THE PETE CATER BIG BAND IN CONCERT 2012
The unforgettable music of the legendary Buddy Rich
Superbly recreated by Pete Cater and his Big Band
The Radlett Centre, Friday July 13th at 8pm
“Now stand up everyone who thought that was the Buddy Rich big band”.
These words were spoken by music legend and national treasure, the late Humphrey Lyttelton when he opened his Radio 2 show with a track from Pete Cater’s most recent album.
If you were a pre-teen in the mid 70s, the chances are that your earliest musical tastes were probably formed courtesy of Radio 1 and Top of the Pops. For one young man growing up in the Midlands it was an entirely different story, a story that has led him to international prominence in his field in an ongoing series of concerts across the UK. Drummer/ bandleader Pete Cater is single-handedly on a mission to keep big band music real, and is doing so by re-creating some of the genre’s most iconic and coolest music in live concerts throughout the UK.This time it’s the turn of the musicians to take centre stage.
Award winning drummer and big band leader Pete Cater is taking on the ultimate challenge for any drummer. Since 2007 Pete Cater and his Orchestra have been re-creating the music made famous by the legendary Buddy Rich, the man often referred to as ‘The World’s Greatest Drummer’.
Pete Cater first picked up a pair of drumsticks when he was less than a year old and his natural talent was apparent from the outset. In the family home a drum kit and jazz records were readily available and to the young Pete Cater the rudiments of drumming became a key part of growing up, and having led a swinging big band since age 19, Pete Cater is uniquely qualified for the job at hand. In the words of Britain’s original king of swing drumming the late Jack Parnell;
“A simply terrific band, and nobody, but nobody could do a tribute to Buddy Rich better than Pete Cater”.
The 15-piece award winning orchestra are hand picked from amongst Britain’s finest players, and original members of Buddy Rich’s band are in the line up.
The concerts will contain virtually all the best-remembered and most frequently requested items from Rich’s repertoire, such as ‘Love For Sale’, ‘Norwegian Wood’ and the show stopping medley from ‘West Side Story’. This concert is a unique opportunity to hear this repertoire played live exactly as it was intended to sound and will also feature a mixture of great standards and jazz classics.
When Buddy Rich passed away in 1987 commentators stated;
“We will never see his like again”.
Not so, it would seem.
“Impeccable tribute to the late Buddy Rich” (David Sinclair, The Times)
This show has been presented all over the UK since 2007. It all started after I got invited to participate in a concert marking 20 years since Rich’s passing. In the audience that night was Jack Parnell, legendary drummer and Muppet Show musical director. Parnell was so impressed that he urged manager/promoter Derek Boulton to become involved. Derek was Tony Bennett’s manager for many years and worked with all the great American bands of the day, Buddy Rich included. Sadly Derek passed in 2010 but he enabled us to generate sufficient interest in the show that we have been able to continue.
The evening will feature all the classics from Buddy Rich’s repertoire and is the latest of several shows of this kind to visit the Radlett Centre, where previous events have paid homage to the music of Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman amongst others.
