My uncles were jazz fans and went to see Buddy Rich sometime in the 60s or 70s.
It must have been during a time before he was really famous because he was playing near our small hometown and playing with a small band [much smaller than seen here]. And for some reason there was only a very few number of people that actually showed up to the concert. So my uncles got to stand right next to the stage and spoke directly with Buddy.
He said Buddy usually plays with a very minimal drum set; just one of each basic type of drum and symbol. He claimed that night Buddy was playing with a 1 bass, 1 tom tom, 1 snare and a few symbols. Since he was my uncles's idol he always used a very minimal set too.
If I was a drummer I'd like to learn to play with the weird pencil-hold method like that, mostly cause I think it looks cooler
