Presented by Nasar Abadey
Topic: Thinking About Jazz - Max Roach: Bebop & Beyond
August 24, 2024, 1-3pm (via Zoom)
Zoom link distributed separately. Call 202.641.8220 for link and more information.
Maxwell Remuel Roach was born on January 10, 1924 in Newland Township, NC. At age 4, his family moved to Brooklyn where music was all around. He was playing drums in gospel bands by age 10. As a recent graduate of Boys High School, he was called to sub for Sonny Greer of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He started going to 52ndStreet clubs and finding his way into jazz; his first recording was in 1943 backing Coleman Hawkins. Roach was one of the first drummers to play in bebop style. He performed with Dizzy, Bird, Miles, Monk and Bud Powell in this period. His interest in Afro-Caribbean music inspired him to travel to Haiti in the late 40’s to study with traditional drummer, Tio Roro. In 1952, with Charles Mingus he co-founded Debut Records, one of the first artist-owned labels. In 1954, with Clifford Brown he formed a hardbop group including Richie Powell and Sonny Rollins. By 1955 he was playing with Dinah Washington. In 1960, with then-wife, Abbey Lincoln, he composed and recorded We Insist! (subtitled Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite) after receiving an invitation to help commemorate the 100th anniversary of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. With Mingus and Duke Ellington, in 1962 he recorded Money Jungle, widely regarded as one of the great trio albums of all time. As one long committed to jazz education, he joined the faculty of UMass/Amherst where he taught for over twenty years. In the early 80’s he began performing solo concerts and a number of duet collaborations with Cecil Taylor, Dizzy, Archie Shepp; he even played with a recording of oration of MLK’s I Have A Dream speech. Later in the 80’s he composed music for theatre, including Sam Shepard. Not content to expand on music he was already known for, he spent the 80’s and 90’s developing new forms of musical expression and performance with symphony, dance and even hip hop collaborations. He saw the kinship between the work of young black performers and the music he was creating all his life. He died on August 16, 2007 after a long illness. Nearly 2000 people attended his funeral at Riverside Church in NYC. Nasar Abadey will bring his unique presentation on this jazz master.
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