Happy Birthday, Max Roach!
In a profession star-crossed by early deaths -- especially the bebop division -- Max Roach was long a shining survivor, one of the last giants from the birth of bebop. He and Kenny Clarke instigated a revolution in jazz drumming that persisted for decades; instead of the swing approach of spelling out the pulse with the bass drum,Roach shifted the emphasis to the ride cymbal. The result was a lighter, far more flexible texture, giving drummers more freedom to explore the possibilities of their drum kits and drop random "bombs" on the snare drum, while allowing bop virtuosos on the front lines to play at faster speeds. Read complete story from allmusic.com.
Max would have turned 86 today.
MORE MUSIC:
COMMENTS:
Love your dedications and posts about Max. My dissertation (UC Press forthcoming book) is on Klook (drummer Kenny Clarke) and Max and the development of modern jazz drumming. Wanted to add to your quotes page what Max always said to me before we parted, "Stay Strong!" Thanks again for creating the network for the jazz community on FB -- Stay Strong! ANTHONY BROWN, composer, percussionist
Anthony: We look forward to your book and thanks for reading. Keep us posted.
Posted by Pete McConnell at 1/10/2010 10:19 AM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: max roach jazz blog kenny barron
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: max roach jazz blog kenny barron
Comments