so good
― the third kind of dubstep (Jordan), Friday, 13 January 2012 21:58 (twelve years ago) link
it's a really odd, crazy album, i don't know much roach i guess i sort of thought he was a more trad bop dude like art blakey or something
― the 500 gats of bartholomew thuggins (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 13 January 2012 22:02 (twelve years ago) link
i mean, he is, but he also did records like 'lift every voice & sing' and 'members don't git weary', which are basically gospel + free jazz:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uC3_DAysO4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yLFzK4NHiQ
― the third kind of dubstep (Jordan), Friday, 13 January 2012 22:11 (twelve years ago) link
i feel like m'boom is out to prove something about drummers totally being "real" musicians.
the "live at s.o.b.'s" m'boom record is great too.
Hot damn:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/25/arts/music/library-of-congress-acquires-max-roachs-papers.html
Roach was archivally minded, and, when he died, he left 400 linear feet of his life and actions to be read: scores and lead sheets, photographs, contracts, itineraries, correspondence, reel tapes and cassettes and drafts of an unfinished autobiography, written with the help of Amiri Baraka. On Monday, the Library of Congress will announce that it has acquired the archive from Mr. Roach’s family and that it will be made available to researchers.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 26 January 2014 06:15 (ten years ago) link
whoa, excellent news. always wondered why he hadn't written an autobio, seems like he would have plenty of material.
― tylerw, Monday, 27 January 2014 17:56 (ten years ago) link
Hopefully there's enough for some kind of bio to be cobbled together.
I'm on a big Max kick right now; his late 50s pianoless band with Ray Draper and Art Davis was really ahead of its time. Some of those arrangement ideas are completely bizarre, and have yet to really be followed up on.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 27 January 2014 18:07 (ten years ago) link
i don't think i've heard those -- what are the albums?
― tylerw, Monday, 27 January 2014 18:09 (ten years ago) link
Max Roach + 4 At Newport, Deeds, Not Words and Award Winning Drummer. There's a 3CD set called Complete 1958-59 that has all of those plus a couple of others.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 27 January 2014 18:15 (ten years ago) link
cool, i think the only one I have from around then is the Jazz in 3/4 Time LP w/ Rollins (which is great).
― tylerw, Monday, 27 January 2014 18:16 (ten years ago) link
i posted this elsewhere, but his 'Lift Every Voice & Sing' record is super underrated, it's an unstoppable force.
― festival culture (Jordan), Monday, 27 January 2014 18:16 (ten years ago) link
This is my favourite thing right now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv2DHC8-bp0&list=PLCsvLEpxA-XlCJ2X7olzfRmyvDwS5cV-N&index=4
― xelab, Saturday, 14 February 2015 22:03 (nine years ago) link
" Drummer Donald Bailey, in a 2008 interview with writer Don Alberts, said, "And who was [Thelonious] Monk's idol? Hasaan Ibn Ali. Nobody knows that!"
― xelab, Thursday, 28 May 2015 23:44 (eight years ago) link
TIL that there are actually competing "schools of thought" on Max Roach's true bday, whether it's the 10th or the 8th. Mostly because of jazz weirdo Phil Schaap, it seems.
― IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (man alive), Wednesday, 10 January 2018 18:08 (six years ago) link
Saw this today on Fbook:
https://scontent.fman1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/26238762_1300323256740963_2693093301813870757_n.jpg?oh=5be22b8be18fc304ec3fce723c876a06&oe=5AFB3509
― Akdov Telmig (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 10 January 2018 22:43 (six years ago) link
jazz in 3/4 time is such a good record, those drum solos are ripe for a 10 minute jam
― kolakube (Ross), Thursday, 11 January 2018 01:40 (six years ago) link
his M'Boom album with 8 percussionists and lots of African influences is just one of the best things I've ever heard. I've had it on repeat all day.
― calzino, Friday, 27 July 2018 16:38 (five years ago) link
Still a few more hours left of his birthday tribute on WKCR. M'Boom playing right now.
― Spirit of the Voice of the Beehive (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 11 January 2019 02:14 (five years ago) link
clutch heads up right there, about to get in the car.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 11 January 2019 03:29 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wnW2KLWE-g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gNnrMZL6Uw
― Draymond is "Mr Dumpy" (forksclovetofu), Monday, 3 May 2021 04:37 (two years ago) link
this is what i came here to check on. has there really never been a book-length study of MR, bio or otherwise?
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 18 October 2022 05:44 (one year ago) link
from the nyt article linked above on the MR papers at the library of congress:
... the obscure Philadelphia pianist Hassan Ibn Ali, with whom he made a fascinating record for Atlantic in 1964. (There’s an hourlong tape in the collection of Ali playing solo piano in Roach’s apartment, some of which I heard, and several letters from him.)
does anybody know if this is related to (perhaps part of) the solo recordings released by omnivore this summer?
http://omnivorerecordings.com/shop/retrospect-in-retirement-of-delay/
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 18 October 2022 18:38 (one year ago) link
has there really never been a book-length study of MR, bio or otherwise?
There's a handful of books of transcriptions of some of his solos, but that appears to be it. I assume there's a tiny bit of overlap in books on others; that is, some cursory background info on Max in books on Bird and on Clifford Brown, but nope, there's no Max bio nor any in-depth study of his approach (unless there are one or more graduate theses on his solos, which is to say, his compositions, which seems likely).
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 18 October 2022 18:58 (one year ago) link
Been working on these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=berzU_UBbb4
Not to reduce any drummer down to licks, but whenever I dig into his playing I'm blown away by how systematic, organized, and clever it is.
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 18 October 2022 19:49 (one year ago) link
^ thanks, i had fun with this last night
― budo jeru, Thursday, 20 October 2022 01:25 (one year ago) link
Making the rounds of PBS right now (do not miss):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_JRvFcrsvE
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 5 November 2023 22:33 (four months ago) link
Also, can we get the full film of the Max Roach & Fab 5 Freddy show?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDwLmMkxqGk
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 5 November 2023 22:38 (four months ago) link
Would love to see the doc, do they put the full version online at all?
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Monday, 6 November 2023 14:55 (four months ago) link
Yeah, the documentary was streaming on the PBS website, might still be. It's very good — incomplete of course, but very interesting and told me a lot I didn't know. The impression I came away with most strongly is that Roach absolutely deserves a biography as exhaustive and in-depth as the recent Sonny Rollins book. But it would be really hard to get all his kids on the same page to support such a project.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Monday, 6 November 2023 15:27 (four months ago) link
I'm going to see it in the theater Sunday -- can't wait!! It will be fun to see it with other people.
― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 6 November 2023 22:47 (four months ago) link
I learned a lot from the doc!! I hadn't heard the M'Boom records before and seeing the documentary footage of them recording on all those cool instruments made it extra nice to hear for the first time (I listened via spotify) There was a pre-recorded q&a w the filmmakers after the screening and unfortunately it was not very interesting. I left to pee.
― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Tuesday, 14 November 2023 21:44 (four months ago) link
Ha, nice. I remember seeking a couple of those M'Boom records out on cd and listened to them a ton.
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Tuesday, 14 November 2023 21:50 (four months ago) link
I listened to Rich vs Roach again the other day, it's fun. Imagine trying to keep your cool in the face of the Buddy Rich meat grinder.
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Tuesday, 14 November 2023 21:52 (four months ago) link
He made some really fascinating records in the mid '80s that I wrote about a couple of years ago.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Tuesday, 14 November 2023 22:23 (four months ago) link
Wow, "Survivors" is crazy, I don't think I've ever heard it. It's like Bartok + drums.
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Wednesday, 15 November 2023 15:55 (four months ago) link
born 100 years ago today
(or possibly 100 years and two days ago)
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 10 January 2024 12:55 (two months ago) link