Max Roach

Max Roach ranks among jazz's most exceptional talents, having shaped an innovative language for percussionists from the bebop years onward. Relocating the central pulse from the bass drum to the ride cymbal granted kit players expanded expressive range. Performances unfolded as full narratives through shifts in tone, tuning, rhythmic figures, and intensity. Brush technique stood out as exceptional, enabling him to drive, reshape, or fracture the groove at will. He joined Miles Davis' landmark Birth of the Cool sessions in 1948 and afterward assembled a quintet featuring iconic bop trumpeter Clifford Brown. Serving as drummer in "the quintet" for the historic Jazz at Massey Hall concert in 1953 placed him alongside Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, and Charles Mingus. The drummer's groundbreaking 1961 album We Insist! Freedom Now Suite established a model for Civil Rights engagement within his circle of peers. Roach sustained forward momentum through the 1970s and 1980s. Formation of the percussion ensemble M'Boom occurred in 1970, producing several acclaimed recordings that include 1973's Re: Percussion, M'Boom in 1979, and To the Max in 1991. Work with vanguard musicians featured notable duo projects with Anthony Braxton on The Long March and Cecil Taylor on Historic Concerts. During the 1990s he instructed at the University of Massachusetts while sustaining live performances. Artistic movement remained constant: he operated in trios, collaborated with symphony orchestras, supported gospel choirs, and partnered with rapper Fab Five Freddy. Friendship, his concluding recording made with trumpeter Clark Terry, appeared in 2002.

Roach entered the world in rural North Carolina during 1924. His mother performed gospel vocals. The family relocated to Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in 1928. Early musical training began with bugle performances in parades as a youngster. Drum study commenced at age seven, followed by gospel-band work at ten. Serious jazz engagement developed during high school. Upon graduating in 1942 at eighteen, he received an invitation to substitute for Sonny Greer with the Duke Ellington Orchestra at Manhattan's Paramount Theater. Time spent at jazz venues on 52nd Street and at 78th Street & Broadway led to regular sit-ins. His initial professional session took place in December 1943, supporting saxophonist Coleman Hawkins. While serving as house drummer at Minton's Playhouse, he connected with saxophonist Charlie Parker, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and others at that celebrated site. Frequent appearances in after-hours jam sessions followed. Brief engagements with Benny Carter and Duke Ellington's band preceded his 1943 entry into Gillespie's quintet, after which he worked in Parker-led groups during 1945 and from 1947 to 1949. Travel to Paris with Parker occurred in 1949, yielding recordings there with Parker and additional musicians including Kenny Dorham. Further associations included Louis Jordan, Red Allen, and Hawkins. He again took part in Miles Davis' historic Birth of the Cool sessions, this time in 1949.

Enrollment in a classical percussion program at the Manhattan School of Music began in 1950. Rejoining Parker in 1951 led to continued work until departure from school in 1953. That period included drumming duties in "the quintet" and participation in the historic Jazz at Massey Hall concert in Toronto alongside Charles Mingus, Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bird. Those performances represented the final joint appearance by the latter pair. Roach also toured with the Jazz at the Philharmonic revue in the early 1950s and recorded with Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars after replacing Shelly Manne. Sideman duties with Sonny Rollins occupied several years in the mid-1950s, during which he co-led the Max Roach/Clifford Brown orchestra featuring Powell's brother Richie on piano and saxophonists Harold Land, later succeeded by Rollins. Roach's intense yet exact drumming supported Brown's remarkable trumpet statements. The ensemble produced landmark recordings during its brief existence, among them Clifford Brown & Max Roach (1954), Study in Brown and Brown and Roach Incorporated (1955), and At Basin Street (1956). Brown and Powell died in a car crash en route to a Chicago engagement in 1956. Roach attempted to preserve the unit with Dorham and Rollins, subsequently incorporating trumpeter Booker Little and saxophonist George Coleman. Partnership in a record label with Charles Mingus produced Debut Records in the mid-1950s. The label released Jazz at Massey Hall in 1958 and Percussion Discussion, viewed as avant-garde upon issuance. Additional appearances occurred with Dorham, pianist Ramsey Lewis, saxophonist Hank Mobley, and bassist George Morrow. Leadership of another influential ensemble followed, incorporating Little, Coleman, tuba player Ray Draper, and bassist Art Davis. Seminal recordings for Riverside and Emarcy resulted, including Deeds Not Words.

Following work with pianist Randy Weston on Uhuru Afrika, Roach, a committed Civil Rights activist, composed and recorded We Insist! Freedom Now Suite in 1960. The multifaceted project featured vocals by then-wife Abbey Lincoln and lyrics by Oscar Brown, Jr. It directly addressed racial injustice in America, with influence persisting into the twenty-first century. Recording of Money Jungle, a collaborative album with Mingus and Ellington, took place in 1962 and is considered among the strongest trio documents ever captured. Roach and assorted ensembles maintained active recording and touring schedules. The collaborative Much Max with Stanley Turrentine appeared in 1964, followed by the classic Drums Unlimited in 1966. In 1968 Roach and the Turrentine Brothers issued Let's Groove for Time Records.

Formation of the enduring percussion ensemble M'Boom occurred in 1970. Founding members comprised Roy Brooks, Warren Smith, Joe Chambers, Omar Clay, Ray Mantilla, and Freddie Waits. The next year he directed a sextet that included saxophonist Billy Harper, trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater, pianist George Cables, electric bassist Eddie Mathias, and percussionist Ralph MacDonald. Collaboration with gospel singers J.C. and Dorothy White, Ruby McClure, and a 22-voice choir produced the lasting jazz/gospel fusion recording Lift Every Voice and Sing for Atlantic. The six-track collection presented occasionally radical reinterpretations of gospel standards arranged by William Bell, Lincoln, and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson.

Re: Percussion, M'Boom's debut album, emerged on Strata East in 1973 and received reissue by Japan's Baystate the subsequent year. Continued prolific output across multiple labels followed. The frequently reissued Force - Sweet Mao - Suid Afrika 76 was recorded in 1976 as a duo with saxophonist Archie Shepp, while The Loadstar appeared the next year on Italy's Horo label with a quartet featuring Harper, Bridgewater, and bassist Reggie Workman. Streams of Consciousness, a duo recording with pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, was cut in 1977. The quartet—with bassist Calvin Hill replacing Workman—released Confirmation in 1978, the same year Roach and Anthony Braxton issued the duo album Birth and ReBirth for Black Saint.

Columbia issued M'Boom in 1980. Recorded the prior year, this self-titled release is recognized by critics and historians as foundational to the development of jazz and world music through its integration of jazz, salsa, African, and European elements. That year the quartet also released Pictures in a Frame for Soul Note, while Roach and Shepp recorded and issued the double-live duo album The Long March on Switzerland's Hat Hut label from their concert at the Willisau Jazz Festival. During the same festival, Roach and Braxton performed and documented a duo concert released as One in Two-Two in One in 1980. The quartet, now with saxophonist/flutist Odean Pope in place of Harper, issued the charting Chattahoochee Red for Columbia in 1981. The following year the group released the historic In the Light, and Roach issued Swish, a duo with pianist Connie Crothers. A December 1979 duo concert between Cecil Taylor and Roach appeared as Historic Concerts on Soul Note in 1984. That same year Roach released Long as You're Living, his Enja debut, with a new quintet that included trombonist Julian Priester, Stanley and Tommy Turrentine, and bassist Bobby Boswell, along with the quartet recordings Scott Free, It's Christmas Again, and Survivors. Collage, the third M'Boom album, also surfaced in 1984. Throughout the decade Roach performed with numerous ensembles, among them a collective of break dancers and rapper Fab 5 Freddy in what stands as an early jazz and hip-hop fusion.

Live at Vielharmonie Munich, released in 1985 and credited to the Max Roach Double Quartet, featured the Swedenborg String Quartet. Easy Winners, recorded that year in collaboration with the Uptown String Quartet that included his daughter Maxine Roach on viola, followed. The string ensemble's name evolved into the Max Roach Double Quartet for 1986's Bright Moments. On June 15, 1989, at La Grande Hale in La Villette, Paris, Roach participated in the Paris All Stars: Homage to Charlie Parker concert alongside saxophonists Jackie McLean, Phil Woods, and Stan Getz, Gillespie, pianist Hank Jones, bassist Percy Heath, and vibraphonist Milt Jackson. The set appeared on A&M in 1990 together with a duo recording with Gillespie titled Paris 1989. That year also brought an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music to Roach, who had commenced full-time teaching at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Drum Conversation, his first solo percussion album, was released as well. In 1992 M'Boom issued its final recording, Live at S.O.B.'s, for the Blue Moon label.

Appearance on Rush drummer Neil Peart's Burning for Buddy in 1994 featured performances of "The Drum Also Waltzes" Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 on the first of the two-volume tribute collection. Roach devoted the majority of his time to teaching yet continued performing and exploring fresh jazz directions. Beijing Trio, a collaborative recording on the Asian Improv label with pianist Jon Jang and renowned erhu player Jiebing Chen, appeared in 1998. The following year Explorations ... To the Mth Degree, a duo performance with Mal Waldron from the pianist's 1995 seventieth-birthday concert, was released by Slam Productions. In 2002 Roach partnered with longtime friend and trumpeter Clark Terry to issue Friendship, featuring bassist Marcus McLaurine and pianist Don Friedman, on Columbia. It constituted the drummer's final album. Reduced activity resulted from multiple health conditions. Roach died in New York from complications associated with Alzheimer's in August 2007.