Two things I had always heard about was the Buddy Rich vs. Gene Kruppa drum battle and the Buddy Rich “Bus Tape”.
You can find both of them easily on YouTube.com – The Rich Vs. Kruppa drum battle is to the song Sing Sing Sing. Rich is an obvious winner in that battle but I’ve heard that Kruppa was very sick during the battle, and Rich was also in his prime when it was filmed. Check it out for yourself, Sammy Davis. Jr. declares the battle a tie at the end.
Now the Buddy Rich BUS TAPES! Buddy Rich laid into his band hardcore on the bus after a gig. He was very upset with them and told them they played like “high school dropouts”. It’s full of four letter words. When you’re playing with a band and tempers run high people often refer to these tapes, like “he’s as bad as Buddy Rich on the bus”, etc. You can also find this audio recording on YouTube.com – search for “Buddy bus”.