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"We can give to those who listen to the essence the best of what we are. But to do that, at each stage we have to keep on cleaning the mirror." -- John Coltrane
Early 80s, Hartford, Connecticut . . . Paul Brown brings Max' band to Bushnell Park (free show, of course) . . . Max is out front doing one of his patented "minutes on the high hat alone" solos . . . somebody yells out, "Boogie!"
Stop.
Long, deeply-felt lecture from Max about how people did not fight and sweat for this music and this moment so folks could just "boogie."
And then more of Max doin' what he does like nobody else.
There's a Max record from 1981 on Columbia called "Chatahoochee Red", that has my favorite Max moment of all time. The first tune on the record is called "The Dream/It's Time". "It's Time" is one of Max's tunes from the '60's, and it's played well enough by the full band (Odean Pope on tenor, Cecil Bridgewater on trumpet, Calvin Hill on bass, and Max). But "The Dream", that's something completely different. It starts with Max playing by himself, working on a triplet-y motive. Then from out of nowhere Martin Luther King starts speaking, a taped excerpt from the "I Have A Dream" speech, with Max still playing behind him. Martin speaks for about 30 seconds, then Max comes back to the forefront, this time going into tempo, sounding so strong and powerful. Then Martin comes back, then Max takes over again, back and forth, every time ratcheting up the intensity. Then finally, Martin gets to the end of the speech, "free at last, free at last, thank god almighty we're free at last", and Max climaxes right with him, playing in perfect cadence with those last words. As soon as Martin is done, Max start with the rthymic pattern of "It's Time", and from there he and the band are gone. The duet lasts all of 3 minutes, but it's one of the most incredible things i've ever heard, and even though i've had the record 26 years, every time I listen to it it still gives me goosebumps. The record is long out of print, but if you can find it, GET IT, just for those 3 minutes, you will not regret it!
Just saw a nice little notice on ABC News about a minute after I saw this. Hope there's more coverage for this great pioneer of jazz. One of the "ones".
I got "Deads not Words" and "Speak Brother, Speak" from emusic today. Such great music. His free jazz dates with Braxton, Cecil Taylor and Archie Shepp are also amazing.
There's a Max record from 1981 on Columbia called "Chatahoochee Red", that has my favorite Max moment of all time. The first tune on the record is called "The Dream/It's Time". "It's Time" is one of Max's tunes from the '60's, and it's played well enough by the full band (Odean Pope on tenor, Cecil Bridgewater on trumpet, Calvin Hill on bass, and Max). But "The Dream", that's something completely different. It starts with Max playing by himself, working on a triplet-y motive. Then from out of nowhere Martin Luther King starts speaking, a taped excerpt from the "I Have A Dream" speech, with Max still playing behind him. Martin speaks for about 30 seconds, then Max comes back to the forefront, this time going into tempo, sounding so strong and powerful. Then Martin comes back, then Max takes over again, back and forth, every time ratcheting up the intensity. Then finally, Martin gets to the end of the speech, "free at last, free at last, thank god almighty we're free at last", and Max climaxes right with him, playing in perfect cadence with those last words. As soon as Martin is done, Max start with the rthymic pattern of "It's Time", and from there he and the band are gone. The duet lasts all of 3 minutes, but it's one of the most incredible things i've ever heard, and even though i've had the record 26 years, every time I listen to it it still gives me goosebumps. The record is long out of print, but if you can find it, GET IT, just for those 3 minutes, you will not regret it!
I was wondering if anybody else had ever heard this. When I was 18 and taking my first steps into jazz listening, my local radio station played that track. It had a huge impact on me and demonstrated that a drummer could also be an artist.
He played with string quartets, break-dancers, Braxton and Cecil Taylor. I remember Bill Bruford said that Max sat at the edge of the stage and watched when King Crimson came through New York in 1995. The man knew no boundaries.
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"I don't think equipment is high on the list! It still comes down to WHAT NOTES one chooses to play and to HOW ONE TOUCHES THE INSTRUMENT"-Nels Cline
I got "Deads not Words" and "Speak Brother, Speak" from emusic today. Such great music. His free jazz dates with Braxton, Cecil Taylor and Archie Shepp are also amazing.
I love the record with Shepp, he and Max are just amazing. They cover it all, in, out, and everything in between. This may just be one of those apocryphal jazz stories, but I read somewhere that that concert was supposed to be a trio gig/record with Mingus, but he had to bow out at the last minute because his ALS symptoms were beginning to show. Let's have a moment of silence while we imagine what that would have sounded like!
Really nice NPR coverage on him this morning, including excerpts from an interview a few years back and an interview with Dizzy about Max. You can probably download it from NPR.org
If you can't find it and you're interested, I can ask my wife to locate it for us. She works for NPR.
Really nice NPR coverage on him this morning, including excerpts from an interview a few years back and an interview with Dizzy about Max. You can probably download it from NPR.org
If you can't find it and you're interested, I can ask my wife to locate it for us. She works for NPR.
-tk
I caught the last few minutes of an interview from 1987 on fresh air on NPR. Good stuff. Probably the one you're talking about. if You could help others find it that would be very cool of You.
But there are a few links along the left. I haven't followed them, but it looks like an entire Piano Jazz and an entire Nancy Wilson show archive with Max Roach.
And if you type "Max Roach" into their search box, you get a full page of other things.
So I have "Speak, Brother, Speak" on now. It is awesome
Eddie Khan is just incredible in the ensemble and solo sections. He is on a lot of great avant garde and straight ahead records. Does anyone have any information on him? He always sounds great.
So I have "Speak, Brother, Speak" on now. It is awesome
Eddie Khan is just incredible in the ensemble and solo sections. He is on a lot of great avant garde and straight ahead records. Does anyone have any information on him? He always sounds great.
All I know is that he was from the west coast, San Diego I think, and he started as a tenor player, then switched to bass. Have you seen THIS?
The only album i've got feuturing Max prominately is Money Jungle (probably on loads of the songs on various collections i've got). Really gonna have to check out some other stuff. Recomendations? Cheers.
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Longhair club member #12
At BIMM Bristol studying the Pro. diploma in Bass.
Something occurred to me while reading this thread... a few of our favorite musical icons have passed on in the last few days, and of course we pay our respects to these great figures, and usually we move on. And then, every now and then, there's someone on the level of Max Roach. The guy had so much power while he was physically with us, it's almost as if he never left. Maybe it's because he never stopped creating, every day of his life, until the vehicle his soul lived inside just didn't allow him to do it anymore. The recent talk here about Sam Rivers has gotten me thinking more about real heroes like these.
I didn't want to get all hippie-dippy BS about it... but look at how we talk about Mingus as if he's still walking around on Earth... Max is in that same boat. Look at how this thread has made us all want to dig out some Max recordings!
IMHO.
Last edited by Marcus Johnson : 08-17-2007 at 05:06 PM.
