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Who could complain about Krupa and Rich. The only problem is that there is not enough of it. It didn't last very long, but what was there was very good.
While playing, you can hear a man yell "Go, Buddy, GO." The closing is a redition of "Perdido" where everyone jumps in, including the wonderful Ella Fitzgerald doing some scat singing and bringing it to a close. "Idaho and "Flying Home" have extremely tight compistions and the drums, of course, are perfect. This album is a staple of jazz and should be in the collection of anyone who likes jazz or drums. Sure, it's just over 35 minutes, but the truth of quality over quantity proves itself in every second of this release. "Sophisticated Lady" is a mellow piece with a smooth performance from Willie Smith. "The Drum Battle" is full of energy and the crowd sounds as though they are having the time of their life. Also, the crowd can hurt a live record by too much cheering, but it is very nice to hear the zealous fans yelling at a solo and having a great time. Truly a classic and definitely worth a listen.
This is a great disc. There are so many other LPs Krupa made during the 50's for the Verve Records/Norman Granz labels. Krupa is in fine form for this date.
This is great stuff. (Others on this date include: Roy Eldridge and Charlie Shavers on trumpet, Benny Carter on alto sax, Lester Young and Flip Phillips on tenor sax, Oscar Peterson on piano, Barney Kessel on guitar, Ray Brown on bass, Buddy Rich on drums and Ella Fitzgerald on vocals for Perdido). I believe I must have played the LP, inherited from my Dad, a million times.
He's surrounded by an excellent group of musicians: Hank Jones on piano, with Willie Smith on sax. Krupa's tours with the JATP All Stars certainly opened up a whole new world for him. Many only remember Krupa as a big band drummer but as the big band era wound down Gene sort of re-invented himself as an excellent "small group" drummer.
You can feel the crowds excitement build as Krupa and Rich face off for the first time. Its an absolute shame that more have not been released.
While I understand the critics who are unhappy with a 33 minute CD at full price, I prefer these unadulterated rereleases with original cover art and the digipacks over the twofers some here have requested. It would have been nice to get some unreleased bonus tracks from the shows but I'm glad Verve has chosen this format and would hope they will continue in this vein.Having said that, this is not a incredible performance but a noteworthy one nonetheless. The presence of the two drum kings along with Oscar and Ella is a classic moment to be cherished.
its a short album but significantGene Krupa has one advantage for those of us who play drums, we can figure out what he is doing, and attempt to mimic it. He had a very stylized approach especially with the bass drumWith Buddy Rich its not possible. Buddy Rich was so fast and so complex only a handful of drummers in the world can possibly figure out what he is doing at any given moment - let alone mimic him. Buddy Rich was truely one of a kind, I doubt there will ever be anyone quite like him
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