Harry James-Caravan Live from Japan 1964

From the 1964 TV special from Japan, Harry James and the band play "Caravan."
This features Harry, and Buddy Rich on drums.
Harry was going through some major pain issues related to his newly acquired dental implants at the time.
Harry laid back throughout the entire telecast, and I have never understood whether it was just his dentures, or the Japanese television crew telling him to quiet his sound.
Nonetheless, Harry shows a little of his flash in his solo, even with a cup mute!
And of course, Buddy is Buddy!!

[@mellilore]

1964-1972: only 8 years later, Made in Japan. The change the music made through those 8 years is something we can barely figure now that we are stuck, almost freezed in the nothing that "happened" into the last 30-40 years.

[@Lewy3958]

I seen him do this at the free trade Hall in Manchester I was 12 years old and had struck up a friendship with him 15 months earlier

[@paulrichmond9720]

Look out for an Album called " The Monster". The title tune is basically an extended 5 minute drum solo but also on the record is a brilliant version of caravan. And on that his drums sound even better.

[@robotron17]

Smooth stick flip at 2:50

[@BV-nx6vq]

Another great performance from the left hand master - Buddy Rich...those beautiful Rodgers tubs sound sooo good with that wide open, no muffle, just heads & tuning approach....

[@erzug]

He and Ellis Tollin convinced me to make Rogers my first set of drums.

[@martyroth7829]

Hell Buddy,s solo on Caravan was killer.Dynamics and a lot of power.I noticed he dropped one drumstick at

[@MortonLuvz2drum]

I think it broke.

[@deneencorcoran5917]

I'm almost sure it broke. He was a master percussionist

[@TikTok_refugees1977]

I never seen buddy play match grip before. well you learn somethin new every day i guess

[@erzug]

Many times over his career, usually on the floor tom as lead ins to various arrangements.

[@johnastrup1549]

He really can do something MR.BUDDY DRUMS RICH. ⭐🥁🇺🇲

[@JuanBernardoIrigoyen]

El trombonista de pistón (o trompeta baja) Juan Tizol, músico de la orquesta de Duke Ellington fue el creador de "Caravana". En este video Harry James en 1964 lo grabó con Buddy Rich (batería) para la TV de Japón.

[@BigBillLucas]

There you go, Buddy Rich playing matched grip so don't believe him when he pulls down other drummers for using it

[@Braglemaster123]

BigBill Lucas He went back when it didn't apply !!!!

[@murraygreen1065]

Ya can't play toms any other way.

[@rickviehdorfer4755]

BigBill Lucas he didn’t call it or consider it “match grip”.. he called it timpani grip, which he did all his life.

[@zerekx]

Of course he used match grip on this tune and the same goes for Hawaiian War Chant. GK also used matched grip when it applied. All the greats used matched when it applied back then.

[@jameswaddell3348]

Something tells me, this was a rehearsal? No applause after the tune!

[@henryberry7914]

I hear this and my heart just soars!

[@martyroth7829]

Buddy play ing a great set of Rogers Marine Pearl. The famous dynasonic snare drum One of my first set of new drums was the Rogers chrome over brass snare.Nice low end full sounding drums. Mike.

[@Bob-nu3xe]

Many guys pick up on the grip I really don't care how Buddy hold's the sticks or what he says,its what he does with them that matters he's a drummers worse nightmare. may be the grip thing is a way of having a go at him. may be he wasn't a perfect human being however he was a drum genius to which non of us got close to.

[@zvensabri2533]

Great drummer i love Buddy Rich

[@ChuckParDueMusic]

Implants were very new in 1964, but Harry had them. They caused him trouble up until 1982 when they were replaced with conventional dentures. I knew a doctor in Miami who said he was part of a medical team who removed a cancerous growth from Harry's lip around this time.

[@Braglemaster123]

Chuck Par-Due Who told you this BS ?????

[@deneencorcoran5917]

1982 ...was the year before he passed from cancer. Betty Grable never to be forgotten passed in Sept. 1973.

[@petepoulos]

Harry was having a lot of trouble with his lip about this time after constant playing from 1936 to this telecast in 1964. Louis Armstrong had an issue with his lip as well. As for playing with dentures, Chet Baker had shown everyone it was possible. They had not invented dental implants until more recently, so if it was dentures...possibly..or Porcelain veneers which snapped on and off..ala Judy Garland...

[@marcioramosfoto]

The best version

[@jamesperry2322]

Fats Navarro...one of modern jazz's greatest trumpet players......considered Harry James as one of his greatest influences. You can hear the fat sound and vibrato in James' playing here. Although Dizzy Gillespie was the biggest influence on Fats...there can be no denying that he got his sound from Harry James....one of the Swing Era's most important trumpeters.

[@ChuckParDueMusic]

of course Miles Davis started out trying to sound like Harry James. Until his teacher made him stop.

[@jamesperry2322]

@@ChuckParDueMusic Miles' chops would never have allowed him to be great technically. That's why he developed his lyrical talents rather than try to be a pyrotechnical jazz trumpeter on the level of Dizzy and Fats. I always admired Navarro though...because he had a great lyrical as well as a technical command of his horn. I feel that if Harry James had come along in the bebop era instead of the swing era....he could have been more influential than he was. Howard McGhee.....an influence on Fats as well....also absorbed James' sound into his concept as a modern jazz trumpeter. There was always an older player who influenced younger jazz musicians..if you do the research. For example...Johnny Hodges & Jimmy Dorsey...although swing era altoists...were big influences on none other than Charlie Parker himself!

[@RAMLIA1]

Love it !!!

[@roybeckerman9253]

Buddy is the greatest drummer to ever play these Rogers. Then again, the same applies to Slingerland, Ludwig, Fibes, Vox/ Trixon, even the Pearl and DW he sat in on.

[@Braglemaster123]

Roy Beckerman yes

[@horaciogianello5282]

¡ GREAT PHRASING. SHOWMANSHIP. NOTEWORTHY!!!

[@Joshualbm]

The only time you ever hear Buddy hit his sticks unintentionally is when he uses matched grip.

[@joserios3377]

Buddy power...!!!!

[@Braglemaster123]

Must be a practice run through, no clapping after ??????

[@arame29]

Richard B. Davis yes dress rehearsal for later filming and broadcast Japan

[@martyroth7829]

Hello,That drum solo Caravan, Buddy did was awesome! I never get tired of listening to his different solos,and the band members.He had a lot of players.Man! We're they under contract? Anyone know? Thanks,Michael.

[@bkrider19]

Sounds like BR was responding a bit to Joe Morello's style, which was very popular at the time.

[@Braglemaster123]

Trek Ryder No, just the opposite

[@bkrider19]

What reason can you give?

[@Thomlistentoslayer]

I think its the other way around dude hahaha

[@roybeckerman9253]

“ MR. ROGERS “

[@jorgereyes1883]

Bernard "Buddy" Rich was a great drum set technician; probably the greatest to date. I wonder how much more creative he might and could have been had he received more formal musical training; in other words, if he had been a complete musician. Nevertheless, he excelled just as he was, especially in the jazz drumming techniques; he was powerful, fast and accurate, exhibiting great dynamics in his playing and a master of techniques that most drummers never master even after years of training and practice, all demonstrated using a generally simple drum set and playing it with tremendous energy, precision and efficiency, even as an older, and often ill, man. There have been...and there will be...good to great drummers throughout time, but even they will often say that Buddy was the greatest and an inspiration to them. I wish he had lived and played longer, and that I had seen and heard him play live. "Traps, the Drum Wonder," you made me fall into your trap, and that is a good thing.

[@mobrules29]

I don't think a prodigy like Buddy could have gained anything from formal training - no more than Einstein could gain from formal education. They transcend those constraints and are only stunted by them.

[@jorgereyes1883]

I respectfully disagree; a formal education in any art will, or might, stimulate the creativity of even a genius. On the other hand, you might be correct in the sense that formal training would have resulted in something other than what he was, and that perhaps would not be to our liking.

[@mobrules29]

Yes, that is what I was thinking. I understand what you mean, and you make a valid point, but I worry that with formal training comes a sort of, "this is how we do it" approach that might have boxed Buddy in, rather than liberated his creativity.

[@Braglemaster123]

Jorge Reyes Right !!!!

[@mobrules29]

Wrong. (Sorry, I just wanted to respond with something Trumpish.)

[@metalfiend124]

buddy seems to be more comfortable with matched grip on this song than other caravan with Harry James videos I've seen. great drumming.

[@Braglemaster123]

metalfiend124 But he changed back :-)

[@TheDrummer51]

I noticed that, too. It also seems to me he's more comfortable and relaxed overall than I've seen him in most videos.

[@boblackey1]

TheDrummer51 I can think of several drummers I like as well as Buddy but I guess I can't think of any that are better or faster. How about you? Also since I was a teen I've really dug the song, singing and the hot drumming on Bobby Darin's 1960 version of Beyond the Sea. I just recently researced on the web to see who the drummer was playing those two explosive bursts in the middle of the song and it's Don Lamond. Somehow I had never noticed the name before.

[@richardvoogd705]

​@@boblackey1I grew up with the French original "La Mer" by Charles Trenet. I've seen a clip on KZbin where he includes the English lyrics that Bobby Darren used.

[@craighoyer6543]

I played some gigs on piano for Tonight Show pioneer Steve Allen. Allen studied advanced piano under the very tall Paul Smith. Allen played swingingly and used the geography of the piano to sound the most sophisticated and beat-nikky. Steve also had a struggle with childhood, but he was generous to me and others. Buddy Rich could have learned to manage "ii-V"s on piano. He could have analyzed scores and arranged what he had in mind, instead of hiring trombone players to depend on for arranging. He sounded frustrated at his reliance on others in the telling, copious, recorded bus rants. Great drummer, technical dominance, but not a person I would play with or hang with. I do not learn from being screamed at. I leave and listen to Elvin Jones. On James band I prefer pianist Jack Perciful , Red Kelly (playing a walking line over the drum solo), Corky Corcoran tenor sax, Don Ober on guitar. I played a bunch with, learned from, and hung with these guys; very drinky. I played on Radke's "Reminiscing Harry," recorded in Miami after a three-week cruise. When Covid 19 struck, Radke's Harry James Orchestra cancelled our Pacific Northwest tour. The virus has prompted my likely musical retirement.

[@ChuckParDueMusic]

Thanks for sharing Craig!

[@roybeckerman9253]

I wonder if the new Rogers snares sound like this. Or were there Fibes ring ins.?

[@johnz4412]

I don't think Buddy used Roger's snare drums, although he used the rest of the kit. From all I've read and heard, he wasn't using Roger's snares much, or probably, at all.

[@MarryMadec]

una delicia...

[@maxim_hue6089]

Reminds me of Joe Morello in some parts

[@wanabe1952]

Buddy beat the living sticks out of those drums.

[@mrbuddyi]

It seems to be about one fraction of a second off sync.

[@Braglemaster123]

Lil Elmo and The Cosmos No, never😅

[@fweddyfwintsone4491]

Funny how Buddy would complain about drummers who play match grip.

[@ChuckParDueMusic]

I saw Buddy live in 1972-3. Both times he started Channel One Suite using matched grip.

[@Chao-j8r]

バディリッチは楽団とハモる(調和)事が出来ない人、不協和音で楽曲を壊してしまう、彼の中国雑技団の様な超複雑な打法はソロで演るべきと思います、オーケストラで皆がエゴを出せばハモりません、彼は何処のバンドに行っても浮いていました、タイコは縁の下で音楽をグイグイ引っ張りジャンプさせる役目だと思いますスイングジャズオーケストラは個人競技ではなく団体で調和(ハーモニー)しあい一体となって素晴らしい音楽を創り出す楽団だと思います

[@Chao-j8r]

バディリッチは自己主張し過ぎて一団と成って曲をハモるから逸脱する為一人浮いてしまう、雑技団のようなテクニックはコンボバンドで好きな様にやるべきだと思います、ソニーペインを見習うべきだと私は思います大変偉そうに言ってすみません

[@traviswilliam5453]

Buddy was fast and had amazing technique, but as " music " he was below many other drummers .