BUDDY RICH IN LOUISVILLE

Wedged-in Buddy Rich and company give short shrift to first show at Seville

Jazz drummer Buddy Rich and his Orchestra have played concerts in a lot of different settings in Louisville over the years. Once on the Belvedere, once at the Kentucky Center for the Arts, and most recently last spring at Bellermine College’s Frazier Hall.

But Rich’s first show last night at t he Seville Diner & Pub, 2246 Bardstown Road was like the old college prank of discovering how many six foot freshman can fit into a phone booth.

The 68-year old master percussionist and his entire 15 piece orchestra were crammed together on a stage barely large enough for a quartet. To make matters worse, half the horn section wound up blowing high notes into a kitchen wall because of the stage’s location in a far corner of the diner.

Oddly enough, the acoustics weren’t all that bad. And although one of the bartenders turned on a drink blender just as the band started playing its first song of the evening “You Gotta Try,” it looked for a while as if Rich and his band were going to put on a show no matter how uncomfortable they were.

After the first song, which featured a good solo by tenor saxophonist Steve Marcus, Rich, who was casually dressed in a yellow sweater, paused for a moment, shrugged his shoulders, and said, “Well it’s different.”

Two more swinging arrangements followed with Rich leading the way and shouting encouragement to his band members.

Next, tenor saxophonist Marcus, who has been with Rich’s swinging machine for 11 years, was featured on Thelonius Monk’s classic “Round Midnight.” He took the song through a couple of interesting tempo changes and ended with a long and imaginative cadenza.

Pianist Barry Kiener and bassist Mike Boone were featured with Rich on a trio version of “Just in Time.” Rich put down his drum sticks and switched to brushes on this one. And he and Kiener traded fours before the song ended.
Bill Cunliff’s interesting modern arrangement of Duke Ellington’s “Rockin’ ‘n Rhythm” followed. It featured a wonderful soprano saxophone solo by Marcus. The rest of the band backed him up with various percussion instruments and Rich provided a wild jungle beat on the drums.

Things were just starting to loosen up when Rich jumped up from his drum kit walked over to the microphone and announced a 20-minute intermission. But not before he did a little of his stand-up comedy routine, adding a few things like, “This is really strange” and “We don’t work for many walls.”

Returning a few minutes later, Rich told the crowd that he was mistaken and that the intermission would last for an hour. That meant it was the end of the first show and the room had to be cleared for the second performance at 9:30 p.m.

Mark Smith, part owner of the Seville, said that he was hoping that Rich would do at least an hour for each show but his contract allowed him to stop after 45 minutes.

Tickets for last night’s concerts at the Seville cost $20 and $25. That’s pretty expensive entertainment when you consider that during the first show, Rich’s orchestra was on stage for 45 minutes and played only seven songs.

Danny O’Bryan
The Louisville Times, January 16, 1986

From the up-coming book Derby City Jazz