Buddy Deppenschmidt

Oct. 18, 2013

BUDDY DEPPENSCHMIDT

William Henry Deppenschmidt III is an American jazz drummer. His earliest musical influences were Gene Krupa, Joe Morello and Shelly Manne. His major contribution to the making of the award winning, seminal album, Jazz Samba, is well documented in many articles (see References).

CAREER

Buddy Deppenschmidt was born in Philadelphia, Pa. on February 16, 1936. His father, a saxophone player, led his own orchestra under the name, Buddy Williams, after playing with and arranging for Paul Whiteman, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller.

When he was four, Buddy and his mother moved to Richmond, Virginia. 

Self-taught, he started playing drums professionally while still in his teens and went on the road with Ronnie Bartley’s Orchestra, a territory band that travelled all over the western United States. Back in Richmond, he played with many bands and then became the drummer for the Newton Thomas Trio (1954-59), which was also the rhythm section for the Billy Butterfield Quintet. The trio toured with Butterfield throughout the Northeast and Midwest, U. S. (1958-59) When the Newton Thomas Trio played the Virginia Beach Jazz Festival, they received rave reviews on a bill that included the Dave Brubeck Quartet and the Charlie Byrd Trio. Two nights later, Charlie Byrd came into the Jolly Roger, the jazz club near Virginia Beach where Buddy was playing, and offered him a job, which he accepted. He moved to the Washington, D.C. area and was the drummer with the Charlie Byrd Trio at the Showboat Lounge (1959-62).

Starting in February, 1961, the Charlie Byrd Trio, which included Charlie Byrd on guitar, Keter Betts on bass, and Buddy Deppenschmidt on drums, toured South America, Central America and Mexico sponsored by the U. S. State Department. This three-month cultural exchange tour included 18 countries. While in Brazil, Buddy spent much of his free time with local musicians, teaching them American jazz styles and learning from them the various Latin styles and specific rhythms, especially bossa nova, which he then mastered and brought back. It was his idea to do an album of jazz combined with bossa nova and to bring Stan Getz in for the project. The resulting album, Jazz Samba, is legendary, in constant rerelease and recompilation, and was inducted into the Grammy Awards Hall of Fame in 2010. When released in 1962, it was number one on the Billboard jazz and pop charts and remained on the charts for 70 weeks. It is the only instrumental jazz album ever to reach the number one position on both the jazz and pop charts. The details of all these events are documented in the 2004 Jazz Times cover article, Give the Drummer Some by jazz scholar David Adler.

After Charlie Byrd, Deppenschmidt joined the Tee Carson Trio (1963-4) performing at the renowned Marquis Lounge at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. where they shared the bill with political satirist, Mark Russell.

Buddy relocated to Bucks County, Pennsylvania and formed his own band, Jazz Renaissance, playing concerts and nightclubs with varying personnel and instrumentation. He was the drummer with the John Coates, Jr. Trio from 1964-78. He toured the Midwest and West Coast with classically trained French jazz piano virtuoso Bernard Peiffer’s trio (1967).

From 1970-73, he studied with the phenomenal drummer and teacher, Joe Morello, who played with the Marion Mc Partland Trio and the Dave Brubeck Quartet as well as fronting his own band.

Buddy Deppenschmidt has had an active teaching career since the 1950’s and has taught tens of thousands of students. His work has been transcribed in Modern Drummer Magazine and Creative Coordination for the Performing Drummer by Keith Copeland (Carl Fisher Inc. 1986). He has biographical listings in the Encyclopedia of Jazz in the 60’s, Leonard Feather, (Da Capo and Horizon Press 1966 and1986) and the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Barry Kernfield, (St Martin’s Press and Macmillan Press 1994 and 1998)

His drum work can be heard on the soundtracks of the following movies:

A Thousand Clowns (1965), Wall Street (1987), The Lake House (2006) and Whatever Works (2009).

DISCOGRAPHY

Charlie’s Choice (Offbeat Records) later reissued as The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd (Riverside) L.P. and CD -designated an Original Jazz Classic (O.J.C.)

Charlie Byrd at the Village Vanguard (Riverside) L. P. and CD (O.J.C.)

Charlie Byrd in Greenwich Village (Milestone)

Once More! Bossa Nova (Riverside)

Bossa Nova Pelos Pessaros (Riverside) (O.J.C.)

Latin Byrd (Milestone) L.P. (Riverside) C.D.

Blues Sonata (Riverside) (O.J.C.)

Guitar Guitar (Wounded Bird)

Jazz Samba (Verve) L.P. and C.D- many reissues and remasters

There have been at least 35 recompilations of these recordings on various labels.

In a career spanning six decades, he has performed with such jazz greats as: Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, James Moody, Larry Mc Kenna, Phil Woods, Al Cohn, Clark Terry, Chet Baker, Billy Butterfield, J.J. Johnson, Mose Allison, Bob Dorough, Matt Dennis, Barry Harris, John Coates, Jr., Al Haig, Shirley Horn, King Pleasure, Maxine Sullivan, Charlie Byrd, Herb Ellis, Tal Farlow, Keter Betts, Joe Venuti and Lionel Hampton

REFERENCES

David R. Adler (June 2004) Give The Drummer Some. Jazz Times

Josmar Lopes (November 9, 2011) Well, I’ll Be Damned! The Drummer Was Right After All! Brazzil

Chris Mc Gowan (April 17, 2012) Blame It On The Bossa Nova: Jazz Samba’s 50th. Birthday. Huffington Post

Chris Richards (April 19, 2012) Jazz SambaTurns 50. The Washington Post

Josmar Lopes (March 30, 2013) Buddy Deppenschmidt: The Man Who Drummed The Brazilian Beat into American Ears! Reviews by Josmar Lopes

Chris Mc Gowan (April 24, 2013) Another Side of Jazz Samba: An Interview with Buddy Deppenschmidt. The Brazilian Sound