Ten Tracks of Max, Barbes Tonight
For those in NYC, my band Apocryphal is at Barbes in Brooklyn tonight, Wednesday January 24th. Doors are at 7 PM.
I wrote about the group and our new album Sunday yesterday. The record is already getting some nice responses, I hope you’ll have a chance to hear it.
It was a joy to wash my brain with Max Roach for his 100th birthday this month. In case you missed it, here’s a recap of the essays:
Part 1: An overview of The Drum Also Waltzes (2023), the full-length Max Roach documentary, directed by Sam Pollard and Ben Shapiro, available at pbs.org. I believe you have to sign in and create an account to view the film, well worth the time.
Part 2: Max Roach as a bebop innovator, a discussion of his sound and technical innovations. I also included a YouTube playlist of his 1944 and 1945 recordings, the earliest bebop documents.
Part 3: Exploring Roach’s series of duets, which focussed on free improvisation, from 1976 to 1982, with Archie Shepp, Abdullah Ibrahim, Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, and Connie Crothers.
I’ll be revising and updating these pieces, cleaning up the style, fixing errors, making sure they are worthy of both the subject and your time. It was a bit of whirlwind getting them done, I’m afraid the writing may have suffered for it.
The longer I worked at it, the more I got out of Max’s music, the more I wanted to write about, the more I tried to cram in, so I worked at it longer, and the more I heard I liked, the more I tried to cram in…
To wrap it up, here are ten Max Roach performances from my personal hall of fame. Some are common, maybe a few are new to you, all are dear to me:
Coleman Hawkins: “Blues Changes” (not sure of composer or label), recorded December 1943. 19 year-old Max Roach swings the blues with Ellis Larkins’ boogie-woogie left hand and Hawkins’ trip through the keys.
Charlie Parker: “Barbados”, (Parker), Savoy, recorded September 1948. Max moves from Latin to swing, his ride cymbal sings, his hi hats behind John Lewis are a gentle roar, and there’s experimental chatter on the snare rim during the out head. Roach is on the move.
Miles Davis: “Move” (Denzil Best), from Birth of The Cool on Capitol, recorded January 1949. So many details to savor— Max’s fleetness with Miles, the closed hi hat behind Lee Konitz, Roach’s solo breaks and mastery of John Lewis’ arrangement. Clearly, by 1949, Roach was in his own category.
Bud Powell: “Un Poco Loco” (Powell), on Blue Note, recorded May 1951. Is this the first vamp-based modern jazz tune? Roach’s cowbell pattern creates the paradigm of the progressive drummer, challenging himself, the band, and the listeners.
Thelonious Monk: “Sixteen” (Monk), on Blue Note, recorded May 1952. The bass drum is strong, Roach is swinging, and his ideas are clear. Max’s comments on the intro summarize his developing style: strong, clear statements that elevate the music with their wholeness.
Clifford Brown and Max Roach: “Love Is A Many Splendored Thing” (Sammy Fain-Paul Webster) from At Basin Street (EmArcy, recorded February 1956). 5/4 and 4/4 on the head in, masterful solos from Clifford and Sonny Rollins, and some lovely melodies from Richie Powell. It ends with one of Max’s lightest and most casual solos.
Max Roach: “Yardbird Suite” (Charlie Parker) from Max Roach 4 Plays Charlie Parker (Emarcy, 1959). Max’s time feel is just gorgeous, sounding almost like Billy Higgins behind Kenny Dorham.
Max Roach: “Driva Man” (Roach and Oscar Brown Jr.) from We Insist! Freedom Now Suite (Candid, recorded 1960). The original protest album, as powerful today as it was in 1960. Only Max Roach would feature a Coleman Hawkins solo in 5/4 on a song depicting the violence of slavery.
Duke Ellington—Charles Mingus—Max Roach: “REM Blues” (Ellington) from Money Jungle (United Artists, recorded September 1962). Roach straddles the conceptions of Ellington and Mingus while remaining himself. I just love his feel, sound, and ideas on this track.
Max Roach: “Nommo” (Jymie Merritt) from Nommo (Victor, 1976). A friend of mine gave me an MP3 of this album years ago, a forty-five minute rendition of one tune from Roach’s European tour with Cecil Bridgewater, Billy Harper, and Reggie Workman in October 1976. It was a revelation— I didn’t know what Roach was doing in at this time, and had no idea he’d embraced the post-Coltrane fire so wholeheartedly.
There’s much more to be learned about Max Roach, I’m really just getting started. As always, all respect for Max Roach, and my most sincere gratitude to you for supporting this work.
i have this picture of max on my wall down in the music room.. it has been up there for approx 20 years! have fun on your gig... on vancouver island and i can't make it! if you come this way, it would be a different story..