Max Roach
Max Roach | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Maxwell Lemuel Roach |
Born | Newland Township, North Carolina, U.S. | January 10, 1924
Died | August 16, 2007 New York City, U.S. | (aged 83)
Genres | |
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Instrument(s) |
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Years active | 1944–2002 |
Labels | |
Alma mater | Manhattan School of Music |
Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924[a] – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history.[2][3] He worked with many famous jazz musicians, including Clifford Brown, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Abbey Lincoln, Dinah Washington, Charles Mingus, Billy Eckstine, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Eric Dolphy, and Booker Little. He also played with his daughter Maxine Roach, Grammy nominated Violist. He was inducted into the DownBeat Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1992.[4]
In the mid-1950s, Roach co-led a pioneering quintet along with trumpeter Clifford Brown. In 1970, he founded the percussion ensemble M'Boom.
Biography
This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2023) |
Early life and career
Max Roach was born to Alphonse and Cressie Roach in the Township of Newland,
Roach's family moved to the
In 1942, as an 18-year-old recently graduated from
He was one of the first drummers, along with
Roach nurtured an interest in and respect for Afro-Caribbean music and traveled to Haiti in the late 1940s to study with the traditional drummer Ti Roro.[8]
1950s
Roach studied
In 1952, Roach co-founded Debut Records with bassist Charles Mingus, one of the first artist-owned labels. The 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 Parker, Gillespie, Powell, Mingus, and Roach. Also released on this label was the groundbreaking bass-and-drum free improvisation, Percussion Discussion.[9]
In 1954, Roach and trumpeter Clifford Brown formed a quintet that also featured tenor saxophonist Harold Land, pianist Richie Powell (brother of Bud Powell), and bassist George Morrow. Land left the quintet the following year and was replaced by Sonny Rollins. The group was a prime example of the hard bop style also played by Art Blakey and Horace Silver. Later that year, he relocated to the Los Angeles area, where he replaced Shelly Manne in the popular Lighthouse All Stars.[10]
Brown and Richie 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 (and later Booker Little) on trumpet, George Coleman on tenor, and pianist Ray Bryant. Roach expanded the standard form of hard bop using 3/4 waltz rhythms and modality in 1957 with his album Jazz in 3/4 Time. During this period, Roach recorded a series of other albums for EmArcy Records featuring the brothers Stanley and Tommy Turrentine.[11]
In 1955, he played drums for vocalist Dinah Washington at several live appearances and recordings. He appeared with Washington at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958, which was filmed, and at the 1954 live studio audience recording of Dinah Jams, considered to be one of the best and most overlooked vocal jazz albums of its genre.[12]
1960s–1970s
In 1960 he composed and recorded the album
During the 1970s, Roach formed
Long involved in jazz education, in 1972 Roach was recruited to the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Amherst by Chancellor Randolph Bromery.[15] He taught at the university until the mid-1990s.[16]
1980s–1990s
In the early 1980s, Roach began presenting solo concerts, demonstrating that multiple percussion instruments performed by one player could fulfill the demands of solo performance and be entirely satisfying to an audience. He created memorable compositions in these solo concerts, and a solo record was released by the Japanese jazz label Baystate. One of his solo concerts is available on a video, which also includes footage of a recording date for Chattahoochee Red, featuring his working quartet, Odean Pope, Cecil Bridgewater, and Calvin Hill.
Roach also embarked on a series of duet recordings. Departing from the style he was best known for, most of the music on these recordings is free improvisation, created with
During the 1980s Roach also wrote music for theater, including plays by
Roach found new contexts for performance, creating unique musical ensembles. One of these groups was "The Double Quartet", featuring his regular performing quartet with the same personnel as above, except Tyrone Brown replaced Hill. This quartet joined "The Uptown String Quartet", led by his daughter Maxine Roach and featuring Diane Monroe, Lesa Terry, and Eileen Folson.
Another ensemble was the "So What Brass Quintet", a group comprising five brass instrumentalists and Roach, with no
Not content to expand on the music he was already known for, Roach spent the 1980s and 1990s finding new forms of musical expression and performance. He performed a
Though Roach played with many types of ensembles, he always continued to play jazz. He performed with the Beijing Trio, with pianist Jon Jang and erhu player Jeibing Chen. His final recording, Friendship, was with trumpeter Clark Terry. The two were longtime friends and collaborators in duet and quartet. Roach's final performance was at the 50th anniversary celebration of the original Massey Hall concert, with Roach performing solo on the hi-hat.[19]
In 1994, Roach appeared on
Death
In the early 2000s, Roach became less active due to the onset of hydrocephalus-related complications.
Roach died of complications related to
In a funeral tribute to Roach, then-Lieutenant Governor of New York David Paterson compared the musician's courage to that of Paul Robeson, Harriet Tubman, and Malcolm X, saying that "No one ever wrote a bad thing about Max Roach's music or his aura until 1960, when he and Charlie Mingus protested the practices of the Newport Jazz Festival."[22]
Personal life
Two children, a son Daryl Keith and daughter, Maxine Lorna, were born from Roach's first marriage with Mildred Roach in 1949. In 1956, he met singer Barbara Jai (Johnson) and fathered another son, Raoul Jordu. During the period 1962–1970, Roach was married to singer Abbey Lincoln, who had performed on several of his albums. In 1971, twin daughters, Dara Rashida, and Ayodele Niealah, were born to Roach and his third wife, Janus Adams Roach.
He had four grandchildren: Kyle Maxwell Roach, Kadar Elijah Roach, Maxe Samiko Hinds, and Skye Sophia Sheffield.[citation needed]
His godson is artist, filmmaker and hip-hop pioneer, Fab Five Freddy.[23]
Roach identified himself as a
Style
Roach started as a
Roach's most significant innovations came in the 1940s, when he and Kenny Clarke devised a new concept of musical time. By playing the beat-by-beat pulse of standard 4/4 time on the ride cymbal instead of on the thudding bass drum, Roach and Clarke developed a flexible, flowing rhythmic pattern that allowed soloists to play freely. This also created space for the drummer to insert dramatic accents on the snare drum, crash cymbal, and other components of the trap set.
By matching his rhythmic attack with a tune's melody, Roach brought a newfound subtlety of expression to the drums. He often shifted the dynamic emphasis from one part of his drum kit to another within a single phrase, creating a sense of tonal color and rhythmic surprise.[2] Roach said of the drummer's unique positioning, "In no other society do they have one person play with all four limbs."[26]
While this is common today, when Clarke and Roach introduced the concept in the 1940s it was revolutionary. "When Max Roach's first records with Charlie Parker were released by Savoy in 1945", jazz historian Burt Korall wrote in the Oxford Companion to Jazz, "drummers experienced awe and puzzlement and even fear." One of those drummers, Stan Levey, summed up Roach's importance: "I came to realize that, because of him, drumming no longer was just time, it was music."[2]
In 1966, with his album .
Honors
Roach was given a
In 1986, the
Roach spent his later years living at the Mill Basin Sunrise assisted living home in Brooklyn, and was honored with a proclamation honoring his musical achievements by Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz.[44] Roach was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.[45]
In 2023, Roach was the subject of a documentary feature film Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes, which premiered at South by Southwest and was nationally broadcast on the PBS series American Masters.[46]
Discography
As leader/co-leader
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Co-leader with Clifford Brown
Co-leader with M'Boom
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Compilation
- Alone Together: The Best of the Mercury Years (Verve, 1995) – rec. 1954–60
As a member
The Paris All-Stars
(with Dizzy Gillespie, Hank Jones, Milt Jackson, Percy Heath and Stan Getz)
- Homage to Charlie Parker (A&M, 1990) – rec. 1989
As sideman
With Miles Davis
With Duke Ellington
With Stan Getz
With Dizzy Gillespie
With Coleman Hawkins
With
With Abbey Lincoln
With Charles Mingus
With Thelonious Monk
With Charlie Parker
With Bud Powell
With Sonny Rollins
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With others
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Notes
- ^ Although Roach's birth certificate lists January 10, 1924 as his birthdate, Roach was quoted by Phil Schaap as saying that his family believed he was born on January 8.[1]
References
- ^ MADISON magazine: "Max Roach and James Woods". Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Schudel, Matt (August 16, 2007). "Jazz Musician Max Roach Dies at 83". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
- ^ a b "Legendary Jazz Drummer Max Roach Dies at 83". Billboard. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
- ^ "Modern Drummer's Readers Poll Archive, 1979–2014". Modern Drummer. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
- ISBN 9780195364118. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
- ^ "Max Roach discography". Jazz Disco. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
- ^ Harris, Barry; Weiss, Michael (1994). The Complete Bud Powell on Verve (liner notes, booklet). Verve Records. p. 106.
- ^ Haydon, Geoffrey; Marks, Dennis (1985). "Sit Down and Listen: The Story of Max Roach.". A Celebration of African-American Music. Century Publishing. p. 99.
- ^ "History Explorer > Jazz History Timeline > 1952 - 1961". History Explorer. Archived from the original on May 27, 2008. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
- ^ Bob, Blumenthal. "Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet". Mosaic Records. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
- ^ "History of Jazz Part 6: Hard Bop". Jazzitude. April 11, 2007. Archived from the original on May 19, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
- ^ "Joy Spring". Hipjazz. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
- ^ "Duke Ellington Money Jungle Blue Note, Recorded 1962". Inkblot (magazine). Archived June 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b "Max Roach biography". All About Jazz. Archived from the original on February 29, 2008. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
- ^ University of Massachusetts, "Randolph W. Bromery, Champion of Diversity, Du Bois and Jazz as UMass Amherst Chancellor, Dead at 87", February 27, 2013.
- Amherst Bulletin.
- ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Special Event: 'ShepardSets: A Festival of Sam Shepard Plays' (1984)". Retrieved August 29, 2018.
- ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: 'Max Roach Live at La MaMa: A Multimedia Collaboration' (1985)". Retrieved August 29, 2018.
- ^ "Friendship". All About Jazz. July 25, 2003. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
- ^ "The Friday Papers". Beachwood Reporter. August 27, 2007. Archived from the original on February 22, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
- ^ Keepnews, Peter (August 16, 2007). "Max Roach, Master of Modern Jazz, Dies at 83". The New York Times. Retrieved August 17, 2007.
- ^ Paterson, David (March 13, 2008). "David Paterson Invokes Paul Robeson, Harriet Tubman, Malcolm X in Remembrance of Jazz Legend Max Roach (Eulogy transcript)". Democracy Now. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
- ^ "Fab 5 Freddy – rap & hip hop pioneer with a jazz pedigree". Open Sky Jazz. July 17, 2019. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
- ^ Taylor, Arthur (1977). Notes and Tones: Musician-to-musician interviews. Da Capo Press. p. 106.
- ^ "Legendary Jazz Drummer Max Roach Dies at 83". Modern Drummer. September 21, 2012. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
- ^ The Week, August 31, 2007, p. 32.
- ^ "Joe Morello: Revisiting A Master". Modern Drummer magazine. September 25, 2006. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
- ISBN 9780634001468. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
- ^ "Peter Erskine: Up Front, In Time, And On Call, Part 1". All About Jazz. February 22, 2019. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
- ^ "Billy Cobham". Sick Drummer magazine. March 23, 2009. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
- ^ "Ginger Baker interview November 2010". retrosellers.com. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
- ^ "Mitch Mitchell". Mike Dolbear. April 15, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
- ^ "Stanton Moore On John Bonham's Influences". Drum Magazine. April 29, 2013. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
- ^ "Max Roach: Setting Standards And Raising Bars". Modern Drummer. December 10, 2009. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
- ^ Medals ceremony (video) Ina (French), 1989.
- ^ https://www.grammy.com/awards/lifetime-achievement-awards
- Columbia University Record. April 9, 2001. Retrieved August 16, 2007.
- ^ "Past Honorary Degree Recipients, About - Wesleyan University".
- ^ "Max Roach Park". All About Jazz. October 28, 2006. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
- ^ "London Borough of Lambeth | Max Roach Park". Lambeth.gov.uk. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
- ^ Val Wilmer, letter to The Guardian, September 8, 2007. "It was on the initiative of then Labour councillor Sharon Atkin that Lambeth council named 27 sites in the borough in 1986 to acknowledge contributions by people of African descent.... The opening of the Brixton park coincided with Roach's GLC-sponsored visit to London, happily enabling him to attend the opening in the company of Atkin and his old friend, the drummer Ken Gordon, uncle of Moira Stuart."
- ^ Jon Lusk, "Kofi Ghanaba: Drummer who pioneered Afro-jazz", The Independent, March 9, 2009.
- ^ Every Generation (February 20, 2017), "The Origins of Black History – An Interview with Akyaaba Addai-Sebo", Black History Month Magazine. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
- ^ "Brooklyn Borough President". Brooklyn-USA. Archived from the original on October 1, 2006. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
- ^ "2009 Inductees". North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
- ^ Skinner, Joe (March 13, 2023). "Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes - Watch the documentary now! | American Masters | PBS". American Masters. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
External links
Archives at | ||||
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How to use archival material |
- Max Roach at IMDb
- Max Roach on Hard Bop
- Max Roach discography at Discogs
- Max Roach discography and sessionography
- Max Roach multimedia directory
- Max Roach on La MaMa Archives Digital Collections
- Max Roach New York Times obituary
- Max Roach New York Sun obituary
- Max Roach Slate magazine article (2007)