Nasheet Waits Picks 12 Classic Recordings by Max Roach
Drummer Nasheet Waits, not exactly a stranger to considering percussion legacies, applies his ears and uncanny judgment to this recorded retrospective of Max Roach. In this compilation with Ted Panken, Waits picks twelve tracks showcasing the greatness of Max Roach. Roach’s legendary collaborations with Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown and Abbey Lincoln naturally appear; yet some others, like a session with the Boston Percussion Ensemble at the Music Inn in Lenox, are refreshingly unexpected illustrations of Roach’s range and hunger for exploration.
-Nick Moy
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Read MoreMax Roach: We Insist! Freedom Now Suite
Max Roach’s “We Insist! Freedom Now Suite” was a revolutionary work when he first recorded it in 1960. During 1964, he performed it live with wife Abbey Lincoln and his quartet with Clifford Jordan, Coleridge Perkinson and Eddie Khan. The Triptych: Prayer/Protest/Peace was a powerful duet by Roach and Lincoln, but on this version made by Belgian television, the drummer incorporated the quartet into the work and includes solos on the first section. This video covers the first two sections of the piece.
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View VideoBilly Harper: His Birthday, Our Gifts.
Saxophonist Billy Harper just turned 70, still brimming with youthful power. I’ve never met a more vigorous advocate for Billy Harper than critic Richard Scheinin, who wrote this 2001 profile, replete with Harper’s account of turning down a job with Miles Davis. He also pointed to this video clip, opening smack in the middle of a searing Harper solo on Monk’s ‘Round Midnight, with Max Roach, bassist Reggie Workman and trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater fanning the flames. And he even compiled this Billy Harper discography. Thanks, @richardscheinin; think we’re ready to celebrate.
-Nick Moy
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”He took independence between two hands and two feet to the next level” – Kenny Washington
Max Roach was an extraordinary musician and a street-savvy intellectual. His contributions to percussion in particular and music in general were varied, innovative and spend 6 decades. Nasheet Waits, one of today’s most original drummers, was a protégé of Max’s after the death of his father Freddie Waits. Here Ted Panken gives us a great history of Roach’s career highlights and Nasheet picks twelve revealing tracks with commentary from Max’s vast discography.
-Michael Cuscuna
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