Isn’t It Good? Buddy Rich And Orchestra Play The Beatles’ ‘Norwegian Wood’ On ‘Sullivan’
Rich and his big band had released their recorded version earlier in 1967on the live album ‘Big Swing Face.’
A scintillating performance by Buddy Rich and his Orchestra of The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood (This Bird has Flown)” has been newly-remastered from the archives of The Ed Sullivan Show.
The clip comes from the edition of the long-running variety series that was broadcast on New Year’s Eve, 1967. The great jazz drummer and his musicians were on that episode alongside Pennsylvania pop hitmakers Jay and the Techniques and South African star Miriam Makeba.
The video shows Rich at stage front and in energetic form, with the orchestra around him in a semi-circle. They had released their version of the much-loved track from The Beatles’ Rubber Soul album of almost exactly two years earlier on the live album Big Swing Face. The LP had been recorded by the Buddy Rich Big Band in February and March of 1967 at the Chez Club, Los Angeles. Other tracks on that set included Young-Holt Unlimited’s “Wack Wack,” Cole Porter’s “Love For Sale,” and Sonny & Cher’s “The Beat Goes On.”
Buy or stream the Buddy Rich Big Band’s Big Swing Face on Apple Music or Spotify.
Rich, born in Brooklyn in 1917, was already widely acknowledged in the pantheon of jazz, having broken through at the turn of his 20s in Joe Marsala’s band, and then with Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, and countless others. His first record in his own name, in 1946, was The Lester Young Buddy Rich Trio, and he went on to be a major inspiration not only for jazz drummers but for those in the rock fraternity such as John Bonham and Bill Ward.
“Norwegian Wood (This Bird has Flown),” principally written by John Lennon, already had many covers to its name by the time Rich took it on, crossing genres as The Beatles’ music always did. Among those to tackle it in 1966 were Waylon Jennings, Brian Hyland, Nina & Frederick, and Jan & Dean. It has gone on to attract more than 500 renditions.
Watch all the latest archival videos from The Ed Sullivan Show on the program’s official YouTube channel.
