Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

drummer and composer. A pioneer of

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrum ...

, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He worked with many famous jazz musicians, including Clifford Brown,

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...

, Dizzy Gillespie,

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was ba ...

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...

, Abbey Lincoln, Dinah Washington,

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians an ...

, Billy Eckstine, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Eric Dolphy, and Booker Little. He was inducted into the '' DownBeat'' Hall of Fame in 1980 and the '' Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1992. In the mid-1950s, Roach co-led a pioneering quintet along with trumpeter Clifford Brown. In 1970, he founded the percussion ensemble M'Boom. He made numerous musical statements relating to the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

Biography

Early life and career

Max Roach was born to Alphonse and Cressie Roach in the Township of Newland,

Pasquotank County Pasquotank County
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

, which borders the southern edge of the Great Dismal Swamp. The Township of Newland is sometimes mistaken for Newland Town in Avery County, North Carolina. Although his birth certificate lists his date of birth as January 10, 1924, Roach has been quoted by Phil Schaap, saying that his family believed he was actually born on January 8, 1924. Roach's family moved to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...

, when he was four years old. He grew up in a musical home with his gospel singer mother. He started to play bugle in parades at a young age. At the age of 10, he was already playing drums in some gospel bands. In 1942, as an 18-year-old recently graduated from Boys High School in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

, he was called to fill in for Sonny Greer with the

Orchestra performing at the Paramount Theater in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

. He starting going to the jazz clubs on 52nd Street and at 78th Street & Broadway for Georgie Jay's Taproom, where he played with schoolmate Cecil Payne. His first professional recording took place in December 1943, backing

. He was one of the first drummers, along with Kenny Clarke, to play in the

style. Roach performed in bands led by Dizzy Gillespie,

, Bud Powell, and

. He played on many of Parker's most important records, including the Savoy Records November 1945 session, which marked a turning point in recorded jazz. His early brush work with Powell's trio, especially at fast tempos, has been highly praised. Roach nurtured an interest in and respect for Afro-Caribbean music and traveled to

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

in the late 1940s to study with the traditional drummer Ti Roro.

1950s

Roach studied classical percussion at the Manhattan School of Music from 1950 to 1953, working toward a Bachelor of Music degree. The school awarded him an Honorary Doctorate in 1990. In 1952, Roach co-founded Debut Records with bassist

. 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''. 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 Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sc ...

. The Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet created one of the very greatest string of small-group recordings in jazz history, worthy of consideration alongside the Hot Fives and Sevens of Louis Armstrong and the quintets of

and

. Over the next eight years Roach's stature grew as he recorded with a host of other emerging artists (including Bud Powell, Sonny Stitt,

and

) and co-founded Debut, one of the first artist-owned labels, with

. Roach participated in the legendary bebop summit concert that produced the Jazz at Massey Hall recordings of 1953. Later that year, he relocated to the Los Angeles area, where he replaced Shelly Manne in the popular Lighthouse All Stars. 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 The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the w ...

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. 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 Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...

, 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.

1960s–1970s

In 1960 he composed and recorded the album '' We Insist!'' (subtitled ''Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite)'', with vocals by his then-wife Abbey Lincoln and lyrics by Oscar Brown Jr., after being invited to contribute to commemorations of the hundredth anniversary of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

's Emancipation Proclamation. In 1962, he recorded the album '' Money Jungle'', a collaboration with Mingus and

. This is generally regarded as one of the finest trio albums ever recorded. During the 1970s, Roach formed M'Boom, a percussion orchestra. Each member composed for the ensemble and performed on multiple percussion instruments. Personnel included Fred King, Joe Chambers, Warren Smith, Freddie Waits, Roy Brooks, Omar Clay, Ray Mantilla, Francisco Mora, and Eli Fountain. Long involved in jazz education, in 1972 Roach was recruited to the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Amherst by Chancellor Randolph Bromery.

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medi ...

"Randolph W. Bromery, Champion of Diversity, Du Bois and Jazz as UMass Amherst Chancellor, Dead at 87"
February 27, 2013. He taught at the university until the mid-1990s.

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 Odean Pope (born October 24, 1938) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Biography Pope was raised in Philadelphia, where he learned from Ray Bryant while young. Early in his career, at Philadelphia's Uptown Theater, Pope played behind a numbe ...

, 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 Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Archie Shepp, and Abdullah Ibrahim. Roach created duets with other performers, including: a recorded duet with oration of the " I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King Jr.; a duet with

video artist Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting ...

Kit Fitzgerald, who improvised video imagery while Roach created the music; a duet with his lifelong friend and associate Gillespie; and a duet concert recording with Mal Waldron. During the 1980s Roach also wrote music for theater, including plays by Sam Shepard. He was composer and musical director for a festival of Shepard plays, called "ShepardSets", at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in 1984. The festival included productions of ''Back Bog Beast Bait'', '' Angel City'', and '' Suicide in B Flat''. In 1985, George Ferencz directed "Max Roach Live at La MaMa: A Multimedia Collaboration". 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 chordal instrument and no bass player. Much of the performance consisted of drums and horn duets. The ensemble consisted of two trumpets, trombone,

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

, and tuba. Personnel included Cecil Bridgewater, Frank Gordon, Eddie Henderson, Rod McGaha,

Steve Turre Stephen Johnson Turre (born September 12, 1948, in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American jazz trombonist and a pioneer of using seashells as instruments, a composer, arranger, and educator at the collegiate-conservatory level. For years, Turre has b ...

, Delfeayo Marsalis, Robert Stewart, Tony Underwood, Marshall Sealy, Mark Taylor, and Dennis Jeter. 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 concerto with the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1 ...

. He wrote for and performed with the Walter White gospel choir and the John Motley Singers. He also performed with dance companies, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the

Dianne McIntyre Dianne McIntyre (born July 18, 1946) is an American dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Her notable works include ''Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Dance Adventure in Southern Blues (A Choreodrama)'', an adaptation of Zora Neal Hurston's novel '' ...

Dance Company, and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. He surprised his fans by performing in a hip hop concert featuring Fab Five Freddy and the New York Break Dancers. Roach expressed the insight that there was a strong kinship between the work of these young black artists and the art he had pursued all his life. 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. In 1994, Roach appeared on Rush drummer Neil Peart's '' Burning For Buddy,'' performing "The Drum Also Waltzes" Parts 1 and 2 on

Volume 1 Volume One, Volume 1, Volume I or Vol. 1 may refer to: Albums * ''Volume One'' (The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band album), 1966 * ''Volume One'' (Sleep album) * ''Volume One'' (Fluff album) * ''Volume One'' (She & Him album), 2008 * ''Volum ...

of the 2-volume tribute album during the 1994 All-Star recording sessions.

Death

In the early 2000s, Roach became less active due to the onset of hydrocephalus-related complications. Roach died of complications related to Alzheimer's and

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

in Manhattan in the early morning of August 16, 2007. He was survived by five children: sons Daryl and Raoul, and daughters Maxine, Ayo, and Dara. More than 1,900 people attended his funeral at

Riverside Church Riverside Church is an interdenominational church in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on the block bounded by Riverside Drive, Claremont Avenue, 120th Street and 122nd Street near Columbia University's Mornin ...

on August 24, 2007. He was interred at the Woodlawn Cemetery in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

. 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."

Personal life

Two children, son Daryl Keith and daughter Maxine, 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 1961–1970, Roach was married to singer Abbey Lincoln, who had performed on several of his albums. In 1971, twin daughters, Ayodele Nieyela and Dara Rashida, 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. His godson is artist, filmmaker and hip-hop pioneer, Fab Five Freddy. Roach identified himself as a Muslim in an early 1970s interview with Art Taylor.

Style

Roach started as a traditional grip player but used matched grip as well as his career progressed. 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 A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

to another within a single phrase, creating a sense of tonal color and rhythmic surprise. Roach said of the drummer's unique positioning, "In no other society do they have one person play with all four limbs." 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 Adolph Stanley Levey known professionally as Stan Levey (April 5, 1926 – April 19, 2005) was an American jazz drummer. He was known for working with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in the early development of bebop during the 1940s, and i ...

, summed up Roach's importance: "I came to realize that, because of him, drumming no longer was just time, it was music." In 1966, with his album ''

Drums Unlimited ''Drums Unlimited'' is an album by American jazz drummer Max Roach recorded in 1965 and 1966 and released on the Atlantic label.

'' (which includes several tracks that are entirely drum solos) he demonstrated that drums can be a solo instrument able to play theme, variations, and rhythmically cohesive phrases. Roach described his approach to music as "the creation of organized sound." The track "The Drum Also Waltzes" was often quoted by John Bonham in his '' Moby Dick'' drum solo and revisited by other drummers, including Neil Peart and Steve Smith. Bill Bruford performed a cover of the track on the 1985 album '' Flags''.

Honors

Roach was given a

MacArthur Genius Grant The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 ind ...

in 1988 and cited as a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France in 1989. He was twice awarded the French Grand Prix du Disque, was elected to the International Percussive Art Society's Hall of Fame and the DownBeat Hall of Fame, and was awarded Harvard Jazz Master. He was celebrated by Aaron Davis Hall and was given eight honorary doctorate degrees, including degrees awarded by Medgar Evers College, CUNY, the University of Bologna, and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

, in addition to his alma mater, the Manhattan School of Music. In 1986, the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

borough of Lambeth named a park in Brixton after Roach. Roach was able to officially open the park when he visited London in March of that year by invitation from the Greater London Council. During that trip, he performed at a concert at the Royal Albert Hall along with

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

ian master drummer Ghanaba and others. 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. Roach was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

* 1953 : '' The Max Roach Quartet featuring Hank Mobley'' (

Debut Debut or début (the first public appearance of a person or thing) may refer to: * Debut (society), the formal introduction of young upper-class women to society * Debut novel, an author's first published novel Film and television * ''The De ...

, 1954) * 1956 : '' Max Roach + 4'' ( EmArcy, 1956) * 1956-57 : '' Jazz in 3/4 Time'' (EmArcy, 1957) * 1957-58 : '' The Max Roach 4 Plays Charlie Parker'' (EmArcy, 1959) * 1957-58 : ''Percussion Discussion'' with Art Blakey (Chess, 1976) LP* 1958 : ''

MAX Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

'' ( Argo, 1958) * 1958 : ''

Max Roach + 4 on the Chicago Scene ''Max Roach + 4 on the Chicago Scene'' is an album by the American jazz drummer Max Roach featuring tracks recorded in Chicago in 1958 and released on the EmArcy label in mono; alternate versions of four tracks were released in Japan on a 1984 ste ...

'' ( Mercury, 1958) * 1958 : ''

Max Roach + 4 at Newport Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) (1 ...

'' (EmArcy, 1958) – live * 1958 : '' Max Roach with the Boston Percussion Ensemble'' (EmArcy, 1958) – live * 1958 : '' Deeds, Not Words'' ( Riverside) – also released as ''Conversation'' (Jazzland, 1963) * 1958 : '' Award-Winning Drummer'' (

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

, 1959) – also released as ''Max Roach'' (Time, 1962) * 1958 : ''Max Roach/Bud Shank – Sessions'' with

Bud Shank Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. (May 27, 1926 – April 2, 2009) was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and thr ...

(Calliope, 1976) * 1958 : '' The Defiant Ones'' with Booker Little (United Artists, 1959) * 1959 : '' The Many Sides of Max'' (Mercury) * 1959 : ''

Rich Versus Roach ''Rich versus Roach'' is a 1959 studio album by drummers Buddy Rich and Max Roach with their respective bands of the time. The album is mixed with each of the two bands in a different stereo channel. Track listing LP side A #"Sing, Sing, Sing ( ...

'' with

Buddy Rich Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time. Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York ...

(Mercury) * 1959 : ''

Quiet as It's Kept ''Quiet as It's Kept'' is an album by American jazz drummer Max Roach featuring tracks recorded in 1959 and released on the Mercury label.Moon Faced and Starry Eyed'' with Abbey Lincoln (Mercury) * 1959 : ''Max Roach'' (Time) with Booker Little * 1960 : '' Long as You're Living'' (

Enja Enja Records is a German jazz record company and label based in Munich which was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971. The label's first release was by Mal Waldron, and early releases included European and ...

, 1984) * 1960 : ''

Parisian Sketches ''Parisian Sketches'' is an album by American jazz drummer Max Roach recorded in Paris in 1960 and released on the Mercury label.

'' (Mercury) * 1960 : '' We Insist!'' (

Candid Candid may refer to: * Candid (app), a mobile app for anonymous discussions * Candid (organization), providing information on US nonprofit companies * Candid Records, a record label * Ilyushin Il-76, NATO reporting name ''Candid'', a Soviet aircraf ...

) * 1961 : ''

Percussion Bitter Sweet ''Percussion Bitter Sweet'' is an album by jazz drummer Max Roach recorded in 1961, released on Impulse! Records. It was trumpeter Booker Little's penultimate recording before he died from uremia in early October 1961. Track listing ''All compo ...

'' with Mal Waldron (

Impulse! Impulse! Records (occasionally styled as "¡mpulse! Records" and "¡!") is an American jazz record company and label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positiv ...

) * 1962 : '' It's Time'' with Mal Waldron (Impulse!) * 1962 : '' Speak, Brother, Speak!'' (

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama ...

) * 1964 : ''

The Max Roach Trio Featuring the Legendary Hasaan ''The Max Roach Trio Featuring the Legendary Hasaan'' is an album by American jazz drummer Max Roach with pianist Hasaan Ibn Ali, recorded in 1964 and released on the Atlantic label in March 1965.Atlantic) – with Hasaan Ibn Ali * 1966 : ''

Drums Unlimited ''Drums Unlimited'' is an album by American jazz drummer Max Roach recorded in 1965 and 1966 and released on the Atlantic label.

'' (Atlantic) * 1968 : '' Members, Don't Git Weary'' (Atlantic) * 1971 : '' Lift Every Voice and Sing'' (Atlantic) – with the J.C. White Singers * 1976 : ''Force: Sweet Mao–Suid Afrika '76'' (duo with Archie Shepp) * 1976 : ''Nommo'' ( Victor) * 1977 : ''Max Roach Quartet Live in Tokyo'' ( Denon) * 1977 : ''The Loadstar'' (Horo) * 1977 : ''Max Roach Quartet Live In Amsterdam – It's Time'' ( Baystate) * 1977 : ''Solos'' (Baystate) * 1977 : ''Streams of Consciousness'' (Baystate) – duo with

Dollar Brand Abdullah Ibrahim (born Adolph Johannes Brand on 9 October 1934 and formerly known as Dollar Brand) is a South African pianist and composer. His music reflects many of the musical influences of his childhood in the multicultural port areas of Cap ...

* 1978 : ''Confirmation'' ( Fluid) * 1978 : '' Birth and Rebirth'' – duo with Anthony Braxton ( Black Saint) * 1979 : '' The Long March'' – duo with Archie Shepp ( Hathut) * 1979 : ''

Historic Concerts ''Historic Concerts'' is a live album by Cecil Taylor and Max Roach recorded at the McMillin Theatre, Columbia University, NYC on December 15, 1979, and released on the Soul Note label in 1984. Despite the inaccurate plural title, the entire album ...

'' – duo with Cecil Taylor (Black Saint) * 1979 : ''

One in Two – Two in One ''One in Two – Two in One'' is a live album by American jazz drummer Max Roach and saxophonist Anthony Braxton recorded in 1979 for the Swiss Hathut label.

'' – duo with Anthony Braxton (Hathut) * 1979 : '' Pictures in a Frame'' (

Soul Note Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz. History Black S ...

) * 1980 : ''Chattahoochee Red'' (

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

) * 1981 : ''Live at Blues Alley'' ( MVD Visual) * 1982 : ''Swish'' – duo with Connie Crothers ( New Artists) * 1982 : '' In the Light'' (Soul Note) * 1983 : '' Live at Vielharmonie'' (Soul Note) * 1984 : '' Scott Free'' (Soul Note) * 1984 : ''

It's Christmas Again ''It's Christmas Again'' is an album by the American jazz drummer Max Roach, recorded in 1984 for the Italian Soul Note label.

'' (Soul Note) * 1984 : '' Survivors'' (Soul Note) * 1985 : '' Easy Winners'' (Soul Note) * 1986 : '' Bright Moments'' (Soul Note) * 1989 : '' Max + Dizzy: Paris 1989'' – duo with Dizzy Gillespie ( A&M) * 1989 : ''Homage to Charlie Parker'' (A&M) * 1991 : '' To the Max!'' (Enja) * 1995 : ''Max Roach with the New Orchestra of Boston and the So What Brass Quintet'' ( Blue Note Records) * 1999 : ''Beijing Trio'' ( Asian Improv) * 2002 : ''Friendship'' – (with Clark Terry) (Columbia) Co-leader with Clifford Brown
(Originally The Max Roach All Stars featuring Clifford Brown, renamed after the death of Clifford Brown) * 1954: '' Best Coast Jazz'' ( EmArcy, 1956) * 1954: '' Clifford Brown All Stars'' ( Jam Session'' with Maynard Ferguson">Jam_Session_(album).html" ;"title="mArcy, 1956) * 1954: ''Jam Session (album)">Jam Session'' with Maynard Ferguson and Clark Terry (EmArcy, 1954) * 1954: ''Brown and Roach Incorporated'' (EmArcy, 1955) * 1954: ''Daahoud'' (Mainstream Records, 1973) * 1954 : ''Clifford Brown & Max Roach, Clifford Brown and Max Roach'' (EmArcy, 1954) * 1954: ''More Study in Brown'' (EmArcy, 1983) * 1955: '' Clifford Brown with Strings'' (EmArcy, 1955) * 1955: '' Study in Brown'' (EmArcy, 1955) * 1955: ''Raw Genius - Live at Bee Hive Chicago 1955'' Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 with Max Roach (Victor, 1977) – Japan only * 1955: ''Live at The Bee Hive'' (Columbia, 1979) LP– the same recording source * 1956: '' Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street'' (EmArcy, 1956) Co-leader with M'Boom * 1973: '' Re: Percussion'' (

Strata-East Strata-East Records is an American record company and label specialising in jazz founded in 1971 by Charles Tolliver and Stanley Cowell with the release of their first recording ''Music Inc.'' The label released over 50 albums in the 1970s. Many ...

) * 1979: '' M'Boom'' (

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

) * 1984: '' Collage'' (

) * 1992: ''Live at S.O.B.'s New York'' (Blue Moon)

Compilations

*'' Alone Together: The Best of the Mercury Years'' ( Verve, 1995) – recorded in 1954–60

As sideman

With

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

* '' Witch Doctor'' ( Contemporary, 1985) – recorded in 1953 With Don Byas * ''Savoy Jam Party'' (1946) With Jimmy Cleveland * '' Introducing Jimmy Cleveland and His All Stars'' (EmArcy, 1955) With Al Cohn * '' Al Cohn's Tones'' (

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. ...

, 1956) – recorded in 1953 With

* '' Birth of the Cool'' ( Capitol, 1949) * '' Conception'' (Prestige, 1951) With John Dennis * ''New Piano Expressions'' (1955) With Kenny Dorham * '' Jazz Contrasts'' (Riverside, 1957) With Billy Eckstine * ''The Metronome All Stars'' (MGM, 1953) 0 inch With

* '' Paris Blues'' ( United Artists, 1961) * '' Money Jungle'' (United Artists, 1962) also with

With Maynard Ferguson * '' Jam Session featuring Maynard Ferguson'' (EmArcy, 1954) With Stan Getz * ''Opus BeBop'' (Savoy, 1957) – Compilation recorded in 1946-47 * '' Stan Getz and the Cool Sounds'' (Verve, 1957) – recorded in 1953-55 With Dizzy Gillespie * '' Diz and Getz'' (Verve, 1953) – with Stan Getz * '' The Bop Session'' ( Sonet, 1975) with Sonny Stitt, John Lewis, Hank Jones and Percy Heath With

Benny Golson Benny Golson (born January 25, 1929) is an American bebop/ hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a performer, before launc ...

* '' The Modern Touch'' (Riverside, 1957) With Johnny Griffin * ''

Introducing Johnny Griffin ''Introducing Johnny Griffin'' is the debut album by jazz tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, released by Blue Note in February 1957. It was recorded at the Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack on April 17, 1956. Track listing # "Mil Dew" (Griffin) - ...

'' (Blue Note, 1956) With Slide Hampton * '' Drum Suite'' (

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements Epic or EPIC may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and medi ...

, 1962) With

* '' Rainbow Mist'' (Delmark, 1992) – compilation of Apollo recordings in 1944 * ''Coleman Hawkins and His All Stars'' (1944) * '' Body and Soul'' (1946) With Joe Holiday * ''Mambo Jazz'' (Original Jazz Classics, 1991) – recorded in 1951-54 With J.J. Johnson * ''Mad Be Bop'' (Savoy, 1978) LP– recorded in 1946-54 * '' First Place'' (Columbia, 1957) With Thad Jones * ''

The Magnificent Thad Jones ''The Magnificent Thad Jones'' is an album by American jazz trumpeter Thad Jones featuring performances recorded in 1956 and released on the Blue Note label.

'' (Blue Note, 1956) With Abbey Lincoln * '' That's Him!'' (Riverside, 1957) * '' Straight Ahead'' (Riverside, 1961) With Booker Little * '' Out Front'' (Candid, 1961) With Howard McGhee * ''Howard McGhee All Stars'' (Blue Note, 1952) 0 inch With Gil Mellé *'' Gil Mellé Quintet/Sextet'' (Blue Note, 1953) With

* ''

Mingus at the Bohemia ''Mingus at the Bohemia'' is a live album by Charles Mingus that was recorded at Café Bohemia in New York City on December 23, 1955. It was released in August 1956. Max Roach makes a guest appearance on one track. Other recordings from the sam ...

'' (Debut, 1955); "Percussion Discussion" only *''

The Charles Mingus Quintet & Max Roach ''The Charles Mingus Quintet & Max Roach'' is an album by Charles Mingus, recorded at the Café Bohemia in December 1955 and released in 1964. Max Roach makes a guest appearance on two tracks. Other material from the concert were released on the a ...

'' (Debut, 1955) With

* '' Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2'' (Blue Note, 1952) * '' Brilliant Corners'' (Riverside, 1956) With Herbie Nichols * '' Herbie Nichols Trio'' (Blue Note, 1955) With

* ''Town Hall, New York, June 22, 1945'' (1945) – with Dizzy Gillespie * ''The Complete Savoy Studio Recordings'' (1945–48) * ''Lullaby in Rhythm'' (1947) * '' Charlie Parker's Savoy and Dial sessions''/'' Complete Charlie Parker on Dial''/'' Charlie Parker on Dial'' ( Dial, 1945–48) * ''The Band that Never Was'' (1948) * ''Bird on 52nd Street'' (1948) * ''Bird at the Roost'' (1948) * ''Charlie Parker Complete Sessions on Verve'' (Verve, 1949–53) * ''Charlie Parker in France'' (1949) * ''Live at Rockland Palace'' (1952) * ''Yardbird: DC–53'' (1953) *''

Big Band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

'' (

Clef A clef (from French: 'key') is a musical symbol used to indicate which notes are represented by the lines and spaces on a musical stave. Placing a clef on a stave assigns a particular pitch to one of the five lines, which defines the pit ...

, 1954) With Oscar Pettiford *'' Oscar Pettiford Sextet'' ( Vogue, 1954) With Bud Powell * ''The Bud Powell Trip'' (1947) * '' The Amazing Bud Powell'' (Blue Note, 1951) With Sonny Rollins * '' Work Time'' (Prestige, 1955) * ''

Sonny Rollins Plus 4 ''Sonny Rollins Plus 4'' is a jazz album by Sonny Rollins, released in 1956 on Prestige Records. On this album Rollins plays with the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet. The album was the last recording including pianist Richie Powell and Brown, as ...

'' (Prestige, 1956) * '' Tour de Force'' (Prestige, 1956) * ''

Rollins Plays for Bird ''Rollins Plays for Bird'' is a 1957 album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, recorded for the Prestige label, featuring performances by Rollins with Kenny Dorham, Wade Legge, George Morrow and Max Roach on material associated with Charlie Parke ...

'' (Prestige, 1956) * '' Saxophone Colossus'' (Prestige, 1956) * '' Freedom Suite'' (Riverside, 1958) * ''Stuttgart 1963 Concert'' (1963) With George Russell * ''

New York, N.Y. New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

'' (1959) With A. K. Salim *''Pretty for the People'' (Savoy, 1957) With Hazel Scott * ''Relaxed Piano Moods'' (1955) With Sonny Stitt *''Sonny Stitt/Bud Powell/J. J. Johnson'' (Prestige, 1956) With Stanley Turrentine * ''Stan "The Man" Turrentine'' (Time, 1960 [1963]) With Tommy Turrentine * ''Tommy Turrentine'' (1960) With George Wallington * ''The George Wallington Trip and Septet'' (1951) With Dinah Washington *'' Dinah Jams'' (EmArcy, 1954) With Randy Weston * ''Uhuru Afrika'' (Roulette Records, Roulette, 1960) With Joe Wilder * ''The Music of George Gershwin: I Sing of Thee'' (1956)