Buddy Rich

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen eighty one, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:26

This week, our castaway is the jazz drummer and bandleader Buddy Ridge.

Presenter0:31

Buddy, you travel around most of the year. How would you feel about settling down for a while on a desert island?

Presenter0:37

Well, if it was only for a while, Roy, I could probably uh tolerate that. But to give up the career

Presenter0:43

And think about a serious retirement. Uh that's the farthest thing from my mind at this point. Do you play discs a lot?

Presenter0:51

On the road I do. At home I don't. At home I'm more of the athletic type. I do a lot of athletics. What sort of athletics?

Buddy Rich0:56

Yeah.

Presenter0:57

Well, I've been involved in the martial arts for the past 18 years now. I hold a black belt in karate. Yes. And I still work out. And rather than sit in the house and listen, I would rather do something that keeps me in physical shape. Right. Well, you've got plenty of opportunities on our island. Right. Now, you have just eight discs with you. What's the first?

Presenter1:18

The first, and this is a story, Roy, about in the early 30s when I was just starting to listen to various jazz people, jazz bands.

Presenter1:28

One of the first impressions I ever had was with Ray Noble, who was in the States at the time.

Presenter1:34

at I can't remember the exact hotel, but it was some place in mid Manhattan.

Presenter1:38

and they used to do a broadcast late at night, I think, about eleven o'clock in the evening.

Presenter1:41

And the first time I heard Reynold was banned,

Presenter1:43

They played an arrangement of Tiger Reg, which up until that point in time had been kind of a a funny piece of music, was never taken seriously by jazz people.

Presenter1:51

And Ray Noble had the very good sense to make a an amazingly modern jazz arrangement of Tiger Rag, and that was my first introduction to Ray Noble and that particular form of jazz.

Presenter2:52

Tiger Rag, Rain Noble and his orchestra. Whereabouts in the United States were you born? I was born in Brooklyn, of all places. Right smack in the heart of Brooklyn. I lived at the house that I was born. I lived there for about uh five years and then we moved

Presenter3:07

into inner city.

Presenter3:10

And I lived there practically my whole early life and then I moved to California. Your parents were verdeville performers. Yes. Mhm. What sort of act did they have?

Presenter3:19

Well, I can't give you an accurate description, but my dad was a blackface comic and dancer. Yes. My mother was a singer.

Speaker 33:24

Yeah.

Presenter3:26

and they used to bring me out of the finale of their act.

Presenter3:28

To stand up behind a kit of drums and play. And that's uh when I started. How old were you then? About two, two and a half.

Buddy Rich3:35

You wanna

Presenter3:36

Mm-hmm. I was on my second comeback.

Buddy Rich3:36

Um

Presenter3:40

Did they do fairly well? Was their engagement book full? They were not a major star act, but a successful vorteval act worked maybe 40 weeks out of the year. Did they travel overseas? The only time they ever traveled overseas, I was seven years old. I went to Australia. That was my first tour. So by the age of seven, you'd been around the world, more or less. By the age of seven, I had been in two Broadway shows.

Presenter4:01

And I'd made a tour of Australia, the entire country, yeah. Now, what about schooling? I was going at the time to the Children's Professional School, which is a school that's uh in mid Manhattan for the children of people in show business, movie people, uh theater people, vaudeville people.

Presenter4:17

and when you were on the road they would send you a series of lessons.

Presenter4:21

And then father or mother would go down the lessons with you, and then you'd do, I think, a month's work.

Presenter4:27

And then they'd send it back to the school. A very good system. Yes, still in existence today, as a matter of fact, in Manhattan.

Presenter4:33

And I suppose as time went on you took a bigger and bigger part in the act. They finally retired and set me out to work.

Presenter4:40

And I've been doing it ever since, and I think it's the greatest thing that a parent could do for anybody because I love what I'm doing.

Presenter4:46

And they were kind enough to let me enjoy it by stepping out and saying, whatever you want to do. And then, of course, by the time I was.

Presenter4:53

15.

Presenter4:55

The novelty, I think, of seeing a a grown boy out there playing drums, I think, had worn off. And so there was a a period of time between the age of 15 and 18 where I was totally involved in listening to music. I wasn't invaudable any longer, and that's when I moved over to jazz. At this point, let's break off your second record. What's that to be? Well, one of my favorite people, not only my favorite talent, but one of my favorite friends, great artist, great sensitivity, Tony Bennett. Oh, you've traveled with him, haven't you? We've done tours together, we've done recordings together.

Presenter5:27

television things together, but aside from traveling together, he's a marvelous man, a very sensitive man, he's a great artist, and a great singer.

Presenter5:35

And a great friend. And what's he going to sing? He's going to sing The Good Life, which he knows a lot about.

Buddy Rich5:42

Oh, the good life.

Buddy Rich5:47

Full of fun seems to be the ideal.

Buddy Rich5:58

Mmm, the good life lets you hide all the sadness you feel.

Presenter6:07

Tony Bennett and The Good Life. Now you decided to change over from Vaudeville to jazz. Had anybody ever taught you drumming, or are you entirely self-taught?

Presenter6:17

I think that at the age of two it would be very difficult to teach and because I pay attention to things.

Presenter6:25

I listened to so many pit drummers at my early age who played great vaudeville shows that I learned a great deal from them. But I've never been to a school. I've never had a particular drum teacher. And so as I got older, my talent evolved and I suppose I got better. I don't know how much better, but I think I got a little better. Who among jazz drummers influenced you most? I think everyone I've ever listened to, from Chick Webb, Krupa, and I could go on and name a hundred drummers, Dave Tuff, Zudi Singleton. A couple of the drummers over here were very I was very impressed by Ronnie Verrill. One of my very good friends today is Kenny Clare. There are many guys that I've admired.

Presenter7:06

And listened to a great deal, but finally when I decided that that's what I wanted to do, I think I evolved into my own personality. I suppose traveling around you had played with bands, pick up bands, and after the show? No, I was very lucky, uh, Roy, when uh I got my first job at the Hickory House in New York City. It was my first job in jazz. Yes. That was in nineteen thirty eight.

Presenter7:27

I never did have an opportunity to play with a lot of strange musicians. Every job I ever went to was a permanent job. I went from the Hickory House job to the late and great Bunny Bergen band, and then from there to Artie Shaw, and from Artie Shaw to Tommy Dorsey, and so on. So I've been very fortunate with the musicians that I've played with and worked for. With Artie Shaw, were you with the big band or one of the small groups? Well, not the not the violin band, not the string band. I was with the um French C band, uh the the one that um

Speaker 17:48

Yeah, one of these small groups.

Speaker 17:51

The screenplay.

Speaker 37:56

Yeah.

Presenter7:57

Missy Helen Forrest was the vocalist with the band, one of the great singers of our time.

Presenter8:01

And um I think Artie, perhaps outside of Benny Goodman, the greatest single exponent of clarinet I've ever heard.

Presenter8:08

What's your third record? My third record is with my favorite lady singer.

Presenter8:12

and uh has been since I was fortunate enough to see her.

Presenter8:15

At the Apollo Theater in New York, the very first time I think she won an iMetro contest, she had just left Chick Webb's game. Chick Webb yes. Number drummer.

Speaker 18:21

Another

Presenter8:22

Great drummer. I think he was my first inspiration in jazz drumming. Unbelievably great.

Presenter8:27

And you know, he was quite a handicapped person. He had all kinds of problems. And Ella was singing with the band then.

Presenter8:34

And uh amazingly, at this age and at this day she's singing better than ever. I love her dearly. And what's she to sing? One of my favorite tunes, a thing called Will O'Weep for Me, as only Ella can do it.

Buddy Rich8:47

Will oh, weep for me, will oh, weep for me.

Buddy Rich8:54

Bend your branches green Along the stream that runs to sea Listen to my plea Listen, willow and we

Buddy Rich9:09

For me

Presenter9:14

Ella Fitzgerald Willow Weep for Me

Presenter9:18

Now, radio, of course, played a big part in your career, and you struck up a friendship with that wonderful humorist Robert Benchley. How did that come about?

Speaker 39:25

How does that come about?

Presenter9:26

When I was with Shaw's band, we were lucky enough to be signed by a cigarette firm to represent them on radio.

Presenter9:33

And Robert Benchley, the great humorist, was

Presenter9:36

A part of the contractual deal.

Presenter9:38

He was the master of ceremonies and the comic on the show. And then you joined the Tommy Dorsey band. Yes. Was that at a time when a young Master Sinatra was on the strengths? That was exactly the time. I joined Tommy Dorsey's band two weeks before The Great Man joined us, and that was in nineteen forty.

Presenter9:54

And mister Sinatra and I were roommates for the first year he was on the band. How did you get on with him? The first year we got along beautifully. And after that? Well, then I think he started to believe his publicity. And we had to we had to make a left turn along the way someplace.

Presenter10:07

Your next major engagement after you left the Tommy Dorsey Band was with the United States Marines in 1942. What job did they give you?

Presenter10:15

Whatever it was, I hated it, even though it was the biggest mistake of my life. Uh as you know or may not know, in those days you could not be drafted into the Marine Corps. You had to enlist.

Presenter10:25

And because I thought it was necessary in in those years to take the war seriously,

Presenter10:30

I did enlist, and I enlisted in the Marine Corps.

Presenter10:33

And the minute I got into camp I realized that that was probably the most stupid thing that I've ever done in my life.

Presenter10:39

I look back at those years as being something horrendous.

Presenter10:42

But uh I suppose there were certain things about it that might have helped.

Presenter10:48

But I can't think of any that I would recommend. You went into the uh unarmed combat bit. Well, I wasn't a I was with a combat unit, but I was not sent overseas. No. I think it was more tragic that I stayed home, because the reason I joined was to get overseas.

Speaker 110:53

Well, I wasn't

Presenter11:02

But at that particular time there was a general that we had at the base his name was Fagin.

Presenter11:07

And uh

Presenter11:08

He was terribly interested in celebrities. The people that passed through our camp were people like.

Presenter11:13

Glenn Ford became a second lieutenant simply by going in and saying hello.

Presenter11:19

And uh Bob Crosby, of course, went through there and he didn't say hello and became a lieutenant anyhow.

Presenter11:24

I was saying greetings to everybody and I remained a a private the entire time I was in, so there must be something wrong with the service. I would have made great officer material, as you can see. Indeed. Yes. As soon as you came in. I would have had everybody out.

Speaker 311:30

Right.

Buddy Rich11:35

Uh

Speaker 311:35

I would have had everybody out.

Presenter11:37

Goodbye.

Speaker 311:37

Yeah.

Presenter11:38

On the island with me.

Speaker 311:38

On the island with me

Presenter11:39

Uh, when you were demobilized, you started your big band. Had this idea been buzzing for a long time? Well, actually, when I came out of the service, I went back with the Dorsey Band for one year.

Presenter11:50

And then going back with the the Dorsey band, I decided

Presenter11:54

that this was not what I wanted to do the rest of my life. I thought that I had enough talent at that time to try to change the face of jazz. The Dorsey band was not truly a jazz band in every sense. It basically was a dazz band.

Presenter12:06

I wanted a band that played uh like Count Basie and all the people that I love dearly.

Presenter12:11

And so I organized a band in nineteen forty seven with the help of mister Sinatra.

Presenter12:15

who at that time was on his own. And he invested in the band fifty thousand dollars at that time in 1947. It was considered to be.

Presenter12:25

Very nice taste. So you were friends again? Oh, w uh we were friends uh immediately upon his new success. We became better friends when he left the band than when he was on the band, truly.

Speaker 112:28

Uh we were

Presenter12:36

Right, now before we talk about the band, let's have another record. Number four. Yeah. Well, here's an all-time genius. This is truly a legend. This gentleman has done more for progressive music, for modern jazz, if you will. I think he's every trumpet player's idol. And of course I'm talking about Miles Davis.

Presenter12:56

And this is a lovely piece of music, the Porgy and Bess album, and I think it's one of his better things. It's a real triumph.

Presenter13:58

I love you, Porgy from The Miles Davis Porgy and Bess album.

Presenter14:03

And now we come to Buddy Rich and his big band. At the time when you were starting, uh year or two after the war, the era of the big band was was beginning to wane a bit. It was over. It was over. Everybody kind of got over the the war hysteria and they wanted to get back into uh holding each other tight and dancing to some pretty music.

Presenter14:23

And I was determined, since I thought I was strictly a jazz musician, I was going to keep the the music alive.

Presenter14:30

And so uh after I lost everything that I had made in my life.

Presenter14:34

By trying to keep the band alive,

Presenter14:36

I had a very nice offer from Norman Grands, who was then the head of jazz at the Philharmonic.

Presenter14:42

He offered me a very nice um

Presenter14:45

Taste to come on the tour.

Presenter14:47

And I stayed with that tour for about three years. It was very nice until I managed to get enough money to.

Presenter14:52

Try the big band again. You did some acting for a while. Oh, I did a television show with Marjorie Gower Champion. I wouldn't call it acting. I would call it just taking the money on money under false pretences.

Presenter15:04

And you toured Europe with Harry James? I did one tour with Harry James in Europe, yes. We went to Europe and also we went to the Orient, went to Japan one one year. I found that to be one of the most exciting adventures of my life.

Presenter15:16

There was one time when you hadn't been well and wanted to take things more quietly, you took jobs as a vocalist. How do you rate yourself as a vocalist? Oh, laughable.

Presenter15:24

Laughable If I had to go on an island and listen to myself, I think I'd drown.

Speaker 115:24

Uh

Presenter15:27

Uh it was something that I wanted to do because I had just come out of hospital after a fairly serious illness.

Presenter15:34

And doctors had told me that the chances of playing again were not too uh strong.

Presenter15:39

But um

Presenter15:40

I had a habit of saying things like, It's my body, and how do you know better than me?

Presenter15:45

And after being off about four months after getting out of the hospital, I went back to work. And I've been working ever since. You've got the big band going again. Oh, yes.

Speaker 315:50

Thank you.

Speaker 315:51

Yeah.

Presenter15:53

I remember you bought the band to Britain first. That was the package with Tony Bennett, wasn't it? No, the very first time I came over here, I came over with my band. The second time I came back, I came back with Tony Bennett. And you played a Royal Verati show. Which tour was that on? That must have been the sixth or seventh tour we came over and did the command performance, yes, at the palladium. And that, of course, must remain the highlight of my career.

Presenter16:14

And meeting the lady was uh

Presenter16:18

Well, you can imagine a guy from Brooklyn

Presenter16:20

meeting that particular person and trying to say something clever. She asked me

Presenter16:26

where I got all the energy from after the performance that night. And I said something clever, like, just lucky, I guess, and then wanted to just kill myself. Just like, what a stupid thing. She kinda looked at me like, Oh, yes, of course, and just disappeared.

Presenter16:39

I wouldn't say it was the most brilliant thing I've ever said in my life, but uh I'll remember it. I think that lady is used to people being rather tongue-tied at her presentation. Well, I was. No doubt about it.

Speaker 116:47

Uh

Buddy Rich16:47

Well, I was. No doubt about it.

Presenter16:49

And apart from a spell when you ran a club, Buddy's place, that's been the story ever since. The Big Band. Oh, yes, absolutely. It's always been the story. Right.

Presenter16:57

Fifth record. Fifth record. We were just talking about the main man.

Presenter17:01

And there he is standing in front of me, smiling.

Presenter17:04

Mr. Sinatra, a man and his music, and I think that about sums up his entire life. He is a man and he has nothing but music in in his body.

Presenter17:13

He's the best, I think, the best nightclub entertainer, the best singer.

Presenter17:18

Ever in the pop field.

Presenter17:20

And to hear him do this particular tune, and I must tell you the story about this tune that we've chosen, the wee small hours of the morning.

Presenter17:27

When my daughter was born and that's twenty five years ago

Presenter17:30

The first music that she ever heard when I had her room fixed up at home and we brought her home from the hospital.

Presenter17:35

was Frank singing in the wee small hours of the morning.

Presenter17:38

And it's remained my favorite lullaby throughout the years. And every time Kathy hears it, she gets teary-eyed. So it's a very important piece of music in my life.

Presenter17:47

mister Sina.

Buddy Rich17:49

In the wee small hours of the morning

Buddy Rich17:58

While the whole wide world is fast asleep

Buddy Rich18:06

You lie awake

Speaker 318:07

You lie.

Buddy Rich18:10

And do you think about the girl?

Buddy Rich18:14

And never ever think of counting sheep.

Presenter18:20

Frank Sinatra The We Small Rs of the Morning.

Presenter18:24

How many men in your band, buddy? With salaries, airfares, hotels, arrangements how is it financially possible these days?

Presenter18:31

It's no more difficult today than it was uh twenty years ago. How many men? Fifteen. Yeah.

Speaker 118:36

Yeah.

Presenter18:36

Actually, uh nineteen. I have fifteen musicians.

Presenter18:39

Then I have sound people that take care of my sound. I have a person who travels with me to make sure that I'm alive every morning.

Presenter18:46

And uh

Presenter18:48

Other than that, uh it's fairly simple. Uh there's enough work to keep the band going. Uh the finances are fine.

Presenter18:55

I don't really see a difficulty. How many weeks a year do you travel? We're on the road about nine months out of the year, and that includes a tour to this country every year and we do a tour of the Orient every year. How long are your stopovers? Do you play a week here, one night there, four nights somewhere else? No, mostly one night concerts. Uh when we come over here we play a week.

Speaker 119:09

Yeah.

Presenter19:14

At Ronnie Scott's, and we may do one or two weeks throughout the season in the States where there are jazz clubs that I don't mind playing. And colleges? And mostly colleges and high schools, yes. Now, a big college auditorium is one thing, but but a small place like Ronnie Scott's Club in London is another. Oh, it's perfect. When you play a spot like Ronnie's, you have the audience sitting directly in front of you, and there's a certain amount of rapport and there's a certain amount of camaraderie between the absence of the atmosphere is great, but can you cram enough people in to pay? I have to talk that over with Ronnie. I don't know what he's doing, but at least at the end of the week, the band gets paid.

Speaker 119:38

Oh yes, they have the smallest.

Presenter19:49

And um I have enough fare for a taxi and uh everything outside of that is okay. As long as the band works and uh everybody is satisfied. I'm not looking to make all the money in the world. I am looking to continue to do what I do, live a very good life, have a lovely wife, married to the same lady for twenty-nine years.

Presenter20:10

Have a lovely daughter who sings with my band at the present time. And so I don't really concern myself about the uh problems of finance. We're a very lucky family, I think. Where's home? Palm Springs, California. Very nice, too. Very lovely. Very pretty. Yes. And we got to record number six. Record number six is the greatest jazz clarinet player in the history of music. My very favorite man on clarinet.

Presenter20:33

And uh this is a particular piece of music that I I discovered years ago by Benny. It's really uh much more modern.

Presenter20:41

than the music that was being played i in uh the time period that this thing was recorded, which shows you the the kind of taste that this man has and the kind of musical uh ideas he had. It's a it's a marvelous piece of music called Mission to Moscow.

Presenter21:44

The Benny Goodman band Mission to Moscow recorded in nineteen forty two. Tell me about your drum kid, buddy. Is there anything special about it? No, not that I can think of. It's uh a very ordinary set.

Speaker 121:54

Yeah.

Presenter21:57

It consists of a bass drum, three tom toms, one snare drum, and four cymbals.

Speaker 322:02

Hmm.

Presenter22:03

It's uh what would be considered a necessary set.

Presenter22:07

Anything more than that I think is unnecessary. When you start carrying twenty Tom Toms and four bass drums and all the other stuff that goes with it, I don't see the reason for it. I I think it's a very visual thing and it probably excites you if you want to look at somebody playing. I prefer my audience to listen to what I do rather than see what I do. How long does a kit last?

Presenter22:27

Oh, it can last as long as you want it to last if you take care of it. I don't see the necessity of buying new drums every other month. This particular set that I'm using now is three years old.

Speaker 322:36

Yes.

Presenter22:36

And it's as good as ever. How many drumsticks a year do you break?

Presenter22:41

I couldn't tell you that, but they're way in the hundreds hundreds and hundreds and hundreds.

Presenter22:45

And uh it's no fault of mine. The wood's rotten Let's get back to records. What's next? This is Gordon Jenkins and uh

Speaker 322:53

Alright.

Presenter22:57

A beautiful piece of music. It's a story.

Presenter23:00

It's singing, it's music, it's an idea, it's called seven dreams. And I think I discovered this when it first came out. It got to me. It's so sensitive, it's so funny, it carries every facet of music in it. The story that's told about a man who goes through his life thinking of seven particular dreams that he's had and how he can't really live through any of them. He's disturbed every time there's a culmination of that particular dream, the bell goes off and he's into another day. And this particular track that we're going to play is the very last dream that he has. He finds his true love and walks into the sea.

Buddy Rich23:35

Let the storm clouds weep, let the winds complain. We will live our love down a lasting lane. We will warm our hearts by a magic fire.

Speaker 323:58

This time, let it ring.

Presenter24:05

Closing passage of Gordon Jenkins's Seven Dreams. Now, your skill as a castaway, buddy, in the United States Marines, did they teach you about survival drill and that sort of thing? Oh, absolutely. Get out of the service.

Presenter24:22

First thing they teach you. They don't, they should.

Speaker 324:22

Breaking teacher.

Presenter24:26

Could you build a shelter? Could I build a shelter? Yes.

Presenter24:30

I have great difficulty in turning the faucet on when I get up in the morning.

Presenter24:34

So, I doubt very much if I could build a shelter. I am not too handy with the things around the house. What are you going to eat?

Presenter24:40

Tonight?

Presenter24:41

I'm going to go.

Buddy Rich24:41

No no no no no no on the island.

Presenter24:43

Oh, on the island?

Presenter24:45

Well, let me see probably a sandwich.

Presenter24:49

Little bit of humour there.

Presenter24:51

Ever done into fishing? Oh no, I hate fish. You hate fish? Oh yeah. Uh-huh.

Speaker 124:54

Oh yeah.

Presenter24:55

I'm a meat and potatoes man

Speaker 124:55

Fruit meat

Presenter24:56

Yes. Spaghetti. Well, it might be yams. Uh no.

Presenter25:00

Well, yes, sea birds. You can knock seabirds off their roosts. Any bird. Right. Right.

Presenter25:06

Would you try to escape? Know anything about it? Never, never escape! Escape. No, I'd probably be very content to stay there with my records.

Buddy Rich25:08

What do you think about that?

Speaker 125:08

Output transcript.

Buddy Rich25:08

Yeah.

Presenter25:14

These are my favorite people.

Presenter25:16

Uh, I think I could probably be very content. Yes. Right out there, yeah. Well, you would have plenty of time for observation for your your hobby. You're very interested in uh UFOs. Oh, yes, that's uh a very serious part of my life. That's the other side of my life. I happen to have a very dear friend of mine who is in charge of um UFO um

Presenter25:37

studies in the States. His name is doctor Alan J. Hyneck, who has written many books. He was also the chief astronomer at Northwestern University in Chicago. We became friends because at one time I had seen one my wife and I had seen one

Speaker 125:41

There's one minute.

Presenter25:51

And we reported it to the newspapers and he had read about it and called me and we've been friends ever since. And I feel that we were actually, if not chased, we were buzzed by a UFO back about.

Buddy Rich26:03

Tell tell me about this observation.

Presenter26:05

The band had just closed in uh Las Vegas at the Sands Hotel. And I was driving back to Los Angeles that morning, about four in the morning. My wife and I were in the car. I had the top of my car down, a jaguar, and um

Presenter26:17

I caught a glimpse of this very bright light at a tremendous speed.

Presenter26:21

going across the in front of us, not going down as uh as a uh shooting star might. I pulled the car over to the side of the road and told my wife to just be quiet. We were going to sit here for a few minutes.

Presenter26:33

and about a minute later

Presenter26:36

This light came by about at a thousand feet, I would imagine.

Presenter26:40

and just buzzed right over my car and made two direct passes over my car and disappeared. That was my first sighting.

Presenter26:46

And I've had three other studies since then, and they've both been recorded and reported to the UFO studies outside of Chicago.

Speaker 326:53

Yes.

Presenter26:53

And I firmly believe that uh they're out there trying to tell us to straighten up and start living together in peace. Did you find these experiences exhilarating? Exhilarating. Absolutely. Not frightening. Oh, absolutely. N no, nothing frightened me like that. I was so glad I'd heard so much about'em and I'd talked to so many people who had seen them that I felt that I was being cheated.

Presenter27:15

And it was years later. Uh after the first sighting when um what was his name, the the television guy um in the States, I can't think of his name right now, but he was up flying his plane and he made the first report of twenty-five UFOs in a row right outside of New York, I think it was over in uh New Jersey.

Presenter27:31

And that was the first real heavy report of unidentified flying objects, and I've been interested ever since.

Presenter27:37

Well, back to your last record. What's that?

Presenter27:40

Well, this is my my inspiration to life, I think. This man has done more for me and I think more for anybody who was ever interested in taking up the art form of jazz, and that's Count Basie. He's my dearest friend and has always been the greatest inspiration musically to me.

Presenter28:00

And this is called The Kid from Red Bank, and he really is. Count Basie, you're all by yourself in this world.

Presenter29:06

The Count Basie band, The Kid from Red Bank. If you could take only one discard of the age you've chosen, which would you hang on to?

Presenter29:14

I think if out of the eight that we've played, I would have to choose seven dreams. Right, the Gordon Jenkins Seven Dreams. And if you could take one luxury to the island, nothing of any practical use, simply something for your own pleasure.

Buddy Rich29:22

Yeah.

Speaker 329:22

It hasn't drinked.

Presenter29:30

Ferrari

Presenter29:32

A Ferrari. Yes. Yes. Yes. It's not a great deal of use. You had sand in it. You could sleep in it.

Presenter29:40

Put the top up

Presenter29:41

Don't tell me that. It stops being a luxury at once. Right, you've got your Ferrari. I know that.

Presenter29:49

Now, one book, The Bible and Shakespeare, are already there. Any one book you like.

Presenter29:56

How about the story of O.

Presenter29:58

Yes, the story of O. Can I take that? Yes. Oh, okay. A handsome addition. That's one of your favorites, is it?

Speaker 330:01

Okay.

Speaker 330:02

That's all I

Presenter30:04

I suppose. All right. If you have to be alone, you might as well take all with you.

Presenter30:09

Splendid, and thank you, Buddy Rich, for letting us hear your Desert Island Disc. Thank you very much, Roy. I've enjoyed being here. Thank you very much. Goodbye, everyone.

Buddy Rich30:11

Yeah.

Speaker 130:24

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.

Speaker 330:56

Uh