The Drum Battle – Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich at JATP (later issued as The Original Drum Battle!) is a 1960 live album by drummers Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich, recorded at a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert at Carnegie Hall in 1952.[1]

The Drum Battle
Live album by
Released1960
RecordedSeptember 13, 1952
VenueCarnegie Hall, New York City
GenreJazz
LabelVerve MG V-8369
ProducerNorman Granz
Gene Krupa chronology
The Gene Krupa Story
(1959)
The Drum Battle
(1960)
Chicago...And All That Jazz!
(1961)
Buddy Rich chronology
The Driver
(1960)
The Drum Battle
(1960)
Playtime
(1961)

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic     [1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings    [2]

Lindsay Planer writing on Allmusic wrote of the opening tracks that "While Smith drives the band, Krupa is front and center with his antagonistic percussive prodding. 'Idaho' is marked with Jones' rollicking post-bop mastery as he trades solos with Smith and can be heard quoting lines from Monk before yielding to Smith. The cover of Duke Ellington's 'Sophisticated Lady' sparkles from beginning to end. Jones' opening flourish sets the tenure as Smith settles into a smoky lead, containing some nice syncopation and regal augmentation from Jones. ...The tempo is significantly stepped up on a cover of Benny Goodman's 'Flying Home,' which is full of high-spirited playing and garners a sizable reaction from the audience." Planer described Fitzgerald's performance on "Perdido" as "hot steppin' and definitive" and said it featured "authority, class, and most of all, soul".[1] Rich and Krupa's performance on The Drum Battle was described by Planer as a "mile-a-minute wash of profound percussion".[1]

Track listing

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  1. "Idaho" (Jesse Stone) – 7:26
  2. "Sophisticated Lady" (Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, Mitchell Parish) – 4:35
  3. "Flying Home" (Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton) – 6:02
  4. "Drum Boogie" (Gene Krupa, Roy Eldridge) – 9:20
  5. "The Drum Battle" (Norman Shrudlu) – 3:20
  6. "Perdido" (Ervin Drake, Hans J. Langsfelder, Juan Tizol) – 3:30

Personnel

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Production

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d The Drum Battle at AllMusic
  2. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 849. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  3. ^ "The Drum Battle". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 November 2017.