[Reedsplinter]

I couldn't find a pre-existing thread on this, but I just read of his death in the Times. Maybe everyone else already knew. . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/16/arts/music/16cnd-roach.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

:lowbd: :lowbd: :line1:

 

[Rackety Sax]

No, I believe this is news as it just happened this morning. Another giant of the music gone.

 

[Kritavi]

Another giant gone.
I had the good fortune to see Max several times with both Billy Harper and Odeon Pope at different times. One thing about Max was he sounded better on the concert stage then in clubs in my experience. I preferred the bigness of the sound and feel at Avery Fischer Hall then the several times I saw him at the Keystone Korner.
Later I was living in Berlin and saw the band in concert there. After the show some friends and I went to speak with Max and Odeon. They were both so very gracious. Max spent over an hour on the stage right after the show telling stories and greeting people with great warmth. At one point he was asking a bunch of us younger cats about the bands we were in and the gigs we were doing. It was amazing to me the interest and encouragement he showed.
The last time I saw him was in Brooklyn performing a score he wrote for the Bill Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. This was very different for me and I loved it.
Max, thank you for the kindness you showed me and all the great music. RIP

 

[RootyTootoot]

Oh dear. I find this very sad. Now that is a giant. I used to love listening to his duets with Cecil Taylor - he really could turn a drum kit into a melodic instrument. I know little about it really, but i believe he was also active in promoting liberal political causes and campaigning. A great man.

 

[tjontheroad]

Few in any one lifetime have done so much in their lives as Max Roach.

RIP

 

[Rackety Sax]

Oh dear. I find this very sad. Now that is a giant. I used to love listening to his duets with Cecil Taylor - he really could turn a drum kit into a melodic instrument. I know little about it really, but i believe he was also active in promoting liberal political causes and campaigning. A great man.

Max was well to the left of liberalism, I believe. The obit cited above refers to his We Insist! Freedom Now Suite recording as being greeted by many [liberal white] critics as "too polemical." The tune "Mendacity" on the album, with Abbey Lincoln singing the memorable and increasingly relevant lyrics, an alto solo by Eric Dolphy, and, if memory serves, a long drum solo by Max, is a high point in the recorded history of the music. At least for those of us who enjoy "polemics" in art.

 

[Rackety Sax]

Max was well to the left of liberalism, I believe. The obit cited above refers to his We Insist! Freedom Now Suite recording as being greeted by many [liberal white] critics as "too polemical." The tune "Mendacity" on the album, with Abbey Lincoln singing the memorable and increasingly relevant lyrics, an alto solo by Eric Dolphy, and, if memory serves, a long drum solo by Max, is a high point in the recorded history of the music. At least for those of us who enjoy "polemics" in art.

Excerpt, referring to political candidates: "The winner ain't the one who's great, but he who lies the most."

 

[Reedsplinter]

Max was well to the left of liberalism, I believe. The obit cited above refers to his We Insist! Freedom Now Suite recording as being greeted by many [liberal white] critics as "too polemical." The tune "Mendacity" on the album, with Abbey Lincoln singing the memorable and increasingly relevant lyrics, an alto solo by Eric Dolphy, and, if memory serves, a long drum solo by Max, is a high point in the recorded history of the music. At least for those of us who enjoy "polemics" in art.

I have no idea what his politics were like otherwise, but certainly where the civil rights movement was concerned, his politics were strong and right. A lot of "liberal white" critics of the movement -- same sort who didn't and don't like "polemic" art -- cautioned Dr. King to slow down, too -- notably, among Southern writers, William Faulkner and, initially, Robert Penn Warren, though Mr. Warren changed his tune when he thought the matter all the way through; in Faulkner's case, even his muted support for the movement was remarkable in a white Mississippian of his generation. I speak with direct knowledge as one who grew up in rural Mississippi beginning in the Jim Crow days; my adolescence coincided precisely with the 60s, and man was it weird). Musicians like Roach, and Louis Armstrong, and B. B. King, etc., were vital to me then, both for their music and for their politics. I loved them for it then and I still do.

Thanks Mr. Roach. RIP indeed.

 

[DTExpress]

Seeing Max Roach is one of the most memorable experiences of my life. He came out and played solo drums for the first half of the show and it's one of the greatest things I've ever seen/heard.

 

[Swampcabbage]

Geez, another one gone. But, not just another one. This man was more than a giant. He was a true innovator. I had always hoped that he and Sonny would do another record in modern times. Alas, so sad.

 

[Tryptykon]

Like any true original Max will never be equalled .

Words fail in capturing what he actually did, musically .

A master musician and a great man .

A lot of people in heaven have been [patiently] waiting for Max's arrival..

Bird, Bud, Monk, Miles, Brownie, Mingus; the list goes on
..now they can catch up on old times ..

 

[sonnymobleytrane]

I will remember Max Roach for all the Great Music he made with Sonny Rollins, Clifford Brown, Charlie Parker and others.

Just last night I was listening to Saxophone Colossus and thinking about how fresh it still sounds 51 years later.

 

[RootyTootoot]

Geez, another one gone. But, not just another one. This man was more than a giant. He was a true innovator. I had always hoped that he and Sonny would do another record in modern times. Alas, so sad.

I thought this too. I always kind of believed that Sonny and Max Roach would do something again. Hard to believe that that can never happen now.

 

[SteveMarz]

the Passing of a GIANT !

Max was a HUGE innovative force! One of the all-time greats, for sure.
He played with everyone from Bird, Diz, Monk, Bud, Rollins, Clifford, Mingus - to guys like Braxton and Cecil Taylor. Max's recorded work will stand out as gems of this music for all time.
Yes, "Mendacity" is a great cut. Contains a fun solo by Dolphy, and also one of the most interesting drum solos of all time.
I'll be listening to Max and Clifford records tonight.

 

[hakukani]

The ranks of original beboppers is getting thin indeed!

Smmmmoooooth drummer. He will be missed.

RIP

 

[Reedsplinter]

The ranks of original beboppers is getting thin indeed!

Smmmmoooooth drummer. He will be missed.

RIP

Smooth, and yet a killer. Much to be learned from that combination!

 

[John Gilmore]

Speak Brother Speak

I'm sure I'm not alone in saying Max Roach was one of my heroes.
I wish they would have erected a statue in his honor - in Brooklyn (!) - before he passed. Do we not do that anymore as a society? How does something like that get done? Doesn't Philadelphia have a 'Rocky' statue and isn't there a couple of Wynton Marsalis statues out there? Something must be done.

Wow... right after Art Davis too.

Members don't git weary...

 

[Martinman]

One of the best drummers ever...RIP

 

[martysax]

I've always associated good times with Max Roach. I bopped in a Jazz quintet ~26 years ago with a NewYork drummer who lived every lick of Max Roach. We used to chant it during his solos.

 

[docformat]

I wish they would have erected a statue in his honor - in Brooklyn (!) - before he passed. Do we not do that anymore as a society? How does something like that get done? .

There's a Max Roach Park in Brixton. I hope that makes you feel a little better.