Max Roach

When I met Max Roach my main interest was jazz drumming and what I could learn from him. We did clinics together in Hollywoood. He was the master and I was the (well-rehearsed) student. As I got to know him, beyond what I could learn about jazz drumming, I understood that Max was very intellectual, and a kind of Renaissance man.

He is mostly identified with the birth of hard Bop, but was very committed to advancing civil rights for blacks, and for all people. He put that concern into his art, and never missed a chance to do it. He was a composer, with broad tastes and diverse ideas about music and civil rights. "Freedom Suite" was a musical statement as bold as Dr. Martin Luther King's. He wrote scores for Alvin Ailey, gifted choreographer and civil rights activist. The great playwright of Americana, Sam Shepard, understood that Max could write the American music that fit his plays best. Max developed an all-percussion group, M'Boom, that was multi-ethnic. He also put together a group of all brass and drums, harkening back to the brass bands of New Orleans. Max played with and composed gospel choirs and jazz-influenced classical string quartets, with his daughter, Maxine.

Not limiting himself, Max played the most avant garde jazz with Anthony Braxton, Archie Shepp, and the avant garde great - pianist Cecil Taylor. He also worked with video artists, rap and hiphop, and drumming-backed spoken word, such as Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream." Countless awards... he lost count. I saw him play and do a concert/clinic with nothing but a Hi-Hat to great response and encores, standing ovation. All of the over-produced digitized enhanced AI music is always behind, trying to emulate and catch up with a single master, like Max Roach, who is a fountainhead. I do many things, like Max: art, business, inventions, politics, and Christian evangelism through music education. I know Max saw himself first as a jazz drummer. If you scratch me, you will find the same. Rat-a-tat-tat.