Artist:Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich
Song:The Drum Battle
Album:The Drum Battle
It's not something we see today but jazz has a long history of Battle of the Bands going back to when Chick Webb invited all comers to The Savoy Ballroom in the 30s. Of course Gene Krupa was king of the drums in the 40s. So when Buddy Rich emerged as the new king of the drums in the late 40s, Verve Records owner Norman Granz brought both of them in to a 1952 Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) concert and have them battle it out to see who was the real king of the drums. Of course it was all for fun. Krupa and Rich were good friends and recorded two albums together. The first was the 1955 album Krupa and Rich. The second was the 1962 album Burnin' Beat. And they would also recreate the original drum battle for concerts and TV shows. This concert was recorded at Carnegie Hall in New York Sept. 13, 1952. It was supposed to be released as part of Verve's JATP series. But it wasn't released until 1960. I don't know why. It's only 35 minutes long so that could be the reason. And 1960 was when Granz sold Verve to MGM. MGM released the album with a new cover. When the album was released on CD in 1999, it was with the original cover. Along with the usual Verve musicians, Krupa's trio with Willie Smith on sax and Hank Jones on piano is featured. Ella Fitzgerald appears on Perdido. Other musicians are Roy Eldridge and Charlie Shavers on trumpet, Flip Phillips and Lester Young on tenor sax, Benny Carter on alto sax, Oscar Peterson on piano, Barney Kessel on guitar and Ray Brown on bass. The Drum Battle is just improvised. It's not actually a song. No one actually writes a song like that. When Krupa and Rich did a drum battle, they never did it the same twice. Here's Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich performing The Drum Battle on The Sammy Davis Jr. Show 1966.
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