Steve Fidyk Big Band

Steve Fidyk received his first set of drums at age four and was playing wedding gigs by the time he was eight. By eleven he had played his first professional job and become a member of the American Federation of Musicians Local 140. For the next seven years he freelanced around the Pocono North East and earned degrees at Wilkes University and the University of North Texas. He then joined the U.S. Army Field Band and for the next five years gained experience by performing throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Cuba. Eventually, notified of the drum chair opening with the U.S. Army Blues, Fidyk auditioned and won the job. He has performed and/or recorded with Michael Abene, Mark Taylor, New York Voices, Arturo Sandoval, Dennis DiBlasio, Steve Turre, The Capitol Bones, Phil Wilson, Mike Tomaro, and Chris Vadala. In addition to a busy private teaching practice, Fidyk conducts clinics and master classes, and is the director of drum set studies at The University of Maryland, College Park, and adjunct professor at George Mason University. He holds a Masters in Jazz Studies from the University of Maryland.

Bernard “Buddy” Rich was born in Brooklyn on September 30, 1917. At the age of eighteen months, he debuted in his parents’ vaudeville act, performing “Stars and Stripes Forever.” At seven, he was a headliner, touring theaters in Australia and the United States. Billed as “Traps, the drum wonder,” he became the second highest paid child star in the world, second only to Jack Coogan.

Buddy Rich became one of the finest drummers in the world. He was a member of the Artie Shaw Orchestra briefly in 1939, and later that same year, joined the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, where he and Frank Sinatra soon became the shining stars of the Dorsey Orchestra. Rich also had his own band, worked with Harry James and led a small group featuring Mike Mainieri. He recorded with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Roy Eldridge, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Flip Phillips, and J.J. Johnson. In late 1965, Rich organized a big band for the first time since 1946, enlisting some of the leading players of the day. The band traveled the world playing theaters, concert halls, festivals, and colleges. Buddy Rich, the “World’s Greatest Drummer,” died in 1987.