Max Roach RIP

wonk_vitesse

radio eros
saw him leicester in 1990, still going strong then. did a mean hi-hat solo.

brown02.jpg
 

redcrescent

Well-known member
A great feature on Drummerworld here.
This guy's CV is just incredible, he's played with just about everybody in the game. And his discography runs from 1943 to 2002!

Nice pic, wonk_vitesse, happy days for Max Roach! Judging from the line-up, this must be 1955-56, just before Clifford Brown (trumpet) and Richie Powell (piano) died in a car crash.
 

zhao

there are no accidents
love that record with him as leader and dolphy... forget the name. top of the line musician. he will be very much missed.

read a statistic for lifespan of artists, shortest are jazz musicians - average 42 or something like that. (painters - 64, symphony conductors - 86 - longest.)
 

STN

sou'wester
love that record with him as leader and dolphy... forget the name. top of the line musician. he will be very much missed.

QUOTE]

Ooh, don't know that record, I don't think (what's Dolphy playing on it?).
 

redcrescent

Well-known member
read a statistic for lifespan of artists, shortest are jazz musicians - average 42 or something like that. (painters - 64, symphony conductors - 86 - longest.)

That's an interesting point. Googled around awhile to see if I could find this and came across a short article entitled "Premature death in jazz musicians: fact or fiction?", where a Dr. Frederick Spencer asserts this is not the case: "Most of the 85 musicians in this study have survived the potential hazards of irregular hours of work and meals, the ready temptation of drugs and alcohol, and the perils of racial prejudice, and tohave overcome 'the problem of the artist who is creative within a socially and racially discriminatory world.'"

However, his analysis may be skewed because a) he compares mean age at death and not "age-specific death rates" and b) his choice of sample (musicians listed in university syllabi), see here.

Questions, questions...

I'm curious as to the average lifespan of modern club djs but maybe we'd have to wait around until more die of old age!
 

zhao

there are no accidents

haven't heard that one, looks great though. actually i may be thinking of somethine else entirely - maybe a Mingus record with Roach as guest... nevermind, it's not important.

Dolphy plays alto, bass clarinet and flute (wonderfully).

i don't think the man was capable of playing any other way. he passed at the age of 42, no?

Such superb musicianship and political clear-sightedness - I wonder who makes records like these nowadays? :slanted:[/QUOTE]

John Butcher?
 

redcrescent

Well-known member
maybe a Mingus record with Roach as guest...
There's a bunch of those, I think, I don't know any titles offhand, but Mingus/Roach were especially fine on Money Jungle with Duke Ellington, Jazz at Massey Hall and several Bud Powell trio albums.

5 more stone-cold classic albums with Max Roach as a sideman which everyone should have:
Thelonious Monk Brilliant Corners
Sonny Rollins Freedom Suite, Saxophone Colossus
Booker Little Out Front
Miles Davis Birth of the Cool

i don't think the man was capable of playing any other way. he passed at the age of 42, no?
Just 36! :(

Such superb musicianship and political clear-sightedness - I wonder who makes records like these nowadays? :slanted:

John Butcher?
I admit I only know the work he did with my compatriots Polwechsel, Wrapped Islands and such but I'll certainly look out for more.
 

zhao

there are no accidents
my compatriots Polwechsel

oh man i simply ADORE those first 2 Polwechsel albums on Hat... Wrapped Islands with Fennesz is good as well but those first 2 were just... beyond.

you jam with Dafeldecker and those guys often? what do you play?
 

STN

sou'wester
Could the LP with Dolphy that zhao's thinking of be simply entitled 'The Max Roach Nonet'?

Annoyingly, I saw 'Percussion Bittersweet' yesterday and didn't buy it.
 

bnek

Well-known member
Max Roach was the coolest!




he also played w/ Dolphy on Abbey Lincolns 'straight ahead', which also featured Booker Little - another who died way too young. the 'Out Front' recommendation up-thread is on point! Roach is brilliant on that - amongst my favorite music...
 
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