Nowadays Eric plays in the Bucket Big Band. Twice a month they played in Casablanca on the Zeedijk, but unfortunately Corona threw a spanner in the works.
At the end of 2021 he started the Eric meets Buddy Rich Project.
Buddy Rich project
Eric and Buddy
When Eric was 13 years old, a Scottish drummer came to Amsterdam to give Eric and others drum lessons. His teacher Chris Mommenhof apologized and said that unfortunately we didn’t have an Alex Duthart in the Netherlands. Then the Scotsman said, “But you do have Eric!”
You as a reader are undoubtedly wondering: ‘Who is Alex Duthart?’
Alex Duthart was a Scottish drummer who revolutionized the snare drum playing of the Scottish pipe band.
He has also written two books. Duthart was once described by Buddy Rich as “a much better drummer than me.”
Another time, during the Johnny Carson show, Buddy Rich was asked who was the best drummer in the world besides himself. Buddy replied that the best drummer he knew was the unknown pipe band drummer from Scotland named Alex Duthart.
If you know the compositions of Duthart and you hear solos by Buddy Rich, you sometimes recognize the hand of Alex Duthart. Just listen to Buddy’s performance of West Side Story. So much for the link between Eric and Buddy Rich.
Buddy
Buddy Rich started playing the drums when he was 18 months old, that was in 1919.
And he played until he passed away in 1987 at the age of 70.
He had a fantastic snare drum technique with unparalleled speed. A few autobiographies have been written about Buddy and you can read about him online on Wikipedia.
In 2022 it will be 35 years since Buddy Rich passed away.
Eric has been learning the style and techniques of Buddy Rich for a few years now.
In 2022 it’s time for a Big Band to start playing songs again with a drummer who plays in Buddy Rich style.
How about Buddy’s version of Birdland. Or the super fast Nutville. Or the way he plays Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.
In the Netherlands you have very good big bands such as Metropole Big Band, New Cool Collective, Cubop City Big Band and many more.
But where the drummer used to play a dominant role, this is rarely the case these days.
Time for change!
It is about time to induce the audience with the primal powers of the drum kit, with the great dynamics and tonal range.
Time for: Eric meets Buddy Rich.
To be continued in 2022!