Birdland – Eric meets Buddy Rich - BIMHUIS, Amsterdam, 2023.

My apologies; the arrangement of Birdland was handed out to the musicians just before the soundcheck of the concert in the BIMHUIS. So when you hear the Eric meets Buddy Rich band playing Birdland and it sounds a bit improvised, well you’re right😊

Birdland, was written by Joe Zawinul and was first recorded in 1976 by Weather Report for the album Heavy Weather. It was a tribute to the Birdland nightclub named after Charlie “Bird” Parker.
The vocal group Manhattan Transfer won a Grammy with their version of Birdland. Try to look it up on YouTube; they did a wonderful job, although the clothing is very dated😊
Buddy Rich recorded it for his album Class of ’78. The arrangement was from Mike Abene. The arrangement of this Eric meets Buddy Rich edition was done by Gerrit-Jan Binkhorst.

Solo’s by GerritJan Binkhorst and Tico Pierhagen.

Amsterdam drummer Eric Schuijt always dreamt about playing the ‘Buddy Rich Big Band’ songs. So he studied what Buddy Rich made famous, meticulously looked at the breaks and the techniques and studied for hours in his drum studio along an Amsterdam canal. After two years he formed the Eric meets Buddy Rich Big Band and gave a concert at the renowned BIMHUIS in Amsterdam.

Drums: Eric Schuijt
Musical director/conga’s, flute: Gerrit-Jan Binkhorst
Piano: Tico Pierhagen
Bass: Dave Breidenbach
Trumpet: Loet van der Lee, Lourens van der Zwaag, Jelle Janswaard, Nils Attermeyer
Sax: Werner Janssen, Floriaan Wempe, Giulio Jesi, Yuji Shi, Annette de Greeuw
Trombone: Jos van den Heuvel, Gerard Piera, Mathis Kaiser, Jakob Leban
Stagemanager: Jonna van Lierop

Thanks to Frank van Berkel and the staff of the BIMHUIS, Amsterdam, Efraim Trujillo, Ilja Reijngoud, Jasper van Damme, Sebastiano Terzuolo, Ron Oligschlager, Gaikza Otsoa Martinez, Alvaro Zarzuela, Johan van Loo of Eurosound, Hermen Gerrits, Q-factory.