Happy Birthday Max Roach, Bee Palmer!

Percussionist/composer Max Roach is born in New Land, NC, in 1925. Roach is one of the most influential, inventive and melodic drummers in the annals of jazz. JMIH Artistic Director Loren Schoenberg wrote in The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to Jazz that Roach, while with Charlie Parker’s original quintet, was able to nimbly keep up with the saxophonist’s breakneck pace, in the process creating a new vocabulary for his instrument. In the 1950s Roach and Charles Mingus formed their own record label, Debut. Their major release was the famous Jazz at Massey Hall, a live recording featuring Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Mingus and Roach.

The drummer then teamed with trumpeter Clifford Brown to create one of the greatest combos of that era. After Brown’s tragic death in 1956, Roach continued to innovate, introducing new meters into his music and young talent into his ensembles, In the late 1950s, he formed a small group with trumpeter Booker Little, and took a forceful stand against racism with his LP,  Freedom Now Suite. Roach continued to branch out, collaborating with artists outside of music, creating unconventional performing units (solo drum concerts, a double quartet), lecturing internationally and composing for everything from films to string quartets. Roach died in 2007. Listen to the track, “The Drum Also Waltzes” from his LP, Drums Unlimited, here:

Published on Dec 6, 2012

1. The Drum Also Waltzes (Max Roach) 0:00
2. Nommo (Jymie Merritt) 3:33
3. Drums Unlimited (Max Roach) 16:17
4. St. Louis Blues (W.C. Handy) 20:40
5. For Big Sid (Max Roach) 26:03
6."In The Red (A Xmas Carol)" (Max Roach) 29:07

MAX ROACH, drums
JAMES SPAULDING, alto sax
FREDDIE HUBBARD, trumpet
RONNIE MATTHEWS, piano
JYMIE MERRITT, bass

Side 2 track 1 also features RONALD ALEXANDER, soprano sax

this set was Max Roach's only recording as a leader during 1963-67. Three of the six numbers ("Nommo," "St. Louis Blues" and "In the Red") find Roach heading a group that includes trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, altoist James Spaulding, pianist Ronnie Mathews, bassist Jymie Merritt and, on "St. Louis Blues," Roland Alexander on soprano. Their music is essentially advanced hard-bop with a generous amount of space taken up by Roach's drum solos. The other three selections ("The Drum Also Waltzes," "Drums Unlimited" and "For Big Sid") are unaccompanied features for Max Roach and because of the melodic and logically-planned nature of his improvisations, they continually hold on to one's attention.

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