A Reminiscence of Buddy Rich with a Broken Arm: A Feat of Magic

By Ed Shaughnessy - Drummer on the Tonight Show

The word had gotten out from The New York grapevine, that Buddy Rich had been playing handball and had broken his left arm. This was just prior to his opening with his new band at the Paramount theater in New York City in the late '40s. We all know that common sense dictates you cancel the booking, right? Wrong! Buddy went ahead, and the author was in line at 6:30 a.m. for a choice of a good seat at the first show, (due to go on after the movie). This was when New York City had three theaters with name bands doing four to five shows a day with a movie in between. You brought a sandwich and studied the great drummers, show after show, and memorized the movie. At about 10:30 a.m. the lights dimmed and the stage show was about to begin.

As the stage show began to rise (from below the audience level), Buddy was kicking off a breakneck high hat rhythm for the first tune intro. And as the lights came up, there was Buddy with his left arm tucked into a dark sling under his jacket, playing the hell out of the opening piece... catching every figure... and propelling the band along as if it were all perfectly normal! Even a teenage beginning drummer knew this was a totally remarkable musical happening, but it was nothing to compare to the solo spot this guy performed later in the show.

There is no simple way to describe how this gifted man played with one hand and his awesome bass drum facility. The only way is to say that he used the bass drum for powerful rhythmic underpinning at times and then combined bass drum and right hand as if they were two hands in myriads of combinations that were absolutely unbelievable.... even though you were hearing and seeing it! The most fascinating thing of all to me, was that in staying and hearing two more shows, Buddy showed the same level of creativity that I'd heard him demonstrate with two good hands and played differently on each show, even with his disability. This quality is what made him such an admirable figure to me in later years-that he did not play the same routine things that many other name players did. In plain words, he didn't play it safe! That's a true mark of a great jazz musician and sometimes seems overlooked by many people who have been dazzled by the great technique of this fine artist.

I've often been grateful to have been present when Buddy played with one hand, and hope I've helped bring this remarkable happening to you.