MAX MOTHERFUCKING ROACH 1924-2007 RIP

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.

whoa, excellent news. always wondered why he hadn't written an autobio, seems like he would have plenty of material.

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.

i don't think i've heard those -- what are the albums?

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.

cool, i think the only one I have from around then is the Jazz in 3/4 Time LP w/ Rollins (which is great).

i posted this elsewhere, but his 'Lift Every Voice & Sing' record is super underrated, it's an unstoppable force.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uC3_DAysO4

This is my favourite thing right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv2DHC8-bp0&list=PLCsvLEpxA-XlCJ2X7olzfRmyvDwS5cV-N&index=4

" 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!"

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.

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

jazz in 3/4 time is such a good record, those drum solos are ripe for a 10 minute jam

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.

Still a few more hours left of his birthday tribute on WKCR. M'Boom playing right now.

clutch heads up right there, about to get in the car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wnW2KLWE-g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gNnrMZL6Uw

Hopefully there's enough for some kind of bio to be cobbled together.

this is what i came here to check on. has there really never been a book-length study of MR, bio or otherwise?

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/

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).

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.

^ thanks, i had fun with this last night

Making the rounds of PBS right now (do not miss):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_JRvFcrsvE

Also, can we get the full film of the Max Roach & Fab 5 Freddy show?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDwLmMkxqGk

Would love to see the doc, do they put the full version online at all?

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.

I'm going to see it in the theater Sunday -- can't wait!! It will be fun to see it with other people.

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.

Ha, nice. I remember seeking a couple of those M'Boom records out on cd and listened to them a ton.

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.

He made some really fascinating records in the mid '80s that I wrote about a couple of years ago.

Wow, "Survivors" is crazy, I don't think I've ever heard it. It's like Bartok + drums.

born 100 years ago today

(or possibly 100 years and two days ago)