2 posts tagged “jazz”
I don't have time to write now, so I thought I would just share Blue Note Records press release as a farewell to legendary jazz drummer Max Roach.
Max Roach R.I.P. (1924-2007)
Blue Note Records is greatly saddened to announce the passing of Max Roach, the legendary Jazz drummer, bebop founder, band leader, and civil rights activist, who died in his sleep last night in New York City. He was 83 years old.
Along with drummer Kenny Clarke, Roach redefined the role of the drums in Jazz during the bebop revolution of the late-1940s and early-50s, participating in many of the movement’s seminal recordings with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk. In the mid-50s, Roach co-led a quintet with Clifford Brown that was one of hard bop’s premiere bands up until the trumpeter’s untimely death in a car accident in 1956.
Roach was also an outspoken advocate for civil rights and racial equality, and in 1960 he created one the great protest records with We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, a seven-part suite featuring vocalist Abbey Lincoln that addressed slavery and racism in America.
Roach only released one album as a leader on Blue Note in 1996, an orchestral suite titled Max Roach with the New Orchestra of Boston and the So What Brass Quintet, but he was an unmistakable force on numerous classic recordings from the label’s early days, including Bud Powell’s The Amazing Bud Powell: Volume 1 and Thelonious Monk’s Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2, as well as Miles Davis’ Birth of the Cool (Capitol) and Duke Ellington’s Money Jungle (United Artists).
MAX ROACH – ESSENTIAL BLUE NOTE LISTENING
Bud Powell – “Un Poco Loco” from The Amazing Bud Powell: Volume 1
Thelonious Monk – “Carolina Moon” from Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2
Miles Davis – “Budo” from Birth of the Cool
Sonny Rollins – “Plain Jane” from Sonny Rollins: Volume 1
Duke Ellington – “Fleurette Africaine” from Money Jungle
On May 8, The Bad Plus release Prog, they're forth studio album. it was produced by Tony Platt (the an behind the boards for many brilliant albums, including Back in Black). Bassist Reid Anderson composed "Giant," which I first heard in June at the band's Carnegie Hall debut. It floored me then, and it has floored me every time I've heard it since. It is one of the greatest compositions I've heard in years.
Is this jazz? It's beyond jazz.
I'm in a moral dilemma here. The album is in my hands nearly two months before it hits stores. I should keep it too myself. But I share it with you now, in hopes that you will get hooked and maybe even pre-order the album. And see them live every chance you get. (Give the drummer a hug and tell him Snyder sent you.)
