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Today, January 10, is the birthday of Maxwell Lemuel Roach; aka Max Roach. He was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, composer and considered an important drummer in jazz history. He had an innovative way of playing drums. He used the full kit to create a palette of melody and harmony and, of course, rhythm. And that style helped propel jazz through its most important developments - from swing to bebop to the avant-garde.
Today, January 10, is the birthday of Maxwell Lemuel Roach; aka Max Roach. He was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, composer and considered an important drummer in jazz history. He had an innovative way of playing drums. He used the full kit to create a palette of melody and harmony and, of course, rhythm. And that style helped propel jazz through its most important developments - from swing to bebop to the avant-garde.
Max Roach - ca. October, 1947
Three Deuces, NYC
photo by William P. Gottlieb
Roach worked in many styles of music. He wrote music for theater, such as plays written by Sam Shepard, presented at La Mama E.T.C. in New York City. He performed a concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He wrote for and performed with the Walter White gospel choir and the John Motley Singers. He performed with dancers: the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Dianne McIntyre Dance Company and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. He performed in a hip hop concert, featuring the artist-rapper Fab Five Freddy and the New York Break Dancers. He made numerous musical statements relating to the Civil Rights Movement.
His birth certificate lists his date of birth as January 10, 1924, but he has been quoted by Phil Schaap that his family believed he was born on January 8, 1925. He was born in the Township of Newland, Pasquotank County, North Carolina, which borders the southern edge of the Great Dismal Swamp. His family moved to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York when he was 4 years old. His mother was a gospel singer. He started to play bugle in parade orchestras when he was young. At the age of 10, he was already playing drums in some gospel bands. In 1942, when he was 18 and fresh out of Boys High School, he was called to fill in for Sonny Greer with the Duke Ellington Orchestra when they were performing at the Paramount Theater. His first professional recording took place in December 1943, supporting Coleman Hawkins.
He studied classical percussion at the Manhattan School of Music from 1950 to 1953 and earned a Bachelor of Music degree (the School awarded him an Honorary Doctorate in 1990).
In 1952, Roach co-founded Debut Records with bassist Charles Mingus. This label released a record of a May 15, 1953 concert, billed as 'the greatest concert ever', which came to be known as Jazz at Massey Hall, featuring Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Mingus and Roach. Also released on this label was the groundbreaking bass-and-drum free improvisation, Percussion Discussion.
In 1954, Roach and trumpeter Clifford Brown formed a quintet that featured tenor saxophonist Harold Land, pianist Richie Powell (brother of Bud Powell), and bassist George Morrow. Land left the following year and Sonny Rollins replaced him. The group was a prime example of the hard bop style also played by Art Blakey and Horace Silver. Brown and Powell were killed in a car accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in June 1956. The first album Roach recorded after their deaths was Max Roach + 4. After Brown and Powell's deaths, Roach continued leading a similarly configured group, with Kenny Dorham on trumpet, Booker Little on trumpet, George Coleman on tenor and pianist Ray Bryant.
Roach was a pioneer of bebop; he expanded the standard form of hard-bop using 3/4 waltz rhythms (YouTube link below) and modality with his 1957 album, Jazz in 3/4 time. During this period, Roach recorded a series of other albums for the EmArcy label featuring Stanley and Tommy Turrentine.
In 1955, he was the drummer for vocalist Dinah Washington at several live appearances and recordings, appearing at the Newport Jazz Festival with her in 1958 which was filmed and the 1954 live studio audience recording of Dinah Jams, considered to be one of the best vocal jazz albums of its genre.
On August 16, 1992, he performed in the Newport Jazz Festival (Newport, Rhode Island) which was recorded and a hell of a lot of fun to watch (YouTube link below).
In 1994, Roach appeared on the Rush drummer Neil Peart album, Burning For Buddy performing The Drum Also Waltzes, Part 1 and 2 on Volume 1 of the Volume 2 series during the 1994 All-Star recording sessions.
He also worked with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Billy Eckstine, Stan Getz, Eric Dolphy, Booker Little, and saxophonist, Robert Stewart. He led his own groups, notably a pioneering quintet co-led with trumpeter Clifford Brown and the percussion ensemble M'Boom.
Roach was inducted into the Down Beat Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1992.
Max Roach died on August 16, 2007, in Manhattan. He was 83 years old. Over 1,900 people attended his funeral at Riverside Church in Manhattan, New York City, on August 24, 2007.
Viewfinder link:
Max Roach articles/mentions
Horace Silver
Net links:
Discography
Modern Drummer interview ~ Back On The Bandstand
Democracy Now obit ~ Thousands Pay Tribute
NPR Obit
YouTube links:
Max Roach drum solos ~
The Third Eye
Mr. Hi-Hat (1994)
The Drum also Waltzes (Lugano, Italy - 1994)
Drums Unlimited (full album 41 im, 29 sec.)
Newport Jazz Festival 8/16/92 (51 min, 29 sec.)
Discography
Modern Drummer interview ~ Back On The Bandstand
Democracy Now obit ~ Thousands Pay Tribute
NPR Obit
YouTube links:
Max Roach drum solos ~
The Third Eye
Mr. Hi-Hat (1994)
The Drum also Waltzes (Lugano, Italy - 1994)
Drums Unlimited (full album 41 im, 29 sec.)
Newport Jazz Festival 8/16/92 (51 min, 29 sec.)
“Music is an abstraction.”
~ Max Roach
Styrous® ~ Wednesday, January 10, 2018
