is still rated at the top.

Actually – and in a sense, curiously – Buddy Rich is one of the very few modern drummers who couldn't honestly list Gene Krupa as an "influence." When Rich was a youngster, he listened intently to Krupa and to Chick Webb and to Jo Jones. What he heard impressed him greatly. But the mold, as it were, had already been cast. Buddy Rich, after all, had been drumming professionally since he was barely out of his cradle. Born in 1917 to a show business family, Buddy was "Traps, the Drum Wonder" before he was 5 and by the time he was 8 he was an all-around performer. Band drumming came much later, in 1928, when Rich joined Joe Marsala's outfit. Since then, Rich has played with innumerable big bands and has led his own band and small groups.

For the last two years, the Krupa-Rich "drum battles" have been an integral part of "Jazz at the Philharmonic" although this is the first time the two have ever recorded together in a studio, although they have recorded on Jazz at the Philharmonic concert albums. On appropriately named tunes, Rich's major solo is heard on "Buddy's Blues" while Krupa demonstrates his stick work on "Gene's Blues." Each gets superb backing from a group comprising Flip Phillips, Illinois Jacquet, tenor saxophones; Dizzy Gilliespie and Roy Eldridge, trumpets; Ray Brown, bass; Herb Ellis, guitar, and Oscar Peterson, piano.

Buddy's Blues
Bernies' Tune
Gene's Blues
Sweetheart On Parade
I Never Know